Pinoy Blog Machine (Beta)

Just read Caloy Conde's post pointing at David Carr's story on how US papers have lost their value by as much as 20 percent in the last two years. I couldn't agree more with Caloy's observation that Filipino newspaper owners and editors can learn much from the experience of their First World counterparts.

David Carr's story and Caloy's post reminded me of my earlier plan to subscribe to some RSS feeds of US-based media writers. Thankfully, Journalism.org has a list of US-based media writers and columnists, as well as media ombudsmen and reader representatives. Here in Manila, among the Manila-based newspapers, it is only the Philippine Daily Inquirer that has an ombudsman (veteran journalist Lorna Tirol, who was also a former editor of the PJR Reports). Bravo, Inquirer.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know, community papers in the country neither have ombudsmen or nor reader representatives.

Here's the list of media writers and ombudsmen in the United States as provided by Journalism.org. And yes, I already subscribed to some of them. Read them, and learn.

Truthiness? Lincolnish? And to think I still have to know the meaning of the word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Heck, I can't even pronounce it.

According to Dictionary.com, here are the Words of the Year 2006, from three categories:

- The top voted-on words for 2006 (196,848 total votes)
- The top 10 looked-up words on Dictionary.com for 2006
- The top 10 looked-up new words on Dictionary.com for 2006 (words only found in Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English)

Top Voted-on Words	Top 10 Looked-up Words	Top 10 Looked-up New Words
truthiness *	love	sequitur
lincolnish *	affect	figurative language
Wikiality *	effect	metrosexual
it-getter *	good	in lieu
grinchitude *	beautiful	conversate
factinista *	metaphor	verbal irony
superstantial *	integrity	impactful
love	experience	barista, barrista
sex	irony	primary source
defenestrate	happy	queif
antidisestablishmentarianism
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
ubiquitous
juxtapose
Google
pneumonoultramicroscopic- silicovolcanoconiosis
serendipity

* too new to be in "the dictionary"

From Freedom Watch:

Case against suspected killers of journalist reopened

A resolution by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on 16 January 2007 ordered the reopening of the murder case against the suspected killers of radio broadcaster Rolando Ureta, who was killed on 3 January 2001 in Aklan, a province south of Manila.

The defendants’ alibis were insufficient, said the DOJ in reversing the 6 December 2004 dismissal of the murder case against them. It directed the Aklan provincial prosecutor to file the appropriate charges against Amador Paz and Jessie Ticar.

Read more here.

From Freedom Watch:

Did Arroyo order the closure of two ABC-5 shows and Newsbreak?

Did the government order the closure of two critical public affairs shows on ABC-5 and the hard-hitting Newsbreak magazine?

TV Patrol World, the primetime newscast of ABS-CBN, reported yesterday that the two current affairs shows on ABC 5, Frontlines and Metro, were "taken off the air after the television network's owner was implicated in the attempted coup d'etat last year."

"The ABC 5 staff was surprised to learn that network boss Antonio 'Tonyboy' Cojuangco had ordered the cancellation of 'Dokyu' and 'Frontlines,' programs known for their sometimes hard-hitting comments against the administration," ABS-CBNNews.com reported. The report said that justice secretary Raul Gonzalez denied that the government had influenced Cojuangco's decision.

Read more here. The post also carried links of the ABS-CBNNews.com story on the issue, the editor's note of Marites Vitug (Newsbreak editor in chief) explaining their reason for stopping the print edition of the magazine, and the ABC-5 official statement as posted in the blog of network senior reporter Jove Francisco.

In reaction to the counterclaim filed by presidential spouse Jose Miguel Arroyo last January 9 against the class suit lodged by journalists against him last month, the journalists involved in the lawsuit came out with a statement today.

Journalists insist press freedom is the issue; shrug off FG's motion to dismiss class suit
Source: Freedom Watch

“Our suit is meant to defend press freedom and democracy. Mr. Arroyo’s motion to dismiss is focused on technicalities and based on a wrong interpretation of the rules."

