UST MEDIA outlet TomasinoWeb has resumed its social media operations following the appointment of its new adviser.
“After a brief hiatus, and following the official appointment of our new adviser, TomasinoWeb, the premier digital media organization of the University of Santo Tomas is now back on all social media platforms,” TomasinoWeb said in a Facebook post on Monday, March 11.
It came nearly a month after TomasinoWeb announced that it would temporarily halt all its social media operations on Feb. 19 due to the resignation of its former publication adviser Leo Laparan II on the same day.
“In view of the resignation of our organization adviser, and following the protocol of the Office for Student Affairs [OSA], our publication on ALL social media platforms will be on hold until further notice,” the campus media said in its advisory posted on Facebook.
Recognized student organizations of the University are required to have an adviser to conduct activities, based on the OSA’s Annex I or Responsible Use of Media.
“In case the organization loses its adviser due to a cause duly approved by OSA, the organization will cease to post anything until such time that a new adviser is appointed,” it stated.
Laparan resigned after TomasinoWeb unpublished its photo showing two students of the College of Information and Computing Sciences entering a 7-Eleven store in their type B uniform. According to him, the campus media entity was “forced” by some administrative officials to take down the photo as it supposedly caused “public ridicule” towards students of the college and the University.
READ: TomasinoWeb adviser quits, decries ‘censorship’
Critics of the photo said the type B uniform of the CICS students resembles the uniforms of the convenience store employees. But TomasinoWeb said the photo was not meant to cause harm.
“We stood up by our decision not to take down the photo. And when we were forced to have it taken down and we could not do anything, I felt my being an adviser (was) irrelevant,” Laparan told The Flame in a previous interview.
“That is a glaring illustration of censorship because there’s nothing wrong with the photo…I’d rather leave to preserve myself…Natapakan ‘yung pagka-journalist ko rito (My being a journalist was trampled upon),” he added.
New adviser
Journalism instructor Nathaniel Melican will succeed Laparan as adviser of TomasinoWeb, campus publication president Jan Carlo Zamora and executive editor Miguel Angelo Sumalinog told The Flame.
Melican teaches journalism courses at the University. Among the subjects he handles are Introduction to Communication and Media, Communication Theory, Media and Society, Data Journalism, Newsroom Practice and Media Management.
Melican also served for BusinessWorld from 2010 to 2011 covering stories on judiciary, defense and labor. From 2012 to 2015, he served the Philippine Daily Inquirer as a Metro reporter.
He obtained his journalism degree at UST in 2008.
In 2019, Melican earned his Erasmus Mundus joint master’s degree in journalism, media and globalization from Aarhus University in Denmark and City, University of London in the United Kingdom.F
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