NORTH KOREA and PHILIPPINES
“In order to understand a country’s media system, a person must understand first its history before trying to criticize the nation. History defines the media system.”
Korea is a 600-mile (966km) peninsula jutting out from Manchuria and China (and a small portion of the USSR). North Korea occupies an area—slightly smaller than Pennsylvania—north of the 38th parallel.
The country is almost completely covered by a series of north-south mountain ranges separated by narrow valleys. The Yalu River forms part of the northern border with Manchuria.
It is under the Authoritarian socialist; one-man dictatorship. It is currently headed by the Head of State: Kim Jong-un (2011)and Prime Minister: Kim Yong-Il (2007).
The Korean Peninsula was first populated by peoples of a Tungusic branch of the Ural-Altaic language family, who migrated from the northwestern regions of Asia. Some of these peoples also populated parts of northeast China (Manchuria); Koreans and Manchurians still show physical similarities. Koreans are racially and linguistically homogeneous. Although there are no indigenous minorities in North Korea, there is a small Chinese community (about 50,000) and some 1,800 Japanese wives who accompanied the roughly 93,000 Koreans returning to the North from Japan between 1959 and 1962. Although dialects exist, the Korean spoken throughout the peninsula is mutually comprehensible. In North Korea, the Korean alphabet (hangul) is used exclusively.
Korea’s traditional religions are Buddhism and Shamanism. Christian missionaries arrived as early as the 16th century, but it was not until the 19th century that major missionary activity began. Pyongyang was a center of missionary activity, and there was a relatively large Christian population in the north before 1945. Although religious groups exist in North Korea today, the government severely restricts religious activity.
By the first century AD, the Korean Peninsula was divided into the kingdoms of Shilla, Koguryo, and Paekche. In 668 AD, the Shilla kingdom unified the peninsula. The Koryo dynasty—from which Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century derived the Western name “Korea”—succeeded the Shilla kingdom in 935. The Choson dynasty, ruled by members of the Yi clan, supplanted Koryo in 1392 and lasted until Japan annexed Korea in 1910.
Throughout its history, Korea has been invaded, influenced, and fought over by its larger neighbors. Korea was under Mongolian occupation from 1231 until the early 14th century. The unifier of Japan, Hideyoshi, launched major invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597. When Western powers focused “gunboat” diplomacy on Korea in the mid-19th century, Korea’s rulers adopted a closed-door policy, earning Korea the title of “Hermit Kingdom.” Though the Choson dynasty recognized China’s hegemony in East Asia, Korea was independent until the late 19th century. At that time, China sought to block growing Japanese influence on the Korean Peninsula and Russian pressure for commercial gains there. The competition produced the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. Japan emerged victorious from both wars and in 1910 annexed Korea as part of the growing Japanese empire. Japanese colonial administration was characterized by tight control from Tokyo and ruthless efforts to supplant Korean language and culture. Organized Korean resistance during the colonial era was generally unsuccessful, and Japan remained firmly in control of the Peninsula until the end of World War II in 1945. The surrender of Japan in August 1945 led to the immediate division of Korea into two occupation zones, with the U.S. administering the southern half of the peninsula and the U.S.S.R. taking over the area to the north of the 38th parallel. This division was meant to be temporary until the U.S., U.K., Soviet Union, and China could arrange a trusteeship administration.
In December 1945, a conference convened in Moscow to discuss the future of Korea. A 5-year trusteeship was discussed, and a joint Soviet-American commission was established. The commission met intermittently in Seoul but deadlocked over the issue of establishing a national government. In September 1947, with no solution in sight, the United States submitted the Korean question to the UN General Assembly. Initial hopes for a unified, independent Korea quickly evaporated as the politics of the Cold War and domestic opposition to the trusteeship plan resulted in the 1948 establishment of two separate nations with diametrically opposed political, economic, and social systems. In 1950, the North launched a massive surprise attack on the South.
As noted, differences developed after World War II over the issue of establishing a Korean national government. Elections were held in the South under UN observation, and on August 15, 1948, the Republic of Korea was established in the South. Syngman Rhee, a nationalist leader, became the Republic’s first president. On September 9, 1948, the North established the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea headed by then-Premier Kim Il Sung, who had been fostered and supported by the U.S.S.R. North Korean forces invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950. The United Nations, in accordance with the terms of its Charter, engaged in its first collective action and established the UN Command (UNC), to which 16 member nations sent troops and assistance. Next to South Korea, the United States contributed the largest contingent of forces to this international effort. The battle line fluctuated north and south, and after large numbers of Chinese “People’s Volunteers” intervened to assist the North, the battle line stabilized north of Seoul near the 38th parallel.