THE JOURNALISTS suing First Gentleman Mike Arroyo for abuse of right and for violating their right to the free exercise of their profession shrugged off Mr. Arroyo's Motion to Dismiss their complaint, and maintained that their suit is meant to defend press freedom and democracy against Mr. Arroyo’s efforts to undermine both.

Read more here.

According to the Reporters Sans Frontieres, 2006 was the worst year for the press in more than a decade. Not surprisingly, the Philippines was again cited as among the world's most dangerous countries for journalists. Will this year be just like 2006 for the press?

Press Freedom in 2006

81 journalists killed - the deadliest year since 1994
56 kidnapped, mostly in Iraq and the Gaza Strip


In 2006
- 81 journalists and 32 media assistants were killed
- at least 871 were arrested
- 1,472 physically attacked or threatened
- 56 kidnapped
- and 912 media outlets censored

In 2005:

- 63 journalists and 5 media assistants were killed
- at least 807 were arrested
- 1,308 physically attacked or threatened
- and 1,006 media outlets censored

The deadliest year since 1994

At least 81 journalists were killed in 2006 in 21 countries while doing their job or for expressing their opinion, the highest annual toll since 1994, when 103 died (half of them in the Rwanda genocide, about 20 in the Algerian civil war and a dozen in former Yugoslavia). 32 media assistants (fixers, drivers, translators, technicians, security staff) were also killed 2006 (only five in 2005).

Iraq was the world's most dangerous country for the media for the fourth year running, with 64 journalists and media assistants killed. Since fighting began in 2003, 139 journalists have been killed there, more than twice the number in the 20-year Vietnam War (63 killed between 1955 and 1975). About 90% of the victims were Iraqis. Investigations were very rare and none were completed.

Unlike other organisations, Reporters Without Borders includes journalists in its death count only when it is certain that their deaths are linked to their work as journalists. Dozens of other cases have not been included because investigators have not yet determined the motives or because it is clear that they were not related to the issue of press freedom.

The second most dangerous country was Mexico, which also moved ahead of Colombia as Latin America's deadliest place for the media. Nine journalists were killed there in 2006 because they were investigating drug trafficking or reporting on violent social unrest. US cameraman Brad Will was shot dead in late October in turbulent Oaxaca state, where strikes often degenerated into armed clashes, and other journalists were injured there.

The body of journalist Enrique Pera Quintanilla, editor of the monthly Dos Caras, una verdad, was found by a roadside in the northern state of Chihuahua in August. The paper specialised in reporting on unsolved murders and drug trafficking.

The situation in The Philippines was grim too, with six journalists killed (compared with seven in 2005). Fernando Batul, a commentator with the radio station dyPR, was shot dead in late May as he was going to work on Palawan Island, southwest of Manila. The authorities said he was killed because he had criticised a brutal policeman, who was subsequently arrested and will shortly be tried. The March 2005 killers of anti-corruption columnist Marlene Esperat were jailed for life. But those punished were only triggermen and those who ordered the killings are still walking free. However, in a country where impunity is the rule, the trial and sentences were a good precedent.

Three journalists were killed in Russia, making 21 since President Vladimir Putin came to power in March 2000. The murder in October of reporter Anna Politkovskaya, of the weekly Novaya Gazeta and a Chechnya expert, was a reminder that even the best-known journalists with major international support do not escape such deadly violence. Pressed by democratic countries to find and punish the culprits, the government has assigned a team of 150 detectives to the case.

Press freedom shrank further in neighbouring Turkmenistan, with the crackdown on independent media reaching a peak in September when the family of Radio Free Europe correspondent Ogulsapar Muradova announced she had died in prison, three months after being jailed. Despite repeated demands by the European Union, the authorities did not investigate her death.

In Lebanon, a photographer and a TV technician were killed by Israeli bombing during the war with Israel. A dozen journalists were injured or wounded during the fighting in the summer.

Violent election clashes
Over 1,400 physical attacks or threats were recorded by Reporters Without Borders in 2006, which was another record. Many of them were during election campaigns in various countries.

Attacks on journalists in Bangladesh, already routine, became daily at the end of the year, a few weeks before key parliamentary elections, and were carried out by security forces and political party supporters.

