Jessica Soho, Atom Araullo share purpose, advice as journalists in AACA roundtable

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Jessica Soho and Atom Araullo were among the guest speakers at an industry roundtable organized by the Asian Academy Creative Arts (AACA) at the Wynwood Hotel in Pasig City on Thursday.

Among their key topics were their purpose as journalists and the importance of telling the stories of underprivileged and marginalized communities.

According to Araullo, the heart of doing these stories is to shed light on such communities and amplify the voices of their members. 

“But at the same time, kids are a natural well of optimism, and it's always nice to go to the young people because they're not jaded just yet. They say the darndest things and [at] the same time, in a space where it's very easy to fall into kind of despair because especially for the Philippines, we see the same problems again and again throughout the years,” he said.

“So, it's nice to speak to young people, not just because they will inherit the future and they have the biggest at stake, but also because we want to hear from them what the changes they want to see are, and also to kind of get infected with their incorrigible optimism, as it were."

Meanwhile, Soho, who marked her 40th anniversary in the broadcast industry this 2025, shared that the stories themselves drive her to stay.

Per Soho, "it's still the same problem, it's still the same issues" whenever she watches her stories from the past years.

"It's like we're recycling the same issues and problems all over again. We've been accused of doing too much poverty porn but what can we do? It's what stares us in the face," she said. 

“I wish things were better,” she added.

The top Kapuso journalists also gave words of wisdom for young and aspiring journalists.

"I always tell young journalists to not take themselves too seriously. The job, yes, but not themselves. Or maybe just a little, you know, things changed, everything is personality-driven these days, so it's tougher," said Soho. 

“I always tell journalists it’s never about us. Journalism is a far bigger cause than any one of us.”

For Araullo, journalism is among the professions "where you have to really have a strong formation of what it's for and what you want it to be, what it means to you personally." 

“If you're going to go into this business to get popular, to get rich, it does happen to some people, but you have a larger, bigger reason to stick around," he said. 

The event was also attended by GMA executives including AACA Ambassador for the Philippines and GMA Network Vice President for Musical, Variety, Specials, and Alternative Productions for Entertainment Group Gigi Santiago-Lara, Senior Vice President for Public Affairs and Executive Vice President for GMA Pictures Nessa Valdellon, and Officer-in-Charge for Entertainment Group Cheryl Ching-Sy.

Kapuso stars Kyline Alcantara and Christian Bautista also attended the roundtable.

—CDC, GMA Integrated News