In its April 1 entry titled “Silly blog concedes writes 30”, the media watchdog wrote, “There’s no going around it, beating around the bush, and running in circles. With bitterness, sadness, and deep regret, we have decided to shut down The Spin Busters. For good.”
Except for the fact that the persons behind the witty blog were anonymous (and therefore deliberately avoiding accountability) I like their scathing criticisms of media.
Erwin TulfoHopefully, this latest controversy involving broadcasters in a government corruption case would result in reforms in the media industry.
A Philippine Daily Inquirer report said three broadcast journalists received payments from National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor), an agency under the Department of Agriculture that was used as conduit for the release of Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) money that went into ghost projects.Melo del Prado
The anomalous operations were the handiwork of Janet Napoles in connivance with lawmakers including Senators Juan Ponce-Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Bong Revilla.
Based on the affidavits of former Nabcor officials Rhodora Mendoza and Victor Cacal, Inquirer named Erwin Tulfo of TV5 and Carmelo del Prado Magdurulang of GMA7. A third broadcaster who allegedly got P2 million was not named in the report although the name is being mentioned in the media circle.
Hildegarde Award for Outstanding Achievement in Print and Online Journalism for VERA Files.
I learned something new last Saturday when I went to St. Scholastica’s College to receive the award together with my colleague, Luz Rimban, for VERA Files.
St. Scholastica cited VERA Files’s stories about victims of Yolanda typhoon being vulnerable to human traffickers. We thank St Scho for recognizing our contribution to the fight against human trafficking which is a modern day slavery.
The wonderful thing about St Scho’s Hildegarde Awards for Women and Media Communication is that, the awardees were not asked to apply. The Mass Communications students monitored all year round TV, Radio, Print and Online. After a thorough screening faculty members and students decide on the awardees.
University of the Philippines students Darlene Cay and Vince Nonato (third and fourth from left) receive the Chit Estella Journalism Award from Roland Simbulan and VERA Files President Ellen Tordesillas (center) along with the panel of judges. PHOTO BY The Plaridel Bulldog
Congratulations to the winners in this year’s Philippine Journalism Research Conference (PJRC) held at the University of the Philippines Wednesday.
The project is commendable because, these days when many people are dismayed by the preponderance of sloppy journalis, it gives importance to research in the practice of journalism.
Aiming to highlight commendable researches of journalism students,this year’s PJRC gave the Chit Estella Memorial Awards for Journalism Research to students with the most excellent work.
I did this article for Rogue Magazine (June 2013 issue). I’m re-printing it here as additional material in the discussion of the recently Supreme Court upheld provision on online libel in the 2012 Cybercrime Prevention Act and President Aquino’s defense of it.
Aquino in Davao Oriental, Feb. 24.President Aquino thinks media owe him.
In all his speaking engagements before media organizations, he has consistently grumbled about what he insists is the Philippine press’ penchant for negative stories, especially those about his government.
“It seems they have become accustomed to criticizing. It seems some are allergic to good news. When they can’t avoid such news, they look for the bad angle,” he told the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas, an association of radio and TV networks, point blank in November 2012.
A few months earlier, at the national conference of the Philippine Press Institute made up of newspaper publishers, Aquino was even harsher: He likened journalists to “crabs” who,he said, would pull down those going up.
The President’s main beef was what he deemed as media’s failure to highlight the accomplishments of his then almost two-year administration. Foreign media cared more about Philippine national interest, he took pains to stress, offering as proof a Newsweek report of the Philippines standing up to China on the conflicting territorial claims and a Time Magazine article that praised “the laggard of Asia (as) recovering the dynamism it had in the 1960s.”
Geography doesn’t matter to Aquino when he feels like bashing media.
SC justices prepare to hear arguments on 2012 Cybercrime Prevention Law . Photo by Yahoo.ph
We did not fully get what we asked Supreme Court regarding the Republic Act 10175 otherwise known as the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 which was to declare the whole of it as unconstitutional primarily because of its libel provisions. But we can live with the Supreme Court decision released yesterday.
We still have to fully analyze the SC decision which upheld the constitutionality of the controversial law but struck down the most odious “take down”provision which empowered the Department of Justice) to restrict or block access to any online post which it deemed violating the law without any court order.
