Chronicle

PJI employees get jobs back
Seventy-nine employees won back their jobs in People’s Journal after the Supreme Court (SC) upheld the Sept. 10 decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) to reinstate the group.

Associate Justice Rome Callejo Sr. of the SC first division also affirmed the CA order for People’s Journal Inc. to pay the 79 employees, whose salaries and benefits were illegally reduced despite a stipulation in the company’s collective bargaining agreement.

Accusing PJI of unjust dismissal, the Journal Employees Union filed the case before the National Labor Relations Commission. The union asked for the reinstatement of the employees with full back wages and payment of all other benefits from the day of their dismissal on July 3, 2002 up to the date of reinstatement.

PJI dismissed the employees after they rejected the company’s plan to cut salaries by 40 to 50 percent and to illegally reduce the pay of 50 others.

CyberPress elects new officers
CyberPress, the Philippines’s first information technology (IT) journalism organization, elected its board members for 2006-2007 last Sept. 14 in Makati.

Manila Bulletin’s Melvin Calimag was elected president while Alex Villafania of INQ7.net and Lawrence Casiraya of Computerworld Philippines were both chosen vice president. The other officers elected were Psicom Publishing’s Bing Ramos (secretary), Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Abigail Ho (head, Finance Committee), The Manila Times’s Jing Garcia (head, Membership Committee), and Rory Visco of BusinessMirror (head, Constitutional Amend-ments Committee).

The board also appointed the following sectoral representatives: Jen Rubio of Computerworld Philippines (Trade Publication), Ronald James Panis of Stuff Philippines/PC World Philippines (Print), and, Joey Alarilla of INQ7.net (Online).

Founded 10 years ago by former journalist and current Microsoft Philippines official Sam Jacoba, CyberPress aims to unite journalists from competing publications to make technical information accessible to more readers, educate the public on IT issues, and use technology to make a difference in the lives of Filipinos.

Asia-Pacific Millennium Dev’t Goals Media Awards opened
The 1st Asia-Pacific Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Media Awards will honor distinguished reporting on the eight Millennium Development Goals being implemented in the region.

The Awards, which will support global efforts to reduce poverty and hunger are open to broadcast producers and journalists in print, radio and television covering the Asia-Pacific region. They offer US$7,000 in cash prize, a trophy and a certificate to each 1st prize winner, and to each runner up $2,000, a trophy and certificate.

The MDGs—which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015—form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and leading development institutions.

The Awards aim to generate better awareness and understanding of the MDGs, and motivate journalists from the region to cover stories on how MDGs are being pursued in the region. It is also hoped that media will be stimulated, through the Awards, to become a driving force in accelerating national action toward achieving the MDGs.

The Awards form part of the communication and advocacy strategy being pursued by the United Nations Economic, Scientific and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) under the project, “Supporting the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Asia and the Pacific.”

The first of its kind in the region, the Awards was sche-duled to be formally launched during the South Asian MDG Advocacy Workshop in Kat-mandu, Nepal, on Oct. 11-12. A team of professional interna-tional jurors for each category will select the winning entries in end-March 2007. Criteria will cover accuracy, innovation, clarity, technical proficiency, and overall presentation.

The competition is open to all radio and TV producers/journalists from public service broadcasting organizations, private networks and freelance producers covering the Asia and the Pacific.

For the print category, journalists whether freelance or affiliated or regularly employed in a newspaper or magazine company covering the Asia-Pacific region can participate in the Awards. Entries by participating broadcast producers and journalists should cover the contest year from Jan. 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007.

For radio and TV producers, their entries could include a special report, public affairs program, or a documentary with a length of between 15 and 60 minutes. For print journalists, their entries could include a special report, investigative piece and explanatory reporting with a minimum length of 1,000 words.

Entry forms and contest rules are available on the following websites: www.aibd.org.my and www.unescap.org.

Book on the Internet out
A book on the Internet’s emergence as the new mass medium and its implications for Philippine media is now available.

Internet 101: The New Mass Medium for Filipinos, written by Rachel E. Khan, chair of the Journalism Department of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication, aims to provide readers with a better understanding of this new mass medium.

The book also discusses web issues surrounding this technology such as governance, ethics, cyber crime, and the digital divide.

Khan is also the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility’s coordinator with the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists.

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