The Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility (CMFR) hosted its annual Jaime V. Ongpin Journalism Seminar in association with National Endowment for Democracy and Ateneo de Manila University, as an advocate of media ethics, press freedom, and excellence in journalism, held online for the second time since the pandemic, on October 14.
Along with 19 other universities from the country and other media practitioners, Komunikator, the official publication of the Department of Communication of Adamson University (AdU), was invited to attend the seminar with 10 slots allowed in the virtual studio.
Komunikator Editor-in-Chief Gabrielle Banan shared her takeaway from the webinar, in which she mentioned that young journalists still have a lot to learn in the journalism field. “As campus journalists or as young journalists, we have a lot more to learn. And learning from some of the people that you know have directly experienced threats or problems, in terms of our issues in the Philippines, in terms of press freedom and journalism, that says a lot in terms of who they are as journalists and as people,” she said.
She added that she liked how the speakers were able to share their goals and approaches.
“I like that they are idealistic with their goals, but they also take realistic approaches,” she stated.
Alexander Inocalla, a media practitioner and an instructor at Adamson University’s Communication Department, who also attended the event, shared his thoughts on the seminar.
“As a part of the media industry, some of their topics would be a great help for the students, but for the people who are already experiencing all of those topics, it can be a bit lacking,” he said.
Inocalla added that in order to train true press freedom, there should be another approach aside from listening to other journalists.
“If it's just listening and understanding other journalists' opinions on the said issues, it would only help widen our perspective a bit,” he said
“We need a more substantial approach and help from other fields if we want to attain true press freedom and clear implementation of media ethics from different networks,” he added.
The event tackled the current state and struggles of news media in today’s society of democracy with eight journalist speakers.
CMFR Founder and Executive Director Melinda Quintos de Jesus hosted the said event and laid down the objectives of their discussion ahead.
She asserted how the webinar is an extension for classrooms, wherein teaching about being a great judge of information would be expanded.
“The JVO [Jaime V. Ongpin Journalism Seminar] is probably the only one of its kind that brings the press and the media audience together to focus on the issues of the press, as well as those of society in general,” she said.
The discussion started with how the panelists continues to be creative to play their parts in society to inform the masses, despite barriers created by different forces.
While recognizing the new ways of relaying information, such as the use of informative memes and interactive data graphics, Edson Guido, head of ABS-CBN Data Analytics team said “the basic principles of truthfulness, accuracy, and accountability should always remain.”
They likewise spoke on how frequently journalists are striked as opposers when they ask pressing questions to create in-depth information that will help the citizens understand the situation.
Despite this, the panelists thought that the restoration of democracy is still in the picture.
“People are willing to set aside their political differences to get a better government to find a way out of this crisis,” Rappler reporter Pia Ranada said.
“I think our role now is really to highlight the challenges and the anomalies that this pandemic is unearthing,” she added.
The CMFR also used the opportunity to acknowledge the win of the journalist and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Russian journalist Dmitri Muratov.
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