International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Publications ISSN (Online): 2581-6187 72 Herman M. Patrimonio and Eva M. Machutes, “Challenges Experienced by Campus Journalists in Copy Reading and Headline Writing in Selected Non-Central Schools in Isabela City Schools Division,” International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Publications (IJMRAP), Volume 5, Issue 10, pp. 72-78, 2023. Challenges Experienced by Campus Journalists in Copy Reading and Headline Writing in Selected Non- Central Schools in Isabela City Schools Division Herman M. Patrimonio 1 , Eva M. Machutes 2 1 Isabela East Central Elementary School, Isabela City Schools Division, Basilan, Philippines, 7300 2 College of Education, Basilan State College, Isabela City, Basilan, Philippines, 7300 Email address: shall_arriola@yahoo.com Abstract—This study was conducted to determine the ‘Challenges Experienced by Campus Journalists in Copy Reading and Headline Writing in Selected Non- Central Schools in Isabela City Schools Division’. A Descriptive Method was used. The respondents of the study were the Forty (40) campus journalists in selected Non - Central Schools in Isabela City Schools Division. The findings of the study revealed that the Copy Reading and Headline Writers in selected Non - Central Schools in Isabela City Schools Division are experiencing ‘very seriously difficult’ in terms of Content - Copy Reading and Headline Writing. The Copy Reading and Headline Writers in selected Non - Central Schools in Isabela City Schools Division are experiencing ‘seriously difficult’ in terms of Coaching and Assessment Scheduling and Resources in Copy Reading and Headline Writing.’ Moreover, there are no significant differences between the challenges experienced by campus journalists in Copy Reading and Headline Writing in Selected Non - Central Schools in Isabela City Schools Division if classify according to age and gender. Hwoever, there are significant differences between the challenges experienced by campus journalists in Copy Reading and Headline Writing in Selected Non - Central Schools in Isabela City Schools Division, if classified according to ethnicity and grade level. Keywords— Challenges, Journalist, Copyreading, Headline Writing, Isabela City. I. INTRODUCTION The Philippine government institutionalized journalism competitions in the elementary and high school levels in 1991 and Department of Education (DepEd) is the lead government institution to sponsor periodic competitions, press conferences and training seminars in which student-editors/writers and teacher-adviser of student publications in the elementary, secondary and tertiary levels are mandated to participate. These competitions begin at the institutional levels and shall culminates with the holding of the annual national elementary, secondary or tertiary School Press Conferences (Republic Act 7079). Campus journalism is something that embraces all forms in and through which the news and comments reach the public. It also serves as an aid to develop students’ power to observe and to discriminate relative merits of news articles. Furthermore, school journalism is a publication of different ideas that creates and expresses school opinions about the things that happened, happens, and will happen in the nearest future which, in turn, expands the students’ capability to criticize and comment on one’s writing which connotes to the students’ reimbursement that helps them become better critics and commenters in some way [2]. It serves as a means to strengthen ethical values and encourage the creative and critical thinking of the Filipino youth which helps in developing the personal discipline and moral character of the young students. Moreover, it is also considered one of the most effective means of teaching students basic and advanced writing techniques and inculcating in them the values of work and fair judgment. It is a good training ground or pool for future journalists or at least writers. Through the school paper, students writers are also to develop their skills and enhance their craft [5]. Editing a copy is not just a simple task of correcting errors in grammar and facts because unchecked data, which are often injected in the copies submitted by neophyte writers, if unnoticed, could put both the story and the paper in the bad light. Copy readers use pencils to draw copy reading symbols on the story they are given and at the end, every single page of the story or article would be filled with lines, circles, arrows and other symbols or marks indicating the needed corrections [1]. Moreover, good copyediting is essential to any publication, and good copyeditors are extremely valuable. They can lift the quality of the publication in ways that no other journalists can match. A copyreader must be an expert in mastery of the language from rules of grammar and punctuation to the nuances of meaning which is the basic skill necessary for good copyediting and headline writing. Copyediting is more than just fixing the mistakes in a story or articles. However, a copyeditor must have the courage to decide when a story or article is incorrect or when it has the wrong emphasis, and he or she must take on the responsibility of putting it right [9]. The term journalist refers to women and men who are educated and trained to gather, select, write, edit and disseminate information. Accordingly, professional journalists, unlike citizen journalists, produce their stories under prescribed professional conditions of objectivity, neutrality, balance and fairness. This ensures that citizens get quality information which would enable them to exercise their democratic rights. Citizen journalists are excluded in this definition because the information they disseminate to the people is basically unedited information which is most likely the personal opinion of the producer [7]. The ability to select quality information which would enable the public to make informed socio-political decisions is all the more imperative in the 21st century where the journalism landscape has become complicated because of an information overload [7]. The abundance of information calls for a journalist who is: A filter, as well as a transmitter; an organizer