The Many Sides of Klink

By Sherri Maigne A. Meneses

     and Guizelle Joy E. Moredo

March 2010

    “All I knew is I wanted to be a writer,” says Klink as he reminisced his childhood. He knew already from the start that he will be in the media. 
    Dante Francis “Klink” M. Ang II is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Manila Times, the oldest English newspaper in the country. He is also the executive editor of The Manila Times and Health Magazine.
    In 1990, he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at Texas A&M University in Commerce, Texas, USA. After graduating from the university, Klink worked as a reporter for the Tulsa (Texas) Herald-Post in 1990-1992. He then worked in Toronto as the foreign information officer at the Philippine Consulate General for four years. Working with the Canadian Media, his duties was to help attract business and tourism for the Philippines.
    In 1997, he returned to join their family business. During that time his father, Dante A. Ang, was the spokesman of then Senator Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Klink worked as her close-in writer for the 2008 presidential campaign.    Klink became the vice-president of Kabayan—a national newspaper inFilipino that his family launched after the said elections.
In 2001, their family company bought The Manila Times. Growing up, he was exposed to the media environment. He never thought of being an executive of a company, a doctor, an engineer, or in any other job other than in media. He is very much focused on his passion which is writing. 
    For the meantime, Klink is on leave from The Manila Times and joined the Ahon Pinoy Partylist (Ahon). Having experienced the life away from his family for years, he knew how hard it was to be an overseas Filipino worker (OFW). He believes that someone needs to represent these heroes.

The Role of Media in Development
    The media greatly influence the public. They should cater the role as a change agent and should be able to help the people change for the better. They are the ones who inform people, make people understand different things, and reflect on what they have seen or heard. The media should always offer something new to the public. That is what pushes Klink to learn many different things every day. 

A Passion for Learning
    In 2005, he finished his MBA degree in De La Salle University in Manila. He believes that learning is a continuous process. One should not stop from learning. He really admires people who wanted to study even after college—the graduate students. They were not obliged to study but they still pursue it. They study not because they have to, but because they want to learn something new and explore more in the field that they have chosen. And as journalists, after learning something new, they communicate what they learn to the people in a way that is simple and understandable. That passion of learning something more, not just for the growth of his abilities and skills, but for the people to learn from them is very admirable.

Learning while Teaching
    “If not a journalist, I would be a teacher.” Klink really wants to learn from, and share many things to people. He did have an experience before as a teacher. And after teaching in The Manila Times School of Journalism, which is now The Manila Times College, he realized the enjoyment he feels every after session of teaching. But if he would be able to teach again, he wanted to teach in a school that their family doesn’t own because he wanted to be treated as an ordinary person. He went to the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) and asked his friend, who is professor there, if he could teach there. However, he was not able to teach in the field of writing. His background in management made the institution assign him to teach in that field. Still, he enjoyed his experiences there. 

The Lighter Side of Klink
    A work of a journalist is not easy. They have to produce something new every day. And there is too much competition in media. Considering those things, do journalists still have time for personal matters? Klink finds it hard to balance his professional and personal matters, especially now that he is into politics. As much as he can, he finds a moment for himself but he admitted that he doesn’t have much of the time. But he knows what to prioritize.
    A media practitioners’ work is very stressful. Klink has his own way of managing stress. He tries not to bring work at home.  Even if he would bring these at home, he would rather not work on these and would just focus on his nine-year old son. He has little time spent at home so he really tries to focus on his family. 

Equipped with Character
    Through the years, Klink became a journalist, a teacher, and now the president and CEO of The Manila Times. With these experiences, he mentioned some of the characteristics that a person must have to succeed in these fields.
    As a journalist. As a media practitioner, he said that one must be fond of reading any kind of material but most especially, one must be interested in news. Journalists should know more in order to share more.
    As an educator. As a teacher, he said that getting as much experience as he can help a lot. He also advised the students to get involved in many activities as much as they can. Time will come and those experiences can really help especially in the real world. He said that one must learn to “juggle several things at once”. It’s okay to prioritize academics but one should know how to balance it with other extra-curricular activities. 
    As a president of a company. This field requires more than skills and brains. Patience, integrity, and hard work—these are just some of the characteristics that a president of any company must have. Moreover, because of too much deadlines, one should also know how to manage time effectively.
    As a man of power. He makes sure that all the people he is handling respect media ethics. He is a strict boss in cases such as envelopmental journalism and plagiarism. Once caught in this practice, the employee is removed from the job—effective immediately. Perhaps this is why he had earned much respect from the people around him.

Love for the Family
    Digging deeper to his personality, he shared some things about him as a husband and a father. Living with another person means a lot of responsibilities. He even shared a simple thought that is applicable to many things in life. He shared that, “in any relationship, one should not think of what is lacking, but think of what else can you give or contribute.” 
    Patience is also important as a partner. Being a father is also important for him. When asked about how he is as a father, he kept it short and simple. “Appreciate the day. He’s my only son, so why waste moments.”

This article was a requirement in DEVC 80 Communication and Society - Personality Sketch (2nd Sem 09-10).