Top Journalist Karen Davila: Beauty and the Beats
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Anchor Karen Davila on ABS-CBN News’ “Headstart” (Source: Facebook)
“I start my day at 5:30 in the morning for our show Headstart, go out on field one or two mornings a week for May Puhunan, do a radio show every day with DZMM at 4:30, go home to have dinner with my kids, and then do Bandila late night at 11:30. I did that for over 11 years because prior to late night, I was doing TV Patrol already for six years, which was still a different schedule since I did three live shows a day.”
This is how Karen describes her work routine, a dizzying timetable for a homemaker and professional, but one that places her among the very best, most notorious, most hardworking, and admired broadcasters in the country.
Her passion, work ethic, and skill were backed by esteemed mentors and a network that advocated for hard-muscled news and reportage. ABS-CBN Corporation, her home network, was shut down following the Philippine Congress’ decision to not renew its franchise. News continues to be delivered on social media platforms and YouTube.
“The debate now in my industry has transcended beyond gender,” Karen opines. “Women before us have paved the way, especially for evening newscasts. We are paid equally, and we are seen as [equally] valuable as male anchors.”
Aside from her unforgettable work during national election seasons, Karen is also known for her crisis reporting—an element she believes is essential in handling emergencies like the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In 2004, when I joined TV Patrol as the first anchor in 2004, that’s the Quezon landslide where thousands of people died and I was on the ground,” Karen reminisces.
Although she calls for interpretive reporting, Karen believes in starting with the basics. “Get the facts right,” she advised.
“The first step in crisis reporting is to report on what is happening on-ground. You need to give context to what is happening without any analysis or judgment because the analysis comes in later. When you already have enough evidence, that’s when you can report with a particular point of view.
“With Covid as a health emergency, the same thing applies. There's a lot of information coming out. The reporting must be scientific, clinical, and factual. After that, you move on to possible causes and how you can prevent its spread or infection. During this pandemic, I feel that this has been widely practiced in global reportage.”
What Karen believes to have been lacking was a thorough, more accessible reporting and discourse on Covid-19’s effects on people. She cites mental health as an example. “How [did] it affect you emotionally? Physically? How [did] it affect your home, your mentality? How [did] it affect women, for example?”
As a wife and mother, Karen experienced discrimination firsthand when she and her family contracted Covid-19. They were diagnosed after spending a holiday in Boracay. “If my husband announced that he has Covid, people would empathize and wish him a fast recovery. Because I’m a woman, I was blamed for bringing my children on a trip.
“It's about the way we actually look at women. We don't look at women in admiration first. We always look at women to blame. It goes with everything.”
Not even Covid-19 stopped Karen from working. While caring for her children and husband, who were all symptomatic, and recovering herself, she still did Headstart via Zoom, studying in the morning, going live online, and resting after. Karen embraces rest as an essential part of her routine, but she always aims to deliver.
“What I feel though, is that some people come into the industry bearing just beauty, and I resent that. News anchors must have major news track records. It's not about your gender but the work you put in, and I respect people regardless of their gender. But a track record is not in one’s physical appearance; it is with how long and how experienced they have gone out on field. Their blood, sweat, and tears. Some people believe that the female anchor must be soft and nurturing—malambot. I have been open about this, and always will: That is a disservice to journalism.”
“Women always wear different hats,” Karen says. “As a journalist in Headstart, I follow essentially the elements of news and interviews. I get the information, challenge the interviewee, call power into account, call policymakers into account, ask them to explain. You make sure that they’re answerable for what they’ve done. You ask them what they’re about to do because they are answerable to a bigger constituency.
Stereotypes, eternally and essentially the roots of discrimination, are what Karen aims to dismantle by wearing various hats—something she had more time to invest in during the pandemic. She created her own YouTube channel which shifted people’s idea of her from serious and hostile to sensitive and hilarious. “I refuse to be typecasted into just one kind of woman,” she says.
During this pandemic, Karen observed that women generally made good leaders. “I think it’s universal that women leaders have handled Covid better because women are more organized, more decisive. Women don’t just talk. Women have clearer plans.”
As a volunteer for U.N. Women, Davila reports on Mindanao women and gender equality (Photo by Denise Rafaeli Cadorniga | nonviolentpeaceforce.org)
Being on the front seat as history was made, Karen also realized that electing a president on basis of gender is not enough. Being progressive is also important.
“What I feel though, is that some people come into the industry bearing just beauty, and I resent that. News anchors must have major news track records.”
“I want to see women in power because they can contribute so much that men cannot. [I want] progressive women who are open, don't just relish the fact that they are women but already have progressive points of view. In terms of managing health, managing the economy, and even welcoming women into the Cabinet, for example. It's not about gender alone. What is the point of having a woman in power when she ends up being more conservative than a man, or a woman that would support misogynistic points of view.
“Progressive, out-of-the-box, revolutionary thinkers. Women who are bold and courageous. Those are the kind of women we would want.”
Ivan Jim “Ian” Layugan is a writer and researcher currently based in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. He studies gendered impacts during double disasters, especially during the time of COVID-19 with typhoons in the Philippines. He was the national lead for the Philippines for the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore’s “Living with COVID-19 in Southeast Asia” study. He recently participated in a summer program at the Tohoku University’s International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS). Follow him on Instagram at @ivanjimlayugan.
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