People have the right to speak and to know about important issues regardless of social status in the exercise of true democracy. The true concept of the so-called “democracy” can only be fulfilled if people have a medium where they can access information without being prejudiced. The freedom of the fourth estate or the “press” from other governing bodies plays a vital role in how to achieve the true concept of democracy. The press helps in letting necessary information and stories be heard by ordinary citizens and even people in authority. 

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But what if the avenue of information is in danger of being suppressed and the flow of information would not be able to get to the people who need to hear it?

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The freedom of the press is aligned with how people exercise their freedom of expression and information in a democratic country. This issue of attacks to press freedom seems to be an old story and has been part of Philippine history.

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But as the saying goes, “history repeats itself.” Recent attacks to press freedom kept on happening and just like the old times, people were aware of it but chose not to deal with it. We are fully aware of the struggle and constant fights of the media to get rid of the boundaries preventing them from unveiling stories that the public needs to know. 

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To get the issue into the spotlight again, we have interviewed aspiring media practitioners from the College of Communication. 

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Mary Grace Pineda, a third-year Journalism student from the College of Communication, bluntly shares her insights about the attacks on the freedom of the press in the Philippines. 

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According to her, the media is being reprimanded for imploring and exploring its duty to report the truth and nothing but the truth, which is completely unreasonable. Due to numerous reports of killings aside from reported deaths of some journalists, the Philippines has been noted as one of the most dangerous and deadliest countries for journalists in Southeast Asia. 

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Despite being a democratic country, it is indeed an irony to get the Philippines at that spot since democracy beholds its true essence from freedom of the people to know their rights.

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“Press freedom is walking on eggshells because it is pressured, doubted, charged, censored, and attacked,” she added.

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Communication Research student Jimmy Santiago III also shares his insight about the attacks on the freedom of the press in the Philippines.  

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“Media killings are still rampant up to this moment and these killings aim to silence the media and bury the truths that they are carrying,” Santiago said. 

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According to him, during Arroyo’s term, 32 journalists were killed. The same goes with Aquino’s regime which also logged 32 media men deaths. 

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Up to the present, there are already 13 journalists killed, adding to the 64 in the past regimes, not to mention the death threats journalists and media men have been receiving through the years.

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It is now hard to inspire and shape people’s opinion since most of the people labeled media organizations and some journalists as biased whenever the news are opposing their beliefs and opinions. Although it is the right of every individual to support whoever they want, it should be their responsibility to be skeptical and open when it comes to critics. 

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The concept of biased reporting is distorted and people must learn how to distinguish biased from balanced reporting.

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“This could be the result of great strategic communication for public relations,” Santiago uttered. 

When asked about any particular issue of press freedom attack that has caught their attention in the past few days, Pineda pointed out the issue about ABS-CBN franchising renewal. 

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The government declined the renewal of its franchise despite the pandemic.

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She also added that Filipinos need to be more attentive and objective when it comes to this kind of issue more than ever, since this is a threat to the free press and to their rights. 

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This kind of restriction against the media is not a coincidence, it happened at the same exact time where the widest and farthest reach of audiences across the country needed access to information.

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As these two students from the College of Communication at PUP try to adhere and speak their thoughts about press freedom, it is every Filipinos’ duty to preserve their rights and be skeptical.