AFP IMPOSES ANEW MEDIA PROFILING — from PDI reporter Julie Alipala, reporting from Zambo City

In the military’s Western Mindanao Command (WESTMINCOM) camp, reporters are now required to submit to a “profiling” process, according to Inquirer reporter Julie Alipala. For security reasons, they were told. This might be understandable if the reporters hadn’t been covering the camp for years and were familiar with many of the soldiers and the officers there. Some background information is usually asked of reporters who cover international conferences, such as the Asean. But the information does not include such personal details as the number of children one has. What is usually asked of a reporter focus on job credentials, such as the employer’s office address, immediate superior, and phone numbers.

The press is more free in Nicaragua, Kosovo, Thailand, and Malaysia

The Philippine media is not Asia’s most free. The Reporters san Frontiers ranks the Philippines 139th in its 2008 report on press freedom, down from its slot of 128th last year. The Philippines is below Malaysia, Thailand, and even Timor-Leste. It is several slots down from Chad and Sudan, where the report said that “the slender gains of the past few years in Chad (133rd) and Sudan (135th) were swept away by the overnight introduction of censorship.” (click here to read the full report).It is several slots down from “Gabon (110th), Cameroon (129th), Morocco (122nd), Oman (123rd), Cambodia (126th), Jordan (128th) and Malaysia (132nd), [where] it is strictly forbidden to report anything that reflects badly on the president or monarch, or their family and close associates.”
The Philippines is way below Senegal, ranked 86th, and Algeria (121st) where “journalists are routinely sent to prison under repressive legislation that violates the democratic standards advocated by the UN.”

Goodbye, Joegar

The last time I saw him, he looked almost the same as he did, 10, 15 years ago. From what I knew, Joegar was a good man — he didn’t play around, he wasn’t grumpy (many editors are, when they’re at the desk; there’s something about editing that takes the humor out of a person), and he was nice to us correspondents. The last time I saw him I got his phone number and we agreed we should go out for coffee one day.
He passed away last Saturday. “Our former colleague Jo Garcia suffered a heart attack after playing tennis in Laguna,” read the text message I got. “Let’s pray for his eternal peace.” Yes, let’s. One more writer writes -30-. (click here to read the story).

FOCAP letter to Malacanang on the “no political questions” issue

This was the letter sent by FOCAP to Malacanang after Undersecretary Crisostomo told FOCAP that no political questions would be entertained during the scheduled press conference with GMA. I don’t know exactly when this was sent, but the letter was drafted the night before FOCAP was told that Malacanang was resetting the press conference. No date was given as to when the press conference would be. I’m putting it here since it has already been circulated among FOCAP members; several have also written about it.

No political questions…or no questions at all

CLARIFICATION: This is not an official version. This is just added background to what Ellen has written about in her blog.

The Foreign Correspondents’ Association of the Philippines has been trying to get President Macapagal-Arroyo to say “yes” to what used to be a yearly lunch with the President of the Philippines. For the past two or three years, however, Arroyo has been too busy attending to affairs of the State to break bread with FOCAP, although she had time to meet with the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC).

Multimedia in Asian newsrooms

Forum participants growl at their fellow mediamen during an icebreaker...

...while the other side fires at them.

I promised to blog – live – about the 3rd Forum of Emerging Leaders in Asian Journalism. I ended up spending the whole afternoon trying to get a connection and, after that, trying to get into my blog.
Obviously I still have a lot to learn — not just about blogging, but about connecting to the Internet as well. Hahaha!
Here then are notes I took while I was trying to fulfill a promise (which explains why they’re short and incoherent). The afternoon lectures were about telling a story, but telling it using multimedia techniques – sound and pictures in addition to the words.

Should we change the meaning of news?

“The trouble begins with what we define as news. For anything to make it to the TV news, a lot of rich people have to die suddenly, spectacularly and with good visuals. So, even if thousands of children die of diarrheal dehydration every year it is not news because they are poor and they die silently, separately, and scattered in homes across the country.” – Kunda Dixit

What press freedom means in the Philippines

Quezon newsman shot dead – PDI

A coup against press freedom – Business World editorial

A crime to cover – Philippine Daily Inquirer editorial

Makati RTC dismisses media suit

The Makati Regional Trial Court has dismissed a suit filed by media practitioners over the arrest of reporters who remained inside the Manila Peninsula hotel last November, and covered the incident until the end.

I don’t have the details yet, but Ellen Tordesillas has posted the statement of lawyer Harry Roque on her site.

 

Killing people

I can’t go out right now, I have to kill some people.

Typhoon Frank is out there flooding towns and villages, lashing at the farms, whipping up waves at sea. A ferry sank off Romblon province, and hundreds are missing. As a reporter, it is part of my job to find out how many people are dead, missing, and homeless.