The court also said only original authors of libelous material are covered by the cybercrime law, and not those who merely received or reacted to it. So those who “liked” and shared a libelous online item won’t be punished. Good luck to whoever is tasked to trace the original author after a post is shared and reposted thousands of times.
Illustration from Universal McCannThe latest decision by a United States court on the case of blogger Crystal Cox does not say bloggers are journalists as bannered in the Atlantic.com
Lawyer Harry L. Roque’s analysis of the decision is more accurate: “Bloggers enjoy the same protection as journalists.”
Two weeks ago the Ninth Circuit ruled in the case of Obsidian Finance Group v. Crystal Cox that even though someone might not write for the “institutional press,” they’re entitled to all the protections the Constitution grants journalists.
Judge Andrew Hurwitz said, “the Court expressly noted that ‘we draw no distinction between the media respondents and’ a non-institutional respondent.’”
This is a reversal of December 2011 by a federal judge in Oregon, U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez who said Cox, who styled herself as “an investigative blogger,” was not a journalist and cannot claim the protections afforded to mainstream reporters and news outlets.
The case stemmed from the online articles by Cox against Obsidian Finance Group LLC. She reportedly called Obsidian lawyer Kevin Padrick a “thug and a thief” during the handling of bankruptcy proceedings by him and Obsidian Finance Group LLC.
During the trial, she was asked to name her sources and she sought protection in the Oregon’s shield law not compelling media to produce sources.
VETERAN journalist Eileen G. Mangubat is the 2013 Marshall McLuhan Fellow.
The Embassy of Canada, which is behind the Marshall McLuhan Fellowship, said Mangubat, publisher and acting editor-in-chief of Cebu Daily News, is being recognized for her noteworthy efforts to steer and maintain an independent and professional community press in Cebu. She is the third community journalist to receive the McLuhan Fellowship.
The fellowship, named after the world-renowned Canadian communication scholar, is the embassy’s flagship media advocacy initiative. Launched in 1997 to encourage responsible journalism in the Philippines, the fellowship underlines Canada’s belief that strong media is essential to a free and democratic society.
The program, with financial support from Sun Life of Canada, provides the winner with a study tour to Canada. The winner will also have the chance to sit as a fellow at the McLuhan Institute in Toronto.
This is from Rem’s touching account of the circumstances behind that photo of PO1 Joselito Sevilla, the cop who cried in the midst of a rally dispersal yesterday:
It was a long and tiring dispersal. People were injured. But amidst all of this, I saw a scenario which I thought I will never see during a dispersal….
Compassion amidst anger:A tearful P01 Sevilla is comforted by a protester, part of the group he was supposed to disperse.A foreign protester was berating a policeman asking him why were the policemen hurting the people. Why were they pushing them. The officer simply stood ground and said he is a policeman it is their job to maintain peace and order. That they were given orders and they had to follow.
Suddenly the officer cried. The foreigner kept on shouting at this officer. He was still crying. He was trying to hold his tears but he can’t.
A second round of dispersal erupted and while every other anti-riot policemen are pushing and shoving trying to remove the protesters from the ground, the crying cop simply stood ground. He was still holding his shield firmly. Still weeping. Sobbing.
Social media is flooded with the report on the death of Glee actor, Cory Monteith, who was found dead in his hotel room (Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel) in Vancouver Saturday (Sunday, Manila time) due to drug overdose, news reports said.
Ruben and Tess CusipagBut there’s another death in Canada we grieve over: that of newsman Ruben Cusipag.
We learned about the passing away of Ruben only yesterday from another friend in Canada and we immediately wrote his wife, Tess, who replied: “I am still devastated because it was so sudden. This morning was his funeral so we gave him a good send off. His Upsilon brods gave him their farewell.”
Ruben was a reporter of the Elizalde-owned Evening News before martial law was imposed on Sept. 21, 1972. He was one of the journalists thrown into prison during the early days of martial law.
In late 1974, Ruben immigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto where he published Balita.
Balita was not the usual community paper that chronicled merely the social activities of the Filipino immigrants. As Balita’s profile states, “ Cusipag’s views evolved over time, from assertive politics to a milder apolitical tone, and Balita lived up to its promise to provide frank, sincere, and honest-to-goodness discussion of the Philippine problem.”
