Journalism trends and skills

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Crisis, opportunity: Journalists, academe, consumers look at the state of local news

An initial study on news beats covered by five media outlets led off a conversation on how things are in Cebu community media. The initiative of Cebu Citizens-Press Council contributed to the 2023 celebration of National Press Freedom Day last Aug. 30. CCPC partnered with Embassy of Kingdom of the Netherlands and Asian Center for Journalists in Ateneo de Manila University, as it did on the May 3, 2023 World Press Freedom Day, and it does on the Sept. 21, 2023 Cebu Press Freedom Day.

JASON A. BAGUIA
September 2023

IN a time of volatility triggered by rapid changes in technology, economic fluctuations, a fraught political climate, and pressures to press freedom, what must the community do to secure the future of local journalism?

Announcements promoting the National Press Freedom Day forum.

With a panel of journalists and teachers on mass communication, I reflected on that question in a forum on The State of Local News, organized by Cebu Citizens- Press Council (CCPC) , to celebrate National Press Freedom Day and the memory of Marcelo H. del Pilar, whom the National Press Club has recognized as the father of Philippine journalism. The panel at the forum — held last Aug. 30, 2023 at MBF Cebu Press Center — comprised of Atty. John Rey Saavedra, bureau chief of the government’s Philippine News Agency (PNA); former SunStar editor-in-chief Nini B. Cabaero who writes an opinion column for SunStar and consults for the World Association of News Publishers; and professor Joseph Elvir Tubilan of Cebu Normal University (CNU), and professor Mia Embalzado-Mateo of University of the Philippines Cebu (U.P. Cebu).

Most-covered news beats.

Professors Mateo and Tubilan presented preliminary results of an initial study they supervised, conducted by four students from UP Cebu and CNU, which dealt on the extent of coverage of local news by five media outlets. The researchers counted the news stories most often covered by the selected news organizations over a three-week period from July 17 to Aug. 7, 2023. The media outfits surveyed were SunStar Cebu, The Freeman, CDN Digital, and radio stations dyHP-AM and dySS-AM.

The findings were a preliminary snapshot of post-pandemic news coverage in Cebu. Most news reports tallied during this period came from the police and defense beats (171 stories). The next four most frequently covered news beats were regional government offices (80 stories), Cebu City Hall (70 stories), Cebu Provincial Capitol (18 stories), and Lapu-Lapu City Hall (15 stories). Other beats that generated news stories at the time included Mandaue City Hall, justice, enterprise, other local government units, party-lists, universities, and nongovernment organizations.

The findings provoked the first of many discussions about the status of local journalism in Cebu.

Max T. Limpag, Ruben Almendras, Malou Guanzon-Apalisok.

Why crime stories top list

Cabaero said many factors, including perhaps the political and economic, may explain the results of three-week tally and encouraged and expansion of the study. Newsrooms, she said, have had to adapt to the exigencies of the recent Covid-19 pandemic, capitalizing on the efficiency that is possible with a leaner editorial staff.

Max T. Limpag of InnoPub Media and MyCebu.com said the results reflect the ease of disseminating crime and related stories given their availability in police records.

Ruben Almendras, one of the five CCPC members from the citizens sector, underscored the importance of using social media to help build the news agenda based on what audiences want.

Veteran journalist Malou-Guanzon Apalisok lamented the lack of stories covering important events in churches and religions, such as a recent gathering of exorcists in Cebu.

‘People’s stories’

Apalisok and Limpag concurred on the need for “people’s stories” to be represented in reporting, for instance in terms of how government policies affect them.

Limpag noted that more critical reporting is necessary with regard to state auditors’ observations on government spending.

Cherry Ballescas, Alan Luigi Flores, Lorraine Ecarma, Jhunnex Napallacan.

Columnist and retired U.P. Cebu professor Cherry Ballescas exhorted journalists and journalism students to be courageous in the face of difficult times for journalism, noting that when they do with the support of the people, the community benefits with positive change. Statements from journalists and journalism teachers that I collected and presented at the forum enriched the discussion.

