The Development Communication (DevCom) department of the College of Agriculture hosted the Cagayan de Oro launching of “OUR Mindanao,” the monthly publication of Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center, on February 18 at the GIS Laboratory.

OUR Mindanao is the print publication of MindaNews, an online news service composed of independent, professional journalists seeking to present a mixed balance of reports that depict Mindanao as it truly is.

“This monthly newsmagazine is our attempt to provide readers an intelligent and intelligible discussion on Mindanao’s many faces and facets,” said Carolyn Arguillas, editor in chief.

The publication aims to publish stories that tell of the “lives, initiatives, relationships, issues, pains, dreams and triumphs” of the people of Mindanao, stories that are untapped and buried under the themes of terrorism, war and poverty that dominate Mindanao reporting.

Arguillas encouraged editors, writers, photographers, and students to contribute photos and stories about Mindanao.

She said that while the trend is to move from print to the online media, MindaNews chose to do the reverse coming out with a print publication after having been online since 2002.

“Despite the fact that we already have…24/7 news, 140-character messaging, Facebook and Twitter, we still need to pause and reflect on what is happening around us,” Arguillas remarked.

Present during the launch were members of the media including the president of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club Bobby Goking, Mindanao historian Prof Rudy Rodil, and faculty and students of DevCom.

Dr Ma Theresa Rivera, former DevCom department chair, and Research and Social Outreach coordinator of the College of Agriculture, posed the challenge of making publications like OUR Mindanao mainstream.

“It’s an important resource that should be launched in different universities,” Dr Rivera said, adding that she will be bringing copies of the magazine to the media congress in Manila next week.

“Part of the role of the academe is to help disseminate what Mindanao is.”

OUR Mindanao has been conferred the Ateneo Peace Award by the Ateneo de Zamboanga University, and cited as a Mindanao Peace Champion by the Government of the Philippines–United Nations’ Action for Conflict Transformation for Peace Programme for its accurate and comprehensive media coverage of Mindanao especially in the areas of peace and development.