A dozen countries in the Americas held important national elections during the year. Reporters Without Borders had registered more than a dozen physical attacks on journalists and another dozen threats to them in Peru by early March, a month before presidential elections,. In Brazil, a daily paper's offices were ransacked on election day by supporters of a local politician in the southern town of Marilia.

Supporters of the two main presidential candidates in the Democratic Republic of Congo - outgoing President Joseph Kabila and his rival Jean-Pierre Bemba - regularly attacked journalists they accused of sympathising with the "enemy camp." A visiting foreign reporter was deported in both Uganda and Ethiopia at election time.

Belarus cracked down on journalists and regime opponents a few days after President Alexander Lukashenko's reelection in March, and a dozen local and foreign reporters were physically attacked, including Olga Ulevich, Russian correspondent of the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, whose nose was broken when plainclothes police beat her up.

Censorship and arrests still very common
Cases of censorship were slightly down - 912 against 1,006 in 2005, when Nepal had the worst record. The ceasefire there in mid-2006 gave the media a break, with the release of imprisoned journalists and many local radio stations able to freely broadcast again.

Thailand recorded the most cases of censorship. After a military coup in September, more than 300 community radio stations were shut down along with several Internet websites. Things returned to normal after a few weeks.

It was impossible to get exact information on censorship in China, Burma and North Korea, countries where blanket measures were taken against the media, affecting dozens and even hundreds of outlets at the same time.

The Internet was tightly controlled in some countries. Reporters Without Borders issued a list in November of 13 "enemies of the Internet" (Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam).

Bloggers and cyber-dissidents in these countries were regularly thrown into prison for expressing their opinions online. Websites were closed down, made inaccessible or filtered and discussion forums had especially critical messages deleted.

About 30 bloggers were arrested during the year and held for several weeks, notably in China, Iran and Syria. Egypt appeared for the first time on the "enemies of the Internet" list for its growing crackdown on bloggers who criticised Islam or President Hosni Mubarak.

At least 871 media workers were detained around the world in 2006, some for just a few hours and others sentenced to many years in prison.

The jailing in China of Zhao Yan (for three years) and Ching Cheong (for five), both of them working for foreign media, drew strong international protests. The appeals against their sentences were not even heard by a court, depriving them of a chance to defend themselves.

The death of Turkmenistan's "President-for-Life" Separmurad Nyazov in December could end the repression of journalists and human rights activists. Two of them, Annakurban Amanklychev and Sapardurdy Khajiev, were given prison sentences of six and seven years in June for helping a foreign journalist doing a report on the country.

Burma's famous journalist and pro-democracy activist, Win Tin, began his 18th year in prison. He was awarded the 2006 Reporters Without Borders - Fondation de France prize for his fight for freedom of expression.

An extra worry: journalists being kidnapped
For the first time, Reporters Without Borders recorded in detail the number of journalists kidnapped around the world.

At least 56 were kidnapped in 2006 in a dozen countries. The two riskiest places were Iraq, where 17 were seized, and the Gaza Strip, where six were kidnapped. All those seized in the Palestinian Territories were freed, but six in Iraq were executed by their captors.

Reporters Without Borders met Iraqi President Jalal Talabani at the end of the year and urged him to put a stop to such incidents. A mission also went to Gaza to ask Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and leaders of the main Palestinian factions to see that their supporters and the general population did not interfere with media workers.

Journalists who are set to file a civil class action suit today on behalf of the Philippine press against presidential spouse Jose Miguel Arroyo updates its pooled editorial on the issue. Check out the new editorial here.

Today, the press proudly says to First Gentleman Mike Arroyo: Enough!

From Freedom Watch:

Fighting Back

Journalists who are filing today a class action suit on behalf of the Philippine press against presidential spouse Jose Miguel Arroyo have just released a pooled editorial, criticizing Arroyo's suits as having an effect on press freedoom.

"The class action suit does not dispute the right of Mr. Arroyo to file libel charges against anyone he believes has wronged him through a libelous imputation. Journalists are also aware that libel suits are part of the media territory," the editorial stated. "But the sheer number of suits he has filed (10 against 45 respondents) suggests that these are primarily intended to intimidate the press and silence criticism."

