GMANews.TV’s report on child sexuality bags int’l award

She had a story to report. However, there was no one to interview, and the data were hard to obtain. But the drive to do the story was overwhelming: Children were playing sex, or more aptly, sex was playing badly in the lives of children. Five months had passed, the difficult story had been completed, but it remained untold. GMA Network reporter Claire Delfin, however, did not give up. She wasn’t just beating a deadline, much less pleasing her editors. She said she was doing something propelled by passion: “Kailangang may makabasa, kailangang may matuto, at baka sana ay may umaksyon (Somebody has to read the story, someone has to learn something, and perhaps somebody would act to solve the problem). " Finally, on June 20, Delfin’s special report, “The Forbidden Games Children Play," came out on GMANews.TV. The story was appalling. Filipino children, especially boys, as young as five years old knew about sex – and how to do it. Sex was everywhere – on the Internet, tabloids, noontime TV shows, bootleg movies, and even cartoons. The statistics were not just about children who were raped, but children who raped other children. On October 13, Delfin received an email from the Population Institute, an international nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, which seeks to voluntarily reduce excessive population growth through universal access to family planning information, education, and services. She was told she won the institute’s Global Media Awards for Excellence in Population Reporting in the category of Best Individual Reporting Effort. The institute, with members in 172 countries, was the same organization that gave an award to former US president Al Gore last year for his documentary on global warming titled An Inconvenient Truth. Delfin said she felt honored by the recognition, but said the award was just a bonus. The real price was her chance to finally let people know about the story through GMANews.TV, and consequently the “crash course" that she learned on children’s rights and sexuality. “I was so elated. Ang saya (I was happy). It’s going to be my first professional award. But I didn’t pray for that. Doing the story was in itself a reward. I’ve learned a lot while I was doing the story. It was a crash course for me as a mother," said the 29-year-old journalist, a mom of two boys. Being a TV reporter has its advantages, according to Delfin. However, she said she missed writing and wanted to do a full-length article about a largely unexplored story that deserved public attention. "The calling was there. I crave writing about social justice issues, particularly about women and children. I won’t be able to explain it through a two-minute video clip," she said. She said GMANews.TV gave her an outlet to continue her passion for writing special reports. Kaya ako nagsisipag-sipagang mag-contribute (That’s why I’m doing my best to contribute stories to GMANews.TV)," she said. "Iba ang sense of fulfillment (The sense of fulfillment is different). Ang maganda talaga sa (The good thing about a) full length special report, is that you could explain what you want to tell the people. You have the chance to give them the right, accurate, complete information. And then discuss different dimensions." Delfin said passion and sacrifice make a good journalist. She said there should be no false assumptions about the journalistic profession, which she called a "vow." "Hindi pa-cute ang maging journalist (Being a journalist is no easy task). It’s the passion. It’s the sense of public service. Pag wala ka no’n, kung gusto mo lang sumikat, forget it, ang daming frustrations pag ka ganon (If you don’t have that, and you just want to be famous, forget it, you’d only be frustrated). There are just a few who could get that. It’s not for everybody," she said. - GMANews.TV