Armistice negotiations began in July 1951, but hostilities continued until July 27, 1953. On that date, at Panmunjom, the military commanders of the North Korean People’s Army, the Chinese People’s Volunteers, and the UNC signed an armistice agreement. Neither the United States nor South Korea is a signatory to the armistice per se, although both adhere to it through the UNC. No comprehensive peace agreement has replaced the 1953 armistice pact; thus, a condition of belligerency still exists on the peninsula.
In August 1971, North and South Korea held talks through their respective Red Cross societies with the aim of reuniting the many Korean families separated following the division of Korea and the Korean War. In July 1972, the two sides agreed to work toward peaceful reunification and an end to the hostile atmosphere prevailing on the peninsula. Officials exchanged visits, and regular communications were established through a North-South coordinating committee and the Red Cross.
However, these initial contacts broke down in 1973 following South Korean President Park Chung Hee’s announcement that the South would seek separate entry into the United Nations and after the kidnapping from Tokyo of South Korean opposition leader Kim Dae-Jung by the South Korean intelligence service. There was no other significant contact between North and South Korea until 1984.
Dialogue was renewed in September 1984, when South Korea accepted the North’s offer to provide relief goods to victims of severe flooding in South Korea. Red Cross talks to address the plight of separated families resumed, as did talks on economic and trade issues and parliamentary-level discussions. However, the North then unilaterally suspended all talks in January 1986, arguing that the annual U.S.-South Korea “Team Spirit” military exercise was inconsistent with dialogue. There was a brief flurry of negotiations that year on co-hosting the upcoming 1988 Seoul Olympics, which ended in failure and was followed by the 1987 bombing of a South Korean commercial aircraft (KAL 858) by North Korean agents.
In July 1988, South Korean President Roh Tae Woo called for new efforts to promote North-South exchanges, family reunification, inter-Korean trade, and contact in international forums. Roh followed up this initiative in a UN General Assembly speech in which South Korea offered for the first time to discuss security matters with the North. Initial meetings that grew out of Roh’s proposals started in September 1989. In September 1990, the first of eight prime minister-level meetings between North Korean and South Korean officials took place in Seoul. The prime ministerial talks resulted in two major agreements: the Agreement on Reconciliation, Nonaggression, Exchanges, and Cooperation (the “Basic Agreement”) and the Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula (the “Joint Declaration”).
The Basic Agreement, signed on December 13, 1991, called for reconciliation and nonaggression and established four joint commissions. These commissions—on South-North reconciliation, South-North military affairs, South-North economic exchanges and cooperation, and South-North social and cultural exchange—were to work out the specifics for implementing the basic agreement. Subcommittees to examine specific issues were created, and liaison offices were established in Panmunjom, but in the fall of 1992 the process came to a halt because of rising tension over North Korea’s nuclear program.
The Joint Declaration on denuclearization was initialed on December 31, 1991. It forbade both sides to test, manufacture, produce, receive, possess, store, deploy, or use nuclear weapons and forbade the possession of nuclear reprocessing and uranium enrichment facilities. A procedure for inter-Korean inspection was to be organized and a North-South Joint Nuclear Control Commission (JNCC) was mandated to verify the denuclearization of the peninsula.
On January 30, 1992, the D.P.R.K. finally signed a nuclear safeguards agreement with the IAEA, as it had pledged to do in 1985 when acceding to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This safeguards agreement allowed IAEA inspections to begin in June 1992. In March 1992, the JNCC was established in accordance with the Joint Declaration, but subsequent meetings failed to reach agreement on the main issue of establishing a bilateral inspection regime.
As the 1990s progressed, concern over the North’s nuclear program became a major issue in North-South relations and between North Korea and the U.S. The lack of progress on implementation of the Joint Declaration’s provision for an inter-Korean nuclear inspection regime led to reinstatement of the U.S.-South Korea Team Spirit military exercise for 1993. The situation worsened rapidly when North Korea, in January 1993, refused IAEA access to two suspected nuclear waste sites and then announced in March 1993 its intent to withdraw from the NPT. During the next two years, the U.S. held direct talks with the D.P.R.K. that resulted in a series of agreements on nuclear matters. The Agreed Framework of 1994, however, broke down in 2002 when North Korea was discovered to be pursuing a uranium enrichment program for nuclear weapons. In 2003, a six-party talks process began with the goal of achieving a diplomatic resolution that would verifiably and permanently eliminate the North’s nuclear weapons programs.