The editorial was prepared by the journalists who are set to file the class action suit, 23 of which have been sued for libel by Mr. Arroyo. Other journalists and media organizations, such as the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, joined as petitioners to the suit.

Click here to read the editorial.

Alex Adonis's case reflects two things: that libel should be decriminalized in the Philippines, and that something must be done to improve the meager salary of Filipino journalists. To think that Adonis has spent 18 years in the profession, and yet he only gets P7,500 a month from previous employer Bombo Radyo Davao, most likely not enough for his family's expenses. (Adonis has a wife and two children.)

But when you think about it, how many media organizations in the Philippines have the capability to improve the salaries of their journalist employees? Some organizations don't even pay their employees on time. Some don't even pay at all.

No wonder corruption in the media in the Philippines is quite rampant. This can be partly attributed to the sad economic plight of the journalists.

Jail for journalist charged with libel
Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility

For failing to defend himself in court because he could not afford a lawyer, a radio broadcaster from Davao, a province located south of Manila, has been convicted of libel and is now serving time in jail.

Libel is a criminal offense in the Philippines.

Alex Adonis, who used to be a commentator of dxMF Bombo Radyo (Booming Radio), was convicted of libel by Regional Trial Court Branch 17 Judge Renato Fuentes and sentenced to four years and six months in prison.

The libel case was filed by Davao First District Representative Prospero Nograles, who is also the house majority floorleader, in October 2001, because of a report by Adonis.

Adonis had claimed that the congressman was seen running naked in a Manila Hotel shortly after the husband of a woman he was having an affair with caught them in bed. Nograles denied the allegation.

Fuentes, however, acquitted Adonis’ co-accused, Dan Vicente, the station manager of Bombo Radyo General Santos, a province of South Cotabato, located south of Davao.

Online publication Mindanao Times reported that Fuentes absolved Vicente due to the death of the prosecution’s primary witness who heard the Vicente and Adonis broadcast.

Adonis, who has spent 18 years in the media industry, failed to defend himself in court and the verdict against him was promulgated in absentia.

He was arrested by the police in the Bangkerohan Public Market of Davao City while he was visiting his mother on 19 February 2007.

Davaotoday, an online publication, reported that financial woes were a major factor in Adonis’ conviction.

Read here for more.

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The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet. - James Oppenheim, short-story writer, novelist, poet The secret to happiness is not to get what you want, but to want what you already have. If you think about ...

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I'm supposed to be studying for my exams. Really though, I am. But seeing my Y!mailbox shooting up to 90% full, I knew I should at least delete a few thousand of the mail I left lying around over the years. Yes... YEARS... I have had that particular address for around 9 years. Ever since I was in grade 5. Yep. The e-mail address was actually assigned by my computer teacher before. We had a

I have decided:  I will love Marius no more.

I will not let myself waste my affections in someone who thinks to invest his affections in another person is a waste.

I will not risk hurting myself by loving someone who wouldn’t even dare risk hurting himself for the sake of love.

I will not suffer anyone who would not dare to be fearless.

Love is a decision and I choose not to love him anymore.

A friend even suggested that I could just continue loving him but, at the same time, not to expect to be loved in return.  I think I would be a hypocrite and unfair to myself, if I accept such terms.

Marius, I hope you’re reading this entry.  May you realize how much you have lost when you’ve chosen the middle ground.

You can watch the video above by clicking the play (>) tab

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.

- James Oppenheim, short-story writer, novelist, poet

The secret to happiness is not to get what you want, but to want what you already have. If you think about it, most discontent grows from want. We want more stuff, more excitement, more pleasure. When we don't get those things, we're resentful and unsatisfied. Take away the want, and you take away the unhappiness. When your quality of life is tied to your desires, fulfillment is a shadow that escapes your view. Like trying to imagine a new color, the harder you look, the harder it is to see. Does this mean you stop setting goals and striving for a happy family and better life? No. It means you can appreciate life regardless of the outcome. It means you can relish the pursuit while accepting the possibility of failure. It means you can still enjoy the ride. Happiness is not a destination - it's a way of life.

 

 

I hate the day today. Need to sleep. Maybe it’ll change somehow.