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2024-03-19

Testimony, in the first person, from our Student Afonso Rodrigues from the 3rd year of the Journalism Degree - 2023/2024

Participating in the 5th Congress of Journalists was an incredibly enriching experience that involved much more than the days of the Congress...

To participate, it was necessary to go through a series of training courses given by Cenjor, which took place in various parts of the country, such as Leiria, Coimbra and Viseu. For me, of course, who was assigned to the Center group (the trainees were distributed by zones). After attending the training courses, it was necessary to take advantage of them so that a selection could be made of the students who would effectively integrate the internal editorial staff of the V Congress of Journalists. I, on behalf of the Instituto Superior Miguel Torga, was part of what was the multiplatform editorial office of the Congress: I started by working for the website, but from the moment I set foot in São Jorge, Reinaldo Rodrigues drew me into photography , and as such, I ended up doing photojournalism during the entire Congress, something I didn't mind at all, because I have a penchant for photography and even this episode made me rethink and I considered my career in photojournalism.
During the Congress I had the opportunity to really feel what a newsroom is, how the work of a journalist, in this case, a photojournalist, works. I had already completed a POPP (Professional Practice Observation Programme, promoted by my course) at Antena 1 (Coimbra), but it was different there. I remember, for example, a moment when the Minister of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, entered the newsroom and all the photojournalists, in panic and euphoria, ran to grab their cameras, as if they were weapons and we were in a war context: Wow...it was intense. Furthermore, when the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, arrived at Cinema São Jorge, I, who was on the front line, had to fight for my position to take “that” photo, capture the moment, that photograph that everybody wants. Between pushes and insults, I even had to pass under the legs of a cameraman, which had its fun..., and, already close to the President, I was repeatedly removed by his personal security, something that was visible in the issuing of the RTP3 and it made my family laugh when they saw me at home.
In addition to these stories, I had the opportunity to meet some personalities from the media world, namely the President of the Journalists Union, Luís Simões, João Porfírio, from Observador, Manuel de Almeida and António Cotrim, both from Lusa, people with whom I maintain contact and with whom I speak occasionally, as I am doing my internship at Agência LUSA. The Congress was an event that opened my eyes to the reality of journalism and allowed me to create a network of contacts, as well as friends with whom I intend to work in the future.
In short, from the Journalists' Congress, I gained an experience that will certainly contribute to my professional future and that served as an entry platform into the real world of work. It was a driving event and for all intents and purposes, it worked, and from which I got as much as possible, between effort and sweat, I am proud of my work, which was even published on the Ministry of Culture's channels, which concluded my experience with golden seal. Thank you to Instituto Superior Miguel Torga!

Afonso Rodrigues (Text and Images)
3rd year Journalism Degree at Instituto Superior Miguel Torga
2023/2024