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Education Lifestyle

My job: News anchor, Global Toronto’s The Morning Show

I studied political science at De La Salle University in Manila and then I did a post-grad diploma at Centennial College for print journalism.

I’ve always been enamoured of the idea of being a TV broadcaster. I used to watch Barbara Walters in high school – none of my girlfriends were watching 20/20 in Grade 9. But I loved the idea of witnessing history, talking to people and being around pivotal events.

I thought I was going to be a lawyer by taking political science, but journalism kept pulling me in. I pursued broadcast journalism, and even when I went into print, it was to become a better broadcast journalist. It’s been a steady road in that each job gave me a little more experience.

If I were to do it again I would get even more education that’s not journalism-related, because that’s what really makes a good journalist. Are you good on air? Are you going to ask good questions? Are you gonna look good? Are you able to write an article and meet a deadline? Those are technical skills you practise and hone. But a background in subjects like history, political science and literature come in handy once you’re on the job, often in ways that surprise you.

On The Morning Show, we do three hours of live talk, so I’m constantly drawing on my experiences: my travels, the books I’m reading, the stories I’m personally curious about.

I’ve met more interesting people in the last year than I have in my entire 10 years in the business. Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, Malcolm Gladwell, Salman Rushdie and Martin Sheen are just the big names. On top of that are the people with amazing stories, like Hélène Campbell, the double-lung recipient. All the things I wanted to do when I was watching 20/20 I’ve been able to do on the show.

We do six newscasts every day, trying to keep you up-to-date with all of the things happening in the city. I’m giving you headlines, which have their place, but sometimes headlines can feel like one crash after another or one murder after another. That’s when it gets a little bit frustrating.

Ten years ago [at Centennial] we had our own online newspaper, which at the time was a big deal. We got a taste of producing our own content, without a lot of production behind it. Now more than ever you can mimic a news station [online] in a way you couldn’t even five years ago. What’s great about going to a technical college is that you can put your skills to use right away. There’s no excuse. If you have the talent, you can put together a story that would be close in quality to what you see on air from a news network.

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