Monitoring news media coverage of the elections; and why journalists should blog

What a tiring day. We just held earlier our round table discussion on monitoring the news media coverage of the elections. Will update you on what happened. Right now, I just want to sleep -- except I have to finish something for Mr. Vergel Santos first (about it, won't tell you that yet).

Anyway, here's Tarra Quismundo of the Philippine Daily Inquirer reporting on the forum:

Media watchdog monitoring poll coverage
Source: Inquirer.net

Underlining the media’s role in helping the electorate vote correctly, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) has begun a three-month review of the election reportage of leading media outlets in order to assess their performance in this election.

Despite limited manpower and resources, the CMFR has started monitoring the election coverage of three major dailies and six television news programs, reprising its effort during the 2004 elections.

“It’s important because we want to know how the media are providing the public the information it needs so that it can make informed choices. The usual complaint in the Philippines is that we haven’t been choosing our leaders very well, so one of the ways the media can help in that area is by providing the information that the people need,” CMFR deputy director and journalism professor Luis Teodoro said.

Read more here.

I think BusinessWorld also has a report ("Media challenged to pursue depth in election coverage") on the forum, but I can't access the online version because I am not subscriber of the newspaper's website. Oh well. Will check it later in the office.

For the meantime, while I am so so busy these days, here's a piece on why journalists should blog. Got this item from cyberjournalist.net.

Why journalists should blog

Chris Cobbler, publisher of the greeleytrib.com, says all journalists at newspapers should blog.

Blogging helps you better understand your audience. The hallmark of any blog is the ability for readers to post comments to what you write. By having this regular conversation with readers, you learn what hits and what misses.

Read more here.