In Medias Res Archives | Page 2 of 26

After the Fact: Context is All

By Luis V. Teodoro LYING ABOUT issues and events of public concern has been going on for far longer than most people think. In a world of untruth the news media have two major responsibilities: that they don’t spread lies, and that, armed with the skepticism the power...

“Fake News”: Neither Rare nor New

By Luis V. Teodoro PUBLIC INTEREST in “fake news” surged in 2016 when then candidate for United States President Donald Trump accused a reporter’s newspaper of disseminating false information. President Trump frequently accuses the liberal US news media, particularly The New York Times, of spreading lies about him...

Reading Western Media

By Luis V. Teodoro THE WESTERN media, according to one view, are the benchmarks of accuracy, fairness and impartiality. They are the watchdogs of government, the actions and policies of which they monitor in behalf of the citizenry so that the power delegated to the politicians by a sovereign...

Against Technicism

By Luis V. Teodoro IS THE journalist only a technician skilled in reporting the narratives of the powerful? Or are journalistic skills — the capacity to look for and to tell a story, and to momentarily engage viewers, listeners or readers — only part of the resources he or...

Reforming Government Media

By Luis V. Teodoro THE REFORM of the government media system mostly consisting of radio and television networks has been tried at least once. But an announcement of the government intention to do so also came much later, after three administrations– the Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo regimes– had...

A Journalism of Consent

By Luis V. Teodoro IN HIS book Public Opinion (1921), the US journalist and public intellectual Walter Lippmann argued that for democracy to work, the consent of the governed must be “manufactured” by those who have the interest and the knowledge to look into the complexities of public issues...

Cringe Cringe Mr. President

I cringe every time I hear the president say, “my country” or “my people” when speaking to us and not to a foreign audience. Almost six months in office, the president with his autocratic ways, may be feeling as though, having been elected president, he has acquired us...

Why Only in Albay?
Church Bells Toll Against Killings

Every 9 p.m. in Albay (PDI), church bells toll to call the faithful to collective prayer for an end to drug killings. In a letter read in all the 45 churches in the province, Bishop Joel Z. Baylon, explained the practice as a response to the violence, specifically...

Is it New? Is it Independent?

By Melinda Quintos de Jesus I KNOW I had written about the importance of words, especially in governance. But maybe we are making too much of President Duterte’s words. Maybe we should not take any of it too seriously, these emotional outbursts, even about grave matters, especially when dealing...

War Over Words: Interpreting Mr. Duterte

By Melinda Quintos de Jesus THE BROUHAHA over President Rodrigo Duterte’s reference to Hitler’s Holocaust is not the first in his relatively brief career as a national politician. Perhaps, we can say that his career stands out for number of times his loose tongue has caused furious controversy. We do...