Propaganda comprises most media in the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (DPKR), established on September 10, 1948. The communist Korean Workers’ Party (KWP) was organized two years earlier. Since the Korean peninsula was divided at the thirty-eighth parallel after World War II, the communist-controlled northern half has utilized the press to achieve political control and dominance over the populace of approximately 21 million people, primarily peasants. The North Korean media has also manipulated the press to portray certain images of North Korea to its allies and foes. Circulation statistics and other facts concerning North Korean media are unavailable because the government keeps a tight hold on such statistics. DPKR media is primarily used for indoctrination by the government.
Choson Chungyang Tongsinsa, the state-operated Korean Central News Agency (KCNA, http://www.kcna.co.jp/ ), collects and distributes officially created and sanctioned information in both Korean and English. Established on December 5, 1946, at P’yongyang, the KCNA prints the daily Choson Chungyang T’ongsin (Korean Central News), Sajin T’ongsin (Photographic News), and Choson Chungyang Yonbo (Korean Central Yearbook), spreading carefully worded news to designated media bureaus. The DPKR’s Central Committee publishes party rhetoric in its official newspaper, Nodong Sinmun (Workers’ Daily), which is estimated to have a circulation of approximately two million readers. Kulloja (The Worker) also distributes Central Committee theory.
The official government newspaper is the Minju Choson (Democratic Korea). Other periodicals provide news for specific occupational groups such as railway workers, military personnel, and teachers. The Foreign Languages Press Group issues the monthly magazine Korea Todayand weekly newspaper P’yongyang Times ( http://www.times.dprkorea.com/ ) in English, French, and Spanish.
The communist North Korean government uses media to achieve contrasting domestic and international agendas. When he became prime minister in 1948, Kim Il-sung recognized the power of the press to influence North Koreans and to confuse and alarm South Korea and its western allies. Kim Il-sung insisted that the DPKR was the only valid Korean government and emphasized Juche, his philosophy of self-reliance. He occasionally spoke to reporters and emphasized journalism education to support DPKR goals. Kim Il-sung established his dictatorship by developing a personality cult which encouraged North Koreans to glorify him and his family as mythical super humans.
Kim Il-sung’s son Kim Jong-il received similar public adulation when he succeeded his father who died in 1994. The North Korean press insisted that Kim Jong-il’s succession was unanimously supported; foreign media questioned this account and suggested that rivals had unsuccessfully countered Kim Jong-il because he did not assume power until 1997. Government-controlled North Korean media created a biography for Kim Jong-il that insisted he was destined to rule North Korea because natural phenomena, including a double rainbow, had occurred at the time of his birth. In August 2001, KCNA described Russians as being awestruck by Kim Jong-il’s visit. The media claimed that rain stopped and sun shone wherever Kim Jong-il traveled and that the Russians revered his power to control nature.
Article 53 of the DPKR constitution grants North Korean citizens freedom of press and speech, but protects those rights only if media expressions are supportive of the government and the KWP. Censorship has been implemented as the basis of public media. All print and broadcast media emphasize the need for North Koreans to accept a collective lifestyle for the good of the country and to reject individualism. Membership in the Korean Journalist Union is mandatory for reporters.
Attitude toward Foreign Media
Foreign print and broadcast media are forbidden to average North Koreans who risk harsh penalties such as forced labor if they attempt to listen to or read any non-DPKR media. Only senior party officials are permitted access to external news sources. Foreign journalists are discouraged from entering North Korea uninvited.
North Korean news reports consistently deny that chronic famine conditions exist in North Korea despite evidence that mass starvation and crop failures have occurred. Statistics concerning such natural disasters as floods are not provided or incorrectly reported. Foreign press often obtains facts from defectors.
When U.S. President George W. Bush described North Korea as an “evil” country that posed terrorism threats in early 2002, the DPKR media began daily attacks on Bush’s credibility and denounced the U.S. as trying to provoke another Korean War.
