Tanod: Ang Diyaryo ng Bayan

(Front page of July 7, 2008 issue)

Tanod: Ang Diyaryo ng Bayan
Submitted by Clarisa Legaspi, Alessandra Mercado & Alven Villavicenco (A53)
Interviewees: Prof. Domingo Landicho (Editor-in-Chief), Mr. Joel de Lara (Production Manager/Design Team) and Mr. Marzon Figueras.

Corporate Name: Tanod Publishing Inc.
Name of Newspaper: Tanod – Ang Diyaryo ng Bayan
Editorial/Business Address: Ground Floor Greatwall Building, 136 Yakal St., Barangay San Antonio, Makati City
Contact Information
1. Telephone number(s): 843-8283/845-2022
2. Fax number: 844-4464
3. E-mail address(es): desk@tanod.com / admin@tanod.com
*No official website
As a newspaper in tabloid format, Tanod distinguishes itself from other tabloids for its adherence to decency, refusing to feature sexually charged material, such that it is the only tabloid that is welcome in both home and school. Tanod sets new and higher and benchmarks for newspaper publication, proving by its success that the heretofore lowly tabloid can win public acceptance without sacrificing high journalistic standards.

Chaired and founded by Rey Anthony G. David Jr. (a veteran communications specialist and multifaceted businessman), Tanod takes its direction from its Publisher/President, distinguished journalist Romeo “Butch” del Castillo. The Editor-in-Chief is Palanca awardee, Professor Domingo Landicho. Prior to becoming Tanod’s Editor-in-Chief, he taught journalism and creative writing at the University of the Philippines and is a novelist. The Editor-in-Chief has the highest position and generally oversees all advisories, correspondences and “sustains the newspaper.” The managing editor, Lamberto E. Antonio handles all newspaper operations and movement within the editorial office. Third in rank is the news editor, Eduardo O. Detubio, who is directly involved with the correspondents. He is responsible for coordinating, dissecting and classifying news, as well as deciding what will be published. Other editors of the newspaper are Vick Tanes (provincial editor) and Ferdinand delos Santos (sports editor).

Two noted reporters of the newspaper are Nimfa Ravelo (DZBB) and Ely Saludar (RMN). However, Mr. Landicho clarified that there are a number of reporters assigned to specific locations and districts. They receive benefits such as Social Security System and Pag-ibig funds and are full-time employees.

Correspondents tackle assignments for different topics. They are stationed all over the country (per province) so that each region is well-represented. However, majority of them are posted in Metro Manila per district (e.g. government offices, Malacañang, Congress, Supreme Court, police districts). They are paid per published submission and are not full-time as they have other involvements (working for Tanod is a sideline). Mr. Landicho made sure to mention that these correspondents are “well-paid in comparison to other tabloids.” Included in Tanod’s roster of correspondents are Marou Pahati Sarne (DWIZ) and Raph Ereña.

Columnists are writers who are well-known in their respective fields but reside mostly in the broadcast media and the academe. Lamberto E. Antonio, Tanod’s managing editor, happens to be an in-house columnist. The special columnist for law is Adrian Sison. Other noted columnists are Rene Jose, Rene Sta. Cruz, Arnold Clavio, Jeffrey Espiritu, Deo Macalma, Señor Pacecho ad Ely Saludar.

Mr. Landicho wished to keep the all of writers’ salaries confidential.

Tanod: Ang Diyaro ng Bayan, was first launched in December of 2003 (approximately 5 years ago) and founded by Rey Anthony G. David, as aforementioned.

The newspaper was first known as “Tanod: Bantay ng Bayan” and it empathized with the ‘barangays’ and the issues that circulated within these communities. Eventually, the management realized that their target market was not genuinely interested in the articles and issues that the newspaper had been tackling and as a result they repacked the newspaper to “Tanod: Diyaro ng Bayan and later to “Tanod: Ang Diyaro ng Bayan.” The new tagline of Tanod which was adopted two years ago implies that the articles are presented in “our point of view” with reference to the writers and columnists. Mr. Landicho emphasized that repackaging was brought about by the readers themselves. The former market would not pick a newspaper that they would learn something from, instead they would opt for the distasteful articles. Unlike most tabloids that were linked to bad connotations such as gossip and scandal-filled articles, they veered away from this perception. He expressed that even pictures that are chosen to be printed out are carefully picked (such as decline from using graphic crime scene pictures). With this, their values of respect and sensibility are upheld.

Mr. Landicho also aims for the newspaper to be read by a wider audience, most especially students. He describes the newspaper as a ‘mouthpiece ng estudyante’ (the mouthpiece of the students) since most of their articles, which are personal opinions expressed by the writer, are directed towards liberal, critical, and open-minded readers. He also states that they are open to the ideas that the youth can share with them.

On a daily basis there is an estimate of 170,000 copies being printed out for circulation, but Mr. Landicho discloses that this “estimation” is merely for advertising purposes. In actuality there are only about 35,000 copies/day being printed and are hardly being circulated around. He explains that selling 15-20 % of the 35,000 copies is an achievement in itself.

Although he is uncertain about the actual number of copies that are being returned, he explains that “lugi ang investors” when this happens. Instead of the newspapers becoming revenue or cash, it is returned, recycled, and reused.

There is only one edition of the newspaper produced daily (including Sundays), and their editorial deadline is at seven in the evening sharp. In addition to these facts, Mr. Landicho further explicates that the newspaper heavily relies on advertisements to earn and to even survive. “Newspaper companies are hard businesses and if you’re expecting a large sum of revenue, it is unlikely. There are even instances wherein pwede pang ma-bankrupt ang kompanya,” he adds. Advertisements do not personally go through him, but the management themselves. Most of their advertisements are government agencies, projects, etc. and as a result, censorship although not blatantly stated is implied.

Mr. Landicho also took a moment to explain the typical Filipino reader thoroughly. He frankly stated that they are non-participative and do not provide newspaper feedback. This makes their practice more challenging and keeps the writers guessing about the true interests of the readers. The D and E crowd are harder to analyze since they are either “ignorant, indifferent, or too involved,” but in order to catch their attention, the newspaper makes use of our native tongue, Filipino, so that it would be comprehensible.

This is not the only problem that they face as also he also points out that, the A-B class do not pay attention to tabloids such as theirs. As Filipinos in general, we ignore our own culture or our own heritage and even look down and frown upon these. This is the harsh reality that they as an organization face everyday. Mr. Landicho envisions and hopes that copies of their newspaper would be extensively dissected within the classroom and that each and everyone’s opinion about the articles and most especially the columns are expressed openly. The newspaper, Tanod: Ang Diyaro ng Bayan, is meant to be an enlightening and educational read for the critical minds readers and most especially students.

The printing procedure is not carried out in the same location as editorial work. The former is conducted by Kagitingan Printing (also the company that prints for the Manila Standard) located at the port area. The newspaper’s measurements are that of the standard tabloid, 11x13 inches (12 pages per issue), although the dimensions were recently made smaller for economic considerations. Since its birth in December of 2003, Tanod has been utilizing digital technology to product their newspaper. Typesetting is stored in CD format while the page layout is created using the computer programs Pagemaker and Adobe Photoshop which are equipped with an image setter option. Tanod no longer uses the camera step because the process is simply PDF file to plate. Stripping is done via digital to negative. Plate making consists of four colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, black), and seven plates are made before the newspaper is printed. The printing procedure begins at about 9:30-9:45 in the evening (“after the lottery draw”) with the use of web-press.