PIO personnel join, sometimes outnumber private media, at the Cebu City mayor’s press-con.

How the premiere city’s Public Information Office runs its news outfit in some ways like private media.

BY KEVIN A. LAGUNDA
(An interview with Cerwin T. Eviota,
Cebu City Government public information officer)
September 2022

INTERNET and social media networking sites have sharply changed government units’ manner of delivering information to their constituents.

They no longer just issue press releases, along with photos or video clips, as they used to do some years ago. They now release the news themselves through Facebook and other social media network or, in a few cases, its own website. They gather and circulate news themselves, with mainstream media using their material as official source or tip for further checking and expanding the story.

One of the LGUs active in delivering news directly to City Hall clients – residents of the city and constituents of elected officials — is the Cebu City Government under the administration of Mayor Michael Rama.

This LGU’s news outfit is named Cebu City.News & Information or CCNI. Cebu Journalism & Journalists (CJJ) talked with Cerwin T. Eviota (CTE), head of the Public Information Office, to know more about CCNI and its operations.

Former journalist Cerwin T. Eviota public information officer, presides a news work force bigger than that in many of today’s private newsrooms

Tell us about CCNI: how it started, how it works.

CTE: The Cebu City News & Information is the online news platform of the Cebu City Government operated by the Public Information Office (P.I.O.) under the administration of Mayor Mike Rama.

It utilizes Facebook (FB) as a means of reaching the public. Photos of events, and occasionally live video coverage, are first posted on FB, but the detailed news write-ups are published first on www.cebucity.news before being shared to the official social media platform and to Twitter as well.

First created on Nov. 9, 2011 during the first term of Mayor Rama, the FB page was revived on Dec. 27, 2021, renamed it as it is now, and we opted to build it up when it seemed the administrators of the previous Cebu City P.I.O. FB page would not turn it over after Rama ascended as mayor.

We got on board a veteran bilingual newspaper editor, Rene H. Martel, to handle the back-end and an active operations officer to run things upfront, plus a young vlogger who could appeal to millennials in live reports and produced materials.

Utilizing the existing staff, we organized the PIO office into a newsroom setup. We deploy four reporters and three photographers, mainly to cover the activities of the mayor, then Vice Mayor Dondon Hontiveros and the various departments. A videographer with tech support for live-cast and post-editing are fielded when needed.

ASSIGNMENTS. Like in the mainstream newsroom, the frontline staffers are given assignments the night before, then updated or adjusted during the coverage day depending on the day’s circumstances.

Assignments mostly cover the activities of the mayor scheduled for the next day. Otherwise, we give the staff special assignments to pursue and develop newsworthy reports.

I lead, manage, and oversee the whole operation. My seven years as a journalist in my young adult life — six of these editing news reports, and four managing news organizations — mattered. I am blessed to have Rene Martel and an operations officer as our wing men.

Public service advisories: from booster shots, to Ayuda and the weather.

You plan to do other things to expand coverage and reach?

CTE: The CCNI on FB and the www.cebucity.news are just the beginning. We did it first because it was the easiest to set up.

NEWSLETTER. After weeks of dry runs, we will soon release on Mondays a weekly newsletter. Yes, Time-like, Newsweek-like. We will keep the name BARUG as we started during the 2013-2016 term of Mayor Rama. Initially, it will be a summary of running reports during the previous week. In time, we will add other features, probably also opinion.

It will be in digital format, to be distributed to stakeholders through email in a PDF file and posted on www.issuu.com/cebucityinfo. We intend to print issues but on a monthly basis, as before, in full color within this year.

We have also been doing live reports and coverage that we cast on FB. We also posted edited video features, like Hibaw Ba Ka?, meant for millennials; and produced special audio-video presentations.

TV NEWSMAGAZINE. There’s more. We’ve only just begun. Soon, we will revive BARUG TV (news magazine) that we ran during the first two terms of Mayor Rama. Initially, we will post video productions online. We will aim to broadcast on free TV. Radio productions will follow soon as well.

We will realize these with the help and guidance of former appointed city councilor Erik Espina, an Army Reserve brigadier general, former network TV news anchor, and now host of the old 888 News Forum, renamed as Openline on MyTV.

How many people, what does it take to operate the news outfit?

CTE: The PIO is a 27-person team. To exclude the customer service team, sound system crew, and support staff (drivers, graphic artist, video editor), about 12 persons produce materials for CCNI and soon the other portals mentioned earlier.

I do the work of editor-in-chief and general manager, orchestrating the activities, overseeing production and development of write-ups, photos, and videos.

An operations officer pre-determines the schedules for the next days, assigns and deploys our four reporters, three photographers, one videographer and live reporter-vlogger to their assignments. She ensures there is no conflict of schedules, especially if new assignments are given for developments that surface during the day.

The contents editor reviews and edits the written reports submitted. He also vets the photos and critiques the vlogger’s video scripts and video outputs before finalization. He also supervises the publishing of the writeups on the website and on FB, assisted by a digital media specialist (DMS), whose primary task is to ensure content for the news site and social media pages. The DMS also assists in FB live broadcast, working with the videographer, vlogger and tech support.

The videographer also does video documentation of the mayor’s activities. They are assisted by a video editor, who produces AVPs and is the main man for technical support requests.

COVERING THE MAYOR. Since the mayor also works on weekends, we assign a reporter and a photographer on Saturdays and Sundays. Like them, two drivers also alternately render weekend duties, by having at least one of them available for the reporter and partner photographer.

How has the role of the LGU media been defined?

CTE: Our FB page indicates we report about the “activities of and actions taken by the Cebu City Government.” Our online news platform also indicates that it tells of the “updates from and happenings in the Cebu City Government.”

Both mean those of the mayor, the vice mayor and by extension the City Council and its members, as well as the different departments and offices of the City Government. We also intend to expand to the barangays so that the public will also get information from the ground.

That is very important if we want the very people we serve to see and feel that their government is working for them, that public service is alive. This government under the current dispensation works really hard. The leader’s being so gets reverberated down the line at City Hall.

No matter how hard the government works, if its efforts do not reach the widest spectrum of the public, it may seem remiss in serving them. The people deserve the right information about their government. This is the PIO’s role.

Unlike the fourth estate, the Cebu City PIO has a “reputation management” role. That is why it is also on the constant lookout to safeguard the name of the government and its leaders. It goes without saying that it reports the good, and there are a lot of them, mind you. We do not, however, safeguard the name of the City to the extent that we publish so-called propaganda. The Cebuanos are smart enough to notice propaganda, anyway. What we espouse is fairness and to make sure we publish the side of the city for a fair assessment by the public.

Unlike the time prior to the advent of the internet, gossip, disinformation, and misinformation now travel so fast and reach the public a whole lot faster than fact, proven by studies to spread ten times faster than good and factual information.

‘FACTUAL REPORTS.’ That is the crucial role of the PIO, for the right information about the City Government to reach the public, maybe not as fast, but at least not considerably behind. It also echoes and reverberates the calls to action our leaders make for better things to happen in Cebu City.

What is important is that we make sure that our reports are factual and stand with integrity. We practically adopt and follow journalistic standards.

That is why we are especially grateful to you, the true media, the mainstream, for picking up our stories. You doing it is a validation of the importance of the information we disseminate.

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