[Inside the Newsroom] Packing list

I write this as I am packing for an assignment next week. I fly out Monday. Two compression cubes, unzipped, lie on top of my drawers. 

I pack the usual things every time regardless of coverage. Dark polo shirts, black merino shirt with a heart on the left side of the chest, water-resistant jacket, three pairs of hiking pants. 

It’s important that they are dark and do not show sweat stains for full days out. I have to look clean and put together but avoid unnecessary attention. Not part of the packing list that I think of as I prepare: Have I forgotten to talk to a source today? Why is this source not responding? Am I making an impossible request? 

Hi, I’m Iya Gozum, and I cover climate and environment for Rappler. 

One thing off my list of things to prepare for this assignment was to ask our managing editor for an increase in gas allowance. When I made the budget request, the United States and Israel had not yet attacked Iran. The driver called to ask if I could shoulder the cost of gas on days of long travels. 

I leave Manila as the newsroom gears up for the long haul of covering the impact of the Middle East war and the oil crisis. Journalists would be familiar with the anxiety in leaving as history unfolds. 

It’ll only be for a week and when we come back, the war isn’t likely to be over. More gas stations may have closed down. Another fuel price hike. Fewer cars on the streets. Reduced hours in malls. Growing frustration in social aid queues. Community pantries may soon proliferate again after founder Patricia Non set up one for drivers. Just as it happened when COVID-19 hit.

I recently got an email from Philippine Airlines. Update on your upcoming flight. I braced for delays, imagined the motions I have to go through to reschedule interviews. Expect the worst, right? I am, after all, a Gen Z reporter who spent the first years in the newsroom during the pandemic. But the email was only selling me a flight upgrade. Upgrade to Comfort Class now in a few clicks.

“The world has changed since February 28,” our executive editor Glenda Gloria says in a message to Rapplers. “It will take months and years to undo the damage.”

But the goal, she says, has not changed. To do the work that “shows why journalism matters especially in the toughest times.” In the meantime, I add a pink polo shirt to my pack for a pop of color. I run down the itinerary in my head. Send in a few follow-ups and hope for the best. 

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– Rappler.com