hold the line
Manila, 21 January—Sunday again, and I hope the weekend has been going well for you. I think it's a well-deserved break for many of us, after this exhausting week, particularly for friends in the media, an industry I have loved for so long, and I suppose, always will. It's been a whirlwind of events, and I wanted to just take a moment to write all of this down.
Is this the beginning of the end for freedom of the press in the Philippines? by Manolo Quezon III (via Washington Post)
Inquirer columnist and former colleague Manolo Quezon III lays out a clear context for the recent SEC decision revoking Rappler's license, positioning it as the Duterte administration's latest attack on the press, and not, as some people actually would like to believe, a move to uphold the rule of law where foreign ownership of media is concerned.
How absurd, considering that this administration has also been busy working double-time to facilitate China's involvement everywhere else: Our islands (even those far away from the mainland!), our oil reserves, our communications infrastructure.
It would be naive to think that this is just the government trying to uphold the Constitution (that they are actually moving to revise!) or enforce the law, which is supposedly meant to protect media from interference, in the first place.
And yet here we are.
The chopping block
The past few days, I've been heartened to see people flocking to Maria Ressa's and her team's defense. I now see easy-to-disseminate graphics describing Ressa as a credible, seasoned journalist, proliferating on my Facebook feed (which I recognize could also be a function of Facebook's new algorithm prioritizing posts of my friends and family members—in which case, wow, my echo chamber sounds amazing.)
In any case, side comment aside—heartening. But I can't help but feel a tinge of sadness remembering how the Inquirer was there—on the chopping block—first. And how at the time it felt like they were truly, frighteningly alone, and it's not just in terms of clamor, though that was true as well—many times it felt like the resounding reaction was Inquirer Had It Coming—but when I say alone, I mean alone alone: LJM-less alone. Sir Gani-less alone.
It felt like no one at the time believed in the Inquirer as much as Maria Ressa and her battalion of online journalists now believe in Rappler.
Read that again.*
Trust me when I say I have heard it all, many times from the mouths of older colleagues themselves: Print is dead, is dying, is going the way of the dinosaurs.
And this is because print is stubborn, print is slow to change, and cannot catch up with the rest of the world because it is what it is: Print.
It cannot seem to do deadlines. It cannot surmount the increasing cost of paper and production, because it is getting harder and harder to sell to people who no longer have P20 to spare, even for news and information carefully vetted and produced by the day by a troop of journalists and media workers who have been doing this for the past three decades, rain or shine, regardless of who's in Malacañang.
And when the end-users themselves are not there, it is easy for the product to crumble under the force of a myriad of pressures—business, in particular. Sad to say, any company that has a significant amount of operating expenses, from paper to ink to salaries of a 400-person-strong work force, it is very hard to ignore business pressure.
I suppose the fundamental difference between Rappler and Inquirer at this point is that Inquirer's figureheads are businessmen, whereas Rappler's figureheads are journalists. And while I'm aware of how much the Prietos have sacrificed to keep the Inquirer afloat, I do not fault them for not seeing a way to get through this, business-wise.
I will always remember how Inquirer stood up to the Estrada administration's advertising boycott in 1999. But the print of today is no longer the print of two decades ago, and maybe it is true, that a sort of print is dead.
Perhaps. Or maybe print is dead because the LJMs that have held it aloft all these years are dead. We'll never know. I know how easy it is to pin hopes on someone who is no longer around to fail you, and maybe that alone invalidates my entire point all along, but I'll say it anyway: The Inquirer that could have faced this administration is gone because LJM is gone.
So. I'm still sad about that, obviously, but looking at the bright side, I really admire how Rappler has closed its own ranks and telling the world about it. Maybe these strange times call for a different set of heroes.
I am rooting for them.
Anyway. Yung masaya naman:
Two friends got married at the Manila Hotel last night, and I could not be any happier than these two! Eliza and I worked for the Inquirer, once upon a time, and I witnessed from Day 1 how she and Jaykie blossomed as a couple. It was a beautiful, simple, down-to-the-bones wedding, and perhaps the only wedding that went straight to the point: FOOD. I loved it. It was so them.
Aside from the food, I also loved Eliza's vows. Eliza's a very gifted storyteller, and her books are hella dark. So we giggled and then aww'd through her vows: I know my stories and poetry have a touch of darkness to them, but know that when I write about love, I write about you.
Anyway, these folks are traveling, so if you want to pitch in to the couple's travel fund, check out Eliza's books and consider buying. My favorite story (which definitely has more than just a TOUCH of darkness haha ELIZA ANO BA) is called Dwellers. It won at the 34th National Book Awards and is also available in eBook format.
WATCH: You will be alright by TJ Manotoc (via ABS-CBN News)
Journalist and news anchor TJ Manotoc opens up about his struggle with depression in this intimate tell-all. At first, I had some reservations about the title—I thought it was going to be one of those, Positive thinking lang yan! Kaya mo yan! It's all in the mind! -kind of supposedly uplifting videos. It's not. It's very honest, thoughtfully made, and it could save lives.
Cynical pa ako nung una: Malamang magsusurvive ka, mayaman kayo e! pa ang mindset ko—sorry TJ—but when I started watching it, it dawned on me, just how much he was opening up on, and I felt ashamed of my mindset coming in. A lot of it rang so true, especially for me, and I've been thinking a lot about how our mental health conversations have to be more than just what is prompted by the latest suicide attempt or celebrity death. People with depression are among us, and their needs have to be addressed while they are still among us.
"As a journalist I have lost count how many stories of suicide and depression I have reported on and I feel it's about time it's talked about, not just in the context of someone dying, but also in the context of giving hope."
Anyway, passing this along to anyone who might need it: Those who are in emotional crisis and in need of immediate assistance, please contact the 24/7 HopeLine at: (02) 804-HOPE (4673) and 0917 558 HOPE (4673). Please reach out.