"The Backstory": A Phenomenological Study on the Narratives of Selected Baguio-based Journalists on their Coverage of Typhoons

Abstract

There is always a story behind the story, or a "backstory", as the saying goes in journalism. My study is about the backstories of five Baguio-based journalists during their coverages of typhoons specifically 2009's Typhoon Pepeng and 201 B's Typhoon Ompong. These backstories are narratives of journalists which have been produced from their actual experiences. I used phenomenology as a framework for my analysis of these narratives which gave me an understanding of their "lived experiences" that are first-hand accounts of their coverages. I found out that they went through "struggle", "temporal experience", and "adaptation" through the three phases of a typhoon coverage. These combined phases made them undergo a "duality of experience" between their work and personal lives. Based on these experiences, it is imperative for the journalism industry to institute proper welfare practices for their on-field journalists.