Journalism Review Archives | Page 74 of 159

House on fire: Sounding the alarm on climate change

THE HOUSE is on fire but no one seems to be hearing the alarm bells. As world leaders convened for the United Nations (UN) Climate Action Summit in New York on September 23, millions of young people all over the world organized a global week of action, putting the...

Remembering Ondoy: Lessons learned, more to do

CHEERS TO media organizations that produced special reports on the commemoration of the tenth year of Typhoon Ondoy, which dumped a whole month’s rainfall in just six hours on Metro Manila and surrounding areas. Philippine Daily Inquirer provided the most comprehensive coverage; its three-part report discussed the improvement of...

Expanded Sotto Law: Limited protection nonetheless

IN 1946, lawmakers passed the Sotto Law or Republic Act (RA) 53 to protect journalists from being forced to reveal their sources. This was the Philippines’ Shield Law, a protection of the practice, providing confidentiality to sources as necessary. Seven decades ago, when print was the dominant medium for...

Nation’s eyes on Congress: Media should help!

WITHOUT MUCH public attention, Congress railroaded a pork-laden budget, but media held back questions both on the speed of approval and dubious cuts and allocations. Voting 257-6 with no abstentions, the House quickly approved the PHP4.1 trillion proposed national budget on September 20. Congress gutted the budget of frontline...

Martial Law Anniversary: Barely in the news, missing the obvious

SEPTEMBER 21 came and went this year without much press attention. The serious lack of interest stirs concern among those who lived through the period. More than four decades after Ferdinand Marcos issued Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire country under martial rule, another president with similar dictatorial tendencies...

Media on the return of polio: Missing the “why” and “how” of it

AFTER NEARLY two decades, the dreaded disease, poliomyelitis or polio, is back in the Philippines. On September 19, the Department of Health (DOH) reported the re-emergence of polio with the confirmation of a three-year-old girl in Lanao del Sur contracting the disease. On the same day, DOH also said samples...

African swine fever coverage: Minimizing panic, identifying lapses

THE DEPARTMENT of Agriculture (DA) confirmed on September 9 that African swine fever (ASF) is in the country. Pigs had been reported dying of then unknown causes, some dumped in major waterways like the Marikina River. Cases of ASF have been reported in 12 areas in Bulacan, Rizal and...

The BuCor controversy: Media must broaden the discourse

HOW DO you solve a problem like the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor)? The BuCor and the jail system it manages have been in dire need of solutions to longstanding and deeply rooted problems. The Senate began marathon hearings on September 2 following the scandalous abuse of the good conduct...

Marginalizing the marginalized: Delayed aid for farmers

IN 2018, typhoons and rice hoarding by cartels led to a rice shortage and soaring rice prices. Government responded with Republic Act (RA) 11203 or the Rice Tariffication Law which removed import quotas on rice and opened the local market to a flood of imported rice. Since its implementation...

Flagging security concerns about Dito-AFP deal

DITO TELECOMMUNITY Corporation, formerly known as Mislatel, signed on September 11 a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) which allows the company to set up telecommunication and internet facilities inside military camps. The consortium, which includes a company owned by the Chinese government,...