Amazing Race: The Philippine Press Edition

I was supposed to post here something yesterday (If I remember it right, something about the over-hyped media coverage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith and the current boycott campaign against Globe) but I was simply deluged by the work we have right now in the office. The February issue of the PJR Reports, promotional work for the Freedom Watch desk of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) and PJR Reports, CMFR's monitoring project of the media coverage of the 2007 elections -- all in this week. (Note to myself: Please do not forget that the annual work for the Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism has just started.) And I should have updated CMFR's website eons ago. To think it's only February. Whew. I feel like a contestant to the "Amazing Race: The Philippine Press Edition."

So, while I'm busy racing against time researching, writing, and editing for CMFR and PJR Reports, I'll leave you with these two interesting news items:

Philippines: Special Courts to try Extrajudicial killings suspects

Manila, 15 Feb. (AKI) - The Philippine government will create special courts that will handle the case of extrajudicial killings in the country. The news arrives as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo continues to keep the Melo Commission report on the issue secret. Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno said the High Court will establish the special courts that will have to rule on the political killings as well as those of members of the press.

The chief magistrate said he had already directed the Office of the Court Administrator to submit a complete inventory of all extrajudicial killings which will include ideologically-motivated crimes and media killings.

Read more here.

And in the war between YouTube and the Boob Tube, which media heavyweight is going to win? The Harris Interactive in the United States clues us in which platform is slowly winning the media battle for hearts and minds.

What happens to people who spend time surfing the popular video-sharing site YouTube? A new poll reveals that many of them end up spending less time in front of the television set.

According to a newly released survey conducted by Harris Interactive, a third of YouTube viewers say they now spend less time watching TV.

With the relationship between the popular site and broadcast television already strained by threats of lawsuits about copyrighted material, the survey’s findings seem to suggest how much of an economic challenge the Internet can pose for the television industry.

Click here for more.