‘Conduits of critical thought’

“Local journalism needs to transform from mere harbingers of events or quotes to conduits of critical thought and real, life-changing discourse that will prove beneficial to readers and society as a whole,” said Alan Luigi Flores, a program host of SunStar Cebu.

Lorraine Ecarma, who has reported for Rappler, said, “Local journalism is under threat, not only from undue interference from official sources and the hazards of the profession, but also from the institutionalization of disinformation.”

Reliance on ‘trending issues.’

Jhunnex Napallacan who manages radio station dyLA-AM, expressed sadness for deterioration in local journalism, although he said his statement is no generalization. “Many,” he said, “are now relying on trending issues from social media.”

For Annie Fe Perez-Gallardo who teaches at U.P. Cebu, accessibility of sources especially from the government is a problem for reporters. “Stories in Cebu’s media landscape are limited due to the difficulty in acquiring sources,” she said, “especially in government offices that need to seek clearance from their national headquarters.”

Saavedra agreed, acknowledging that he has been working to encourage higher officials to allow their local counterparts to freely speak with journalists..

Annie Fe Perez-Gallardo, Leo Lastimosa, Maria Niza Marinas

Social media ‘re-post chambers’

For Leo Lastimosa, broadcast commentator and Freeman columnist, some local media outlets have been “reduced to social media re-post chambers due to a lack of reporters, resources and ideas.”

Maria Niza Mariñas, a part-time editor for SunStar Cebu and Click Cebu, said local journalists work in a context that is both challenging and exciting. “Local journalism,” she said, “continues to hurdle such concerns as the dearth of reporters and editors in the newsrooms, striking a balance between editorial independence and the need for the media entity to survive, and how to best deal with the advent of artificial intelligence..”

Recommendations

Here’s a summary of the recommendations made by discussants at the Aug. 30 forum:

1. For news companies and organizations

– Invest more in journalists. Look for and execute tried and tested new ways of financing journalism. Be open, for instance, to crowdfunded journalism as in models such as Substack.

– Work toward recovering from the resignations and retrenchment of journalists during the pandemic by inaugurating a revitalized hiring program to replenish the number of journalists.

2. For media practitioners

– Be mindful of the disincentivizing effect of technology, especially social media, on newswriting and meet the challenge head-on. Writing must be captivating enough to draw readers with otherwise short attention spans.

– Use data analytics to determine what sort of stories audiences wish to be abreast of without losing the virtue of being enterprising in covering topics that may not be popular but are far more important.

– Maintain an appropriate professional distance from sources to be able probe with depth into the information that they supply. Resist the temptation to merely reshare digital material or press releases from sources. Say “no” to churnalism.

– Reporting on many important segments of society seems sporadic. The expansion of newsroom personnel must be negotiated with proprietors of news organizations to enable the regular coverage of a large number of beats. At the same time, newsrooms must take advantage of the affordance of small news teams, reimagining how to do things while still being a small news organization.

– Provide journalists with continuing training from experts such as those in the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and in the communication and journalism departments of universities.

3. For educators

– Improve media literacy training for students and for the wider community to draw them away from sources of disinformation and encourage them to consume legitimate sources of news.

– Deepen the training of students for journalism so that their reporting is not only reflective of the voices of those who hold power but also of the voiceless ordinary people.

4. For news sources, especially from the government, as well as other PR practitioners

– Lift the red tape and written or unwritten gag orders on local agency representatives who need to be accessible to journalists to speak with them about current events.

– Facilitate the independence of journalists in reporting by being open to critical questions about difficult issues.

– Allow journalists to do the reporting instead of spending people’s money on attempting to mimic news organizations. Have a communication plan where dialogue between journalists and government information officers is fruitful toward transparent governance and journalism’s fulfillment of its watchdog
functions.

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