The KCNA issues broadcasts in Korean, English, French, Spanish, and Russian. Reports estimate 400,000 televisions and almost five million radios are in North Korea. Radios and televisions are set to receive only government broadcasts approved by the DPRK Radio and Television Broadcasting Committee. The Korean Central Television Station in P’yongyang and stations in Ch’ngjin, Kaesng, Hamhng, Haeju, and Siniju air broadcasts. The AM stations P’yongyang Broadcasting Station (Radio P’yongyang) and Joson Jung-ang Pangsong (Korean Central Broadcasting Station) and P’yongyang FM Pangsong (Broadcasting Station) are the main domestic DPKR radio media. Smaller stations air local programming to individual communities. Some large stations exist that issue international broadcasts.
North Korea also broadcasts in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The DMZ is a frequent topic in DKPR media because it is a sore point in international relations. DKPR press and other media sources often issue conflicting reports regarding the instigation of conflict in this area.
A PEEK INSIDE THE FORBIDDEN WALL
“North Korea : where all the news are positive.”
Sarcastically, this line telling about the North Korea’s media system is a lie. North Korean’s live like they are in a magic mirror room with no escape. All they see is what the mirror reflects to them, they do not see what is in the other side of the mirror.
Television and radio that were sold in North Korea are controlled by the government frequencies. The content supplied almost entirely by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and only a number of foreign journalists can be granted to have a limited access over the nation.
They had no independent journalist even if they had the right of speech in the country.
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or North Korea topped the Committee to Protect Journalists or CPJ 10 most censored countries in the world. CPJ used the criteria of the control of the media, existence of formal censorship regulations, the use by the state of violence, imprisonment and harassment against journalists, jamming of foreign news broadcasts, and restrictions on private Internet access. No doubt that North Korea made its way to the number 1 spot.
To secrete what is really happening inside the walls and to the eyes of the North Koreans, the communist country controlled the media to tell the people only good news. So to the North Koreans, they never felt poverty nor suffered in economy.
There is an official Korean Center News Agency wherein the North Korea releases news that it will tell to the world. The first time that North Korea reached the front page of a newspaper without the breaking news that they launched a missile is the time when their leader Kim Jong-il died in December 17, 2011.
Domestic media censorship is strictly enforced and the regime prohibits listening to foreign media broadcasts, and violators are reportedly subject to severe punishment. Newspapers, broadcasting, and other mass media are major vehicles for information dissemination and political propaganda. Although most urban households have radios and some have television sets, neither radios nor televisions can be tuned to anything other than official programming. Only some 10 percent of the radios and 30 percent of the televisions are in private households.
North Koreans use a Chinese mobile phone network which is illegal for them. The signal’s penetration varies, but it reaches up to 20 km beyond the border. Mobile phones represent a major information gateway for the North Korean population, which uses them to communicate with Koreans living in China. In the past, North Koreans were happy just to receive information but now they feel a real need for it. They seek more detailed information than what the propaganda media are giving them. The demand for CD and DVD players and computers is growing. USB flash drives of North Korean or Chinese origin would result in just a fine or warning. North Korea is an internet black hole. Only the elite and intellectuals have internet access and in fact most of them can only access a closely monitored intranet.
The Republic of the Philippines was under Spanish rule begining March 16, 1521, when Ferdinand Magellan landed on the island of Cebu and claimed it for Spain. In 1565 the first permanent Spanish settlement was founded, and later the islands received their name from Philip II of Spain.
In effect, Spanish rule ended in 1898 when the U.S. Navy’s Commodore George Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet anchored in Manila Bay. In December 1898 the United States and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris, handing control of the Philippines over to the United States. Although Filipinos revolted against American rule, the United States oversaw the islands until the Philippines was granted its independence on July 4, 1946.
The archipelago that is the Republic of the Philippines covers around 300,000 square kilometers, of which 298,170 square kilometers is land. The waters of the South China Sea to the west, Philippine Sea to the east, Luzon Strait to the north and Celebes Sea to the south lap against the nation’s 36,289 kilometers of coastline. The terrain is primarily mountainous, with coastal lowlands varying from narrow to extensive. Natural resources include metals such as gold, silver, copper, nickel and cobalt, plus timber, petroleum and salt. About 46 percent of the land was made up of forests and woodlands, according to 1993 estimates. Manila, the capital, has almost 10 million residents in the metropolitan area and is located on the island of Luzon.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Philippines had an estimated population of almost 83 million, of which about 40 percent lived below the poverty level, according to 1997 government estimates. The top 10 percent of the population held 39 percent of the income, while the bottom 10 percent held a paltry 1.5 percent. The majority of the 48 million Filipinos in the workforce were employed in agriculture (almost 40 percent), with 19.4 percent working in government and social services, 17.7 percent in service, 9.8 percent in manufacturing, 5.8 percent in construction, and 7.5 percent in other industries, according to 1998 estimates.
