It is hypocritical of the government to support the 2023 National Schools Press Conference that celebrates the power of journalism to shape minds when these very campus journalists’ transition to journalism in the real world is characterized by suppression, Red-tagging, and worse, killing.The Philippines ranked 147th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, an assessment of the countries’ press freedom records in the previous year. The country’s low ranking is proof of the disregard for journalists’ rights. In addition, data from the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines show an unsettling figure of at least 197 journalists killed since 1986. That would’ve been the time when democracy had supposedly been restored. Indeed, the fight for democracy doesn’t end as long as threats to press freedom exist and continue to prevail.
While many would argue that press freedom is evident in the country due to the proliferation of social media (which is not press, by the way), data suggest otherwise. News reports have been flooded by journalists being massacred, a long-standing TV network being stripped of its license, and government officials hounding media outlets critical of the government.
As campus journalists, we must no longer subscribe to the differences highlighted between campus journalism and real-world journalism. Campus journalism should no longer be limited to the confines of the school campuses. Journalism is not only found in the narratives of school events but rather more realistically founded on the pillars of society.
Irrespective of the differences between campus journalism to real-world journalism, both are still rooted in the same principle: to shape public opinion. Student publications have proven that they are no different from real-world journalism. As stated by University of the Philippines journalism professor Danilo Arao: “Analyzing the history … [student publications] have functioned as ‘alternative media,’ especially during the period of martial law.” Why then does the government impose double standards on campus journalism and real-world journalism? Campus journalists and real-world journalists are not differing schools of fish. Both are brazened with the same passion and purpose and must be permitted to swim in open waters freely.
Journalists must continue to fight against the plight of press restriction. We must thrive in a synchronized fashion to escape the nets of oppression. The government must cease trapping journalists, whether campus journalists or real-world journalists in their fishing nets. It is inhumane and unjust to subject people to bloodshed when they are only performing their duties to their fellow citizens—to speak for the silenced, to empower the unheard, and to amplify voices.
It is high time for the government, especially the Department of Education, not just to glorify and support campus journalists but to protect them. It is the only way to ensure the survival of these torchbearers of truth and freedom inside and outside the campus.
Mary Seantheim Chillin A. Patnubay,
Aklan, Western Visayas