D5 Studio to represent PH in Editors Lab Final in Vienna

MANILA, Philippines – What happens when the government and the media work together to address pressing national issues?

For the first time, Rappler and the Global Editors Network (GEN) gathered leading Philippine media networks for a two-day hackathon to develop innovative tools for journalists.

The Philippines Editors Lab, part of the 5th season of GEN’s Editors Lab program, was held from July 7-8 at the Rappler newsroom, with the theme, “Crisis Reporting.”

Each team was tasked to develop news app prototypes that can help journalists when disasters strike. It could be a visualization, an app, or a new feature in their website.

‘Under Pressure’

Among the 9 teams that participated, D5 Studio, the digital arm of TV5, won the competition with its project that aims to train news reporters on disaster reporting.

The project, Under Pressure, is a website that focuses on preparing news reporters before they head to the field for disaster reporting. The website includes modules showing actual situations in times of both natural and man-made disaster.

Users are given options when faced with certain scenarios, based on their editorial judgment. Videos featuring veteran reporters in crisis reporting and other training modules are also included.

The website, which is expected to be accessible on desktop and mobile, will be a collaboration among media networks, government agencies, and other groups involved in disaster reporting and response.

“We think that this is one of the possible ways to prepare someone for a scenario that will test not only their news reporting skills but also editorial judgment and even risk assessment, and other skills that will help prevent injuries and even loss of life,” Candice Montenegro, a journalist from D5 Studio, said.

D5 Studio, which also won the public choice award, will represent the Philippines at the Editors Lab Final in Vienna, Austria in June 2017, where it will compete with media networks from other countries.

Meanwhile, two other media networks were given special mention for their projects.

Rappler’s Fight and Foresight is a data visualisation of potential risks and damages that aims to speed up citizen response to crisis warnings. Inquirer’s IM Here is an emergency kit for journalists, with various online and offline features for them to deliver helpful, verified, and immediate information to their newsrooms.

Information is aid

In a country visited by at least 20 typhoons every year and where other natural disasters occur, information is as important as food and shelter, according to disaster experts present at the Editors Lab Conference said.

“Media is an essential stakeholder in DRRM….More and more Filipinos have been conscious of the need to prepare emergencies as we have seen and experienced in the recent past,” said Alexander Pama, former executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

He added that with the use of social media, citizen participation in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) has also increased.

“The utilization of social media to popularize DRRM became an effective tool to significantly improve the ways and means to decrease the number of casualties and minimize damage and losses [during disasters],” Pama explained.

Journalism & technology combined

The competition served as an opportunity for media networks, who have been competing with each other, to collaborate in finding a solution to one of the perennial problems in the Philippines – disasters.