On Monday, April 17, Plumang Bughaw shed light on how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the dynamic of journalism in the Philippines with first-hand insights from media practitioners. 

 

The first speaker of the event, Justine Emmanuel Dizon, the officer-in-charge of the News and Current Affairs Department of the Central Luzon News and Current Affairs (CLTV36), said that the ongoing challenge for media workers is how they can continue to do their job without sacrificing their lives. 

 

“Before, during press conferences, siksikan ‘yong mga tao, ngayon iba na ‘yong mga considerations. As journalists, we should understand that it is not safe for us, and it is also dangerous for our friends, for our families na kasama natin sa bahay.” Dizon said.

 

“There is no story worth dying for. We really have to protect ourselves. We do not want to add to the tally, and we do not want to add to the number of casualties,” he added. 

 

Dizon also focused on how journalists should cover and give proper context to the current situation, especially when COVID-19 is a relatively new phenomenon. 

 

“It’s very important to challenge the statements coming from different sectors but most especially from those who are in power. Tayo lang din naman ang may kakayahan to ask the tough questions dun sa mga nanunungkulan.” Dizon said. 

 

The second speaker, freelance journalist and development practitioner Raizza Bello, said that the press has been “constantly attacked for years and years.”

 

“Maraming napapatay talaga na journalists at hindi ito nabibigyan ng hustisiya or tamang proseso. We have many cases like that,” Bello said. 

 

The shift to an online setting because of the pandemic has neither helped nor eased the situation for journalists and posed a great challenge for media workers, especially with the prevalent disinformation online. 

 

“Kahit na we do fact checks, work out the truth in our reports, maraming trolls. Nakikita natin ’to sa social media. Nakikita natin na nag-increase ang online and offline harassments to the journalists,” she said. 

 

“Maraming ring retrenchment na naganap sa industria. ABS-CBN is one blatant example,” she added.

 

 ABS-CBN was forced to go off-air last May of 2020 when the National Telecommunications Commission issued a Cease and Desist Order against the company. Lawmakers denied the network’s bid for a franchise renewal— a decision condemned by many for being politically motivated.  

 

But Bello said that the good outcome of having to shift to online platforms is that there is now a more community-centered approach in journalism during the pandemic.

 

“Nagkakaroon ng ownership ‘yong mga campus journalists, community journalists, at ‘yong mga citizens to tell about their own stories and their own issues, at their own time,” Bello said. 

 

Samantha Bagayas, a community and civic engagement specialist at Rappler, highlighted the state of campus journalism during the online seminar. She stated that student journalism is “entering a new age because of the limitations given by the pandemic.” 

 

“We rely so much on social media to gather information, to get reports, or even use social media to bring reports closer to our communities,” Bagayas said. 

 

She also underscored the role of campus journalists in shaping the news agenda. 

 

As an example of this, Bagayas mentions UE Dawn, a student publication from the University of the East that was forced to apologize for posting statements against the Duterte administration. This quickly went viral through the alerts given by another resident publication of the same university and was covered by several news sites, giving way for other universities to write statements in support of UE Dawn.

 

“We shouldn’t underestimate the role of student journalists in reporting the different nuances or the different things happening in our community,” Bagayas said.

 

Plumang Bughaw is an annual journalism seminar and workshop hosted by The Adamson Chronicle where campus journalists from different schools across the country gather and invite people of the media to come and speak about the journalism and media world. 

 

The Plumang Bughaw VII is still up and available for viewing on The Adamson Chronicle’s Facebook page.