Journalist. Change-maker. Fulbrighter.

Christina Durano Butler '10 Researched Social Change and Freedom of the Press in the Philippines

By Texas Christian University

June 17^th, 2021

Christina Durano Butler '10 represents TCU in a hoodie at the top of Mount Apo, the highest peak in the Philippines.

Shifting Perspective

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program never even crossed Christina Durano Butler’s ’10 mind when she enrolled in TCU’s journalism program. “I was laser-focused on what I wanted to do professionally,” she said. “And that was to be a TV anchor in a top 20 market. I wanted to become the next Katie Couric.”

But during her sophomore year, she got to know Ron Pitcock, Ph.D., interim dean of the John V. Roach Honors College, J. Vaughn and Evelyne H. Wilson Honors Fellow, and director of prestigious scholarships, who first mentioned the experience and benefit of earning a Fulbright grant. “At first, I kind of brushed it off and thought, ‘I know what I want professionally, and I don’t need to do it.’”

However, after additional conversations with Pitcock, Butler changed her mind. “The opportunity to explore the world, meet new people and the other opportunities that something like this provides were things that I hadn’t really heard before,” she recalled.

As a Filipino-American, Butler decided to apply for a research grant in the Philippines. “I figured it would give me a chance to explore my roots and a topic I was really passionate about: media as a conduit for social change,” she said.

Vibrant dancers perform at the Sinulog Festival, an annual cultural and religious celebration in Cebu, which Butler attended with several other Fulbright scholars in January 2011.

Butler visits the Philippine-American Educational Foundation, the oldest continuing Fulbright Commission in the world.

Butler immersed herself in the Filipino culture by traveling around the country, including to remote islands without electricity or running water.

As her senior year wound down, Butler battled a host of uncertainties while waiting to hear if she would receive a Fulbright grant. “As an almost-graduating senior, the pressure of not knowing what I was going to do after graduation was killing me,” she recalled.

At one point—as a joke—she even made a cardboard sign she wore around her neck that read, “Do not ask me what I am doing after graduation.”

Butler received a full-sized envelope in the mail from the U.S. Fulbright Commission a few weeks before graduation. When she saw that the first line of the letter inside contained the word “congratulations,” she ran to Pitcock’s office and tore off the cardboard sign triumphantly. “Guess what? I finally know what I’m doing!”

"The opportunity to explore the world, meet new people and the other opportunities that something like this provides were things that I hadn’t really heard before."

Journalistic Style in the Philippines

One month after she graduated from TCU and barely a week into her Fulbright award, Butler had the first of many unique experiences. “I was helping a BBC correspondent cover the 2010 inauguration of the Filipino president [Benigno Simeon Aquino III], conducting interviews and essentially serving as the producer,” she said.

Butler also researched her passion—how media can serve as a conduit for social change—using the Philippines’ 1986 People Power Revolution, a nonviolent uprising to restore democracy to the country, as a case study. “My research was very qualitative,” she remembers. “So I used my journalistic background to conduct interviews with a wide range of sources and dozens of different people from different aspects of Filipino media, politics and society. I talked to them about their firsthand experiences in the Revolution.”

Over the course of her research, Butler even had a chance to sit down with Imelda Marcos, the wife of former Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who abolished freedom of the press and other liberties during his reign.

“It was just unbelievable,” Butler recalled. “I thought the interview would be maybe 30 minutes—perhaps an hour, if I was lucky—but she ended up spending six hours telling me her story! It was such a fun experience being able to hear from someone who played such a pivotal role in history, even though, of course, she’s not on the right side of history.”

For her research, Butler interviewed Imelda Marcos, the wife of former Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whose departure from office in 1986 led to the restoration of democracy in the Philippines.

Reaching New Heights

Butler also made sure to enjoy the time outside of work, becoming close friends with other Fulbright award recipients and Filipino locals.

The group hiked through the jungles of Mindanao to the top of Mount Apo, the Philippines’ highest mountain. “I hadn’t ever climbed a mountain before, and I wasn’t sure what it was like,” she said. “None of us were prepared, but it was so much fun because we were doing it together,” she laughed.

“I grew so much personally and professionally throughout the year. I started at the bottom, having no idea what to expect ... it was worth it in the end.”

The group eventually made it to the summit and watched the sun rise over the clouds. “It felt like the top of the world,” Butler recalled. “In a way ... the hike symbolized the journey that I had been on as a Fulbright scholar. I didn’t know what to expect when I first came to the Philippines, but I grew so much personally and professionally throughout the year. Like in hiking Mount Apo, I started at the bottom, having no idea what to expect, and I struggled, but I made it to the top and it was worth it in the end.”

Butler (second from right) and her friends climbed to the summit of Mount Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippines at 9,692 feet above sea level.

Around the World

At the end of her Fulbright year, Butler was selected by a committee at Fulbright Thailand to present her research at the plenary session of the 2011 Southeast Asia Fulbright Enrichment Conference.

Since then, she has pursued work and academic studies around the world. First, she worked as a multimedia producer for the BBC before earning her master’s degree at Tel Aviv University. She also spent several months working with Syrian refugees in northern Jordan right on the Syrian border. Next, she interned with the State Department in the U.S., got married and moved to China for six years, where she started a journalism program and taught English.

Now, she and her husband live in Manila, Philippines, where she works as a development writer for USAID.

“The Fulbright Program literally changed my entire career trajectory and who I am as a person,” Butler said.

She credits TCU for supporting her growth. “I felt like TCU really emphasized developing the whole person and was so focused on global citizenship, leadership and the responsibility of preparing us to go out into the world,” she said. “It’s such a big world out there; TCU really helped me understand that, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to understand my place in it.”