Sunday, March 02, 2008

Increasing the pressure

What a week that was.

First there was the international conference on press freedom and impunity by the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) that kept me busy for the last few weeks.

Here's a report on the outcome of the event by Philippine Daily Inquirer reporter and conference participant Ryan Rosauro:

New campaign vs press killings launched
By Ryan Rosauro
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Journalists, lawyers, and human rights advocates have joined hands in pushing for bolder measures to fight the culture of impunity that has allowed the ballooning number of journalists killed in the line of duty and made a mockery of press freedom and democracy in the country.

The campaign was launched at the end of a three-day international conference on "Impunity and Press Freedom" at The Peninsula Manila on Friday that brought together legal experts and press freedom advocates from Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

Journalists, prosecutors, judges, and human rights advocates from such countries as Colombia, Guatemala, Argentina, Spain, the United States, Indonesia, and the rest of Southeast Asia shared their experiences to help find solutions to the unabated and unsolved killings of "truth bearers" in the Philippines.

Read more here.

For more details of the conference, click here and here. I know there are a number of reports about the conference that are available as well, but I'm pretty swamped with emails and news alerts right now so I guess I have to post them sometime later.

And of course, there was last Friday's Makati rally. Manolo Quezon gives a comprehensive post of what happened, as well as links to other news, reactions, analyses, photos, and videos on the rally. Most of the CMFR staff were in the rally. I'll try posting some photos when I get back to the office.

Being a media reporter that I am, I am interested on how media organizations covered the rally. Malaya reporter Anthony Ian Cruz gives us a clue of the coverage.

Ricky Carandang, meanwhile, has this excellent entry on the $8-billion loan by the Chinese government to the Philippines and its grave, grave implications.

I guess not being online for almost a week has dire consequences for me. Lots of catching up to do.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Keep up the good work. Keep on blogging.

 
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