On press and blogging

Finally found the time to blog. Recent weeks proved too busy and tiring for me to write anything here, and I don't see any free time these coming days as well. I found myself muttering "Oh God, please help me" too many times already these past few weeks. And I'm pretty sure once June and July come in, my blogging activity will be reduced even further. Sigh sigh sigh.

Since I really don't have the time in the world to post all the things that come to mind, I will be sparing you my take on a recent discussion in the blogosphere about journalism and blogging. In case you do not know, some bloggers negatively reacted to an abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak article quoting Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) deputy director and PJR Reports editor Luis Teodoro on his views about journalism and (or is it versus?) blogging. Some of these views here, here, and here. Manolo Quezon also posted his take here.

Aside from the lack of time, I really don't want to say something because some might accuse me of being biased for Prof. Teodoro or that he told me to post about it. (I work with CMFR and write for PJR Reports for close to seven years now. Aside from the fact that Prof. Teodoro is my boss, he is also my former teacher and dean during college.) Besides, he already said his piece on the issue.

But let me just share Anthony Ian Cruz's insightful post on the issue. A long-time blogger, Tonyo currently works as a reporter for the Manila bureau of Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s second biggest daily newspaper.

Blogging and Journalism
May 6, 2008

A debate rages in the blogosphere about journalism and blogging, with partisans lobbing virtual grenades at Prof. Luis Teodoro.

Dean Jorge Bocobo leads the assault, taking pains showing the entire world the meaning of name-calling. Geez, methinks Philippine commentary (online or offline) would be better off without name-calling. For so what if Teodoro is/was a leftist? Does that disqualify him from expressing himself? Should we only have centrist or right-wing public intellectuals and pundits? Should we just jail or assassinate leftists or suspected leftists? I suppose the left has a place in the blogosphere. I am sure Mr. Bocobo will latch on this side-issue till the Second Coming, but I leave the blogosphere to judge name-calling, whether it is intelligent and whether name-calling is relevant in discussions such as this.

Good thing, Teodoro is a journalist and was part of the anti-Marcos resistance so we could safely assume that he knows how to take blows, be it as petty as name-calling.

Anyway, I just wish to focus on Mr. Bocobo’s main point in his tirade against Teodoro: Mr. Bocobo’s pride was hurt.

I never felt slighted by Teodoro’s remarks. I assumed those statements were made in completely good faith. Why? Because Teodoro seemed to have a clear objective: to ventilate the need for ethical standards that govern most professions and most areas of human activity. Whether journalists or, in the case of the Cebu perfume canister scandal, doctors fall short of their avowed ethical codes, we must gnash our teeth and demand accountability and urge conformity with the said rules.

Read more here.

Discussions on blogging and journalism, name-calling and labels excluded, were particularly interesting. The issue made me remember a recent global study made on the role of the press in an increasingly online world.

Newspapers likely to be free in the future: survey
By Kate Holton
May 6, 2008
Source: Yahoo News

LONDON (Reuters) - Newspapers seeking to compete with the Internet are likely to become free and place greater emphasis on comment and opinion in the future, a survey of the world's editors showed on Tuesday.

The report, conducted by Zogby International for the World Editors Forum and Reuters, revealed that newspaper editors were still optimistic about the future of their publications but believed they would have to adapt further for the digital age.

Some 86 percent of respondents believed newsrooms should become more integrated with digital services as two in three believe the most common form of news consumption will be via electronic media such as online or mobiles within a decade.

"For these editors the future is self-evident and our survey shows that they see the writing on the newsroom wall," said pollster John Zogby.

Read more here. The study is the 2008 edition of the Newsroom Barometer, an annual survey of editors around the world conducted by Zogby International and commissioned by the World Editors Forum and Reuters. For the main findings of the study, click here.