ABS-CBN's top journalists to train citizens in patrolling for 2010 elections

Charie Villa, Maria Ressa, and Glenda Gloria.

MANILA, Philippines - Television giant ABS-CBN steps up its election advocacy campaign with a series of workshops on citizen journalism that will arm Filipinos with the knowledge and skills to report on events and incidents concerning the 2010 elections.

Hosted by ABS-CBN reporter Atom Araullo, the workshop is part of the network’s global election advocacy "Boto Mo, iPatrol Mo: Ako ang Simula," which was launched last May 11 to encourage Filipinos here and abroad to take a more active role in monitoring the scheduled elections.

More than 13,000 Filipinos have already signed up to become "Boto Patrollers." Through "Boto Mo, iPatrol Mo: Akong ang Simula," ABS-CBN is asking Filipinos to register as voters and report as early as now election-related incidents using their mobile phones and the Internet.

ABS-CBN senior vice president for News and Current Affairs Maria Ressa will lead the speakers at the first leg of "Boto Mo, iPatrol Mo: Patrollers Workshop on Citizen Journalism" on July 9 at the KCC Mall Convention Center, General Santos City and on July 10, in Davao City.

Registered "patrollers" from both cities will be attending the workshops.

Interested individuals may register through text by keying in REGBMPMname/age/gender/address then sending to 2366 for Globe and Sun subscribers and 231 for Smart and Talk N’ Text subscribers, or online by logging in at www.abs-cbnnews.com.

They may also register manually in ABS-CBN stations in the Philippines and in the network’s global bureaus in San Francisco, Dubai, London, and Sydney.

Joining Ressa in the workshop are ABS-CBN news gathering head Charie Villa and ANC (ABS-CBN News Channel) chief operating officer Glenda M. Gloria. The three news executives have been journalists for more than two decades now, working for local and international news media companies before joining ABS-CBN. For nearly 20 years, Ressa was the bureau chief of CNN.

They will orient the "patrollers" on the fundamentals of citizen journalism—from shooting pictures or videos using cell phones or cameras, to writing captions and telling a story, to uploading their reports to the Internet. They will also be briefed on the electoral process and the ethics of journalism.

For updates on the "Boto Mo, iPatrol Mo: Ako ang Simula" campaign, stay tuned to ABS-CBN, ANC, Studio 23, and DZMM, or o visit www.abs-cbnnews.com/botomo or subscribe to http://twitter.com/abscbn_halalan and http://botomoipatrolmo.multiply.com/ for the latest election updates.