Life expectancy in 2001 was estimated at about 65 years for men, and 71 years for women. The 1995 estimated literacy rate (defined as those age 15 and over who can read and write) was high, at 95 percent for men; 94 percent for women.
The overwhelming majority of Filipinos are Roman Catholic (83 percent), with Protestants (9 percent), Muslim (5 percent), and Buddhists and others making up the remaining 3 percent. English and Filipino, based on the Tagalog dialect, are the two official languages, with around 85 dialects also spoken. Tagalog, Cebuano and Ilocano are perhaps the most prevalent of the dialects.
The 1987 Constitution sets up a presidential system of government with a bicameral Congress (Kongreso) consisting of a 24-seat Senate (Senado) and a 204-seat House of Representatives (Kapulungan Ng Mga Kinatawan). The president can appoint additional members to the House of Representatives, although the constitution prohibits more than 250 representatives. The president appoints justices to the Supreme Court upon recommendation of the Judicial and Bar Council. The judiciary is independent.
Philippine Media Overview
Media’s history in the islands includes the Philippines’ Constitution guaranteeing freedom of the press and the freedom of the press access to official documents. In contrast to these superior ideals, the Philippines press from the time of its inception has faced American influence, confiscation of assets for those papers not among the ownership of a former leader, and mistrust of reporters due to shoddy reporting.
Newspapers were being published on board American ships as they first entered Manila Bay in 1898. The Bounding Billow was published on board Dewey’s flag-ship, and other on-ship U.S. papers included the American Soldier, Freedom and the American, according to the Philippine Journalism Review. These early papers followed U.S. attempts to “civilize” the Filipinos. American journalists in the Philippines went so far as to characterize the natives as “little brown soldiers who enjoyed parading before the patient Americans,” and as “a group of warlike tribes who will devour each other when American troops leave.”
The Americans wasted no time in establishing a press system in the Philippines modeled on that of the one in place in the United States. The Manila Times published its first issue in October 1898, making it the first English-language newspaper in the islands. Newspapers published in the Philippines were under strong American influence and went so far as to champion the annexation of the islands by the United States. Among the newspapers taking this stance were La Democracia and Consolidacion Nacional. Among the papers holding out for independence were El Renacimiento, Muling Pagsilang, El Debate, La Opinion and Los Obreros.
Another influential newspaper was the Bulletin, which originally was established by H.G. Harris and Carson Taylor in 1900 as a shipping journal and to encourage shipping and commerce in the islands. The Bulletin used as its primary sources the news agencies Associated Press, United Press International and the Chicago Tribune Service. For its first three years the Bulletin was published free of charge; it became a full-fledged paper in 1912.
In 1917, Manuel Quezon purchased the Manila Times and held it for four years. Ownership changed hands a few times after that until the Times joined the press holdings of Alejandro Roces Sr. Among Roces’ other newspapers at the time were Taliba, the Tribune and La Vanguardia.
Cable News, founded by Israel Putnam, was another renowned daily during the early part of the twentieth century. Later the paper joined with the American, and in 1920 the combined newspaper was purchased by Quezon.
Although founded on the principle of freedom of expression, newspapers in the Philippines were subjected to strict censorship by American military authorities, and later by American civilian administrators, according to the Philippine Journalism Review. Under Gen. Arthur McArthur, the military worked to keep propaganda against American forces out of the news as well as prevent communication between those opposing America’s presence in the islands. Stories detailing resistance by Filipinos to American rule were suppressed, as well as stories that would help Filipinos learn what was happening beyond the Philippines’ borders. Journalists were deported or imprisoned for exercising freedom of the press, and papers such as La Justicia, and the Cebuano newspaper El Nueva Dia, were suspended many times for championing nationalistic views.
Historians say El Renacimiento was the only true independent newspaper during these dark days, and its light was later extinguished by a libel case brought against the paper by an American official.
English-language newspapers dominated the press in the early part of the century until then Senate President Manuel Quezon established the Philippines Herald to represent