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Monday, September 26, 2005
Editorial: Journalism morphing
“THIS space defunct” could be an epitaph for editorials like this. The days may be numbered for media as the dominant force in setting the public agenda and steering the will of the populace and leadership.
By its official closing last Saturday, the 11th Cebu Press Freedom Week witnessed the strengthening of citizens’ participation in news-gathering and opinion-making, twin areas traditionally monopolized by the working press.
At least three “new” media- citizens-press council, citizen journalists and blogging-are pushing back the boundaries defining and limiting public debate and governance.
But as with any innovation, the new media have to take on social obligations as they pioneer the expansion of the brave new world of journalism.
Watching the watchdog
Three years after its soft launching, the Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC) met last Sept. 21 to plan a campaign for informing the public about this forum for airing grievances against the press, any of its practitioners or outlets.
Elected to lead the council were Dr. Pureza Onate, chairperson of the Cebu Newspaper Workers Foundation, as the council chairperson; Sabino Dapat, president of the Mitsubishi Motors Cebu Corp., as vice chairperson; lawyer Jonathan Capanas, dean of the University of San Jose-Recoletos’ college of law, as secretary; and Fr. Aloysius Cartagenas, rector of the Seminario Mayor de San Carlos, as treasurer.
All four officers are public members. The CCPC has a total of six members representing the public; two for the academe; five for print media; and two for the broadcast industry. Alternates will be appointed for each of the 15 members.
Joining the Sept. 21 meeting were the heads of the different news beats comprising the Cebu Federation of Beat Journalists. It will be submitting a resolution requesting for the federation’s representation in the CCPC.
This and other matters will be tackled in the council’s next meeting on Oct. 20. For the public to monitor the media without infringing on its constitutional freedoms, the council has to be proactive in educating the public about the workings of the press.
Putting the civic in
The tag may sound new but civic journalism has always been practiced by members of the community press that are serious about the modifier qualifying their brand of journalism.
For instance, Sun.Star Cebu has tried to live up to its motto of “covering the community it serves, serving the community it covers” for more than two decades.
According to the Sept. 21, 2005 editorial, Sun.Star’s day-to-day coverage and in-depth perspective-through commentaries, special reports and public issues-has reflected the concerns of ordinary Cebuanos, not just those of influential sectors and institutions.
Without jeopardizing accuracy and fairness, the paper has tried to grow into its role as citizen journalists-not just reporting about the problems of society but helping to draw up solutions-even as it opened more opportunities in the op-ed pages for citizens to mold opinion and contextualize issues.
To promote this interaction between civil society and journalists, the paper has tapped new technologies like e-mailing, texting and, most recently, blogging.
Last Sept. 21, the paper launched its Citizen Journalist blog at www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/cj. Because the reader-written blogs may also be published in the print issue, blogging is morphing traditional associations of newsworthiness and agenda-setting.
In Sun.Star’s Sept. 22 special story, CyberCafe and online editor Max T. Limpag quotes sources that view blogging as shifting power relations, with the former news consumers becoming news providers.
It is now up to both the public and the media to ensure that the new journalists on the block toe the standards and ethics of news-gathering and dissemination.
(September 26, 2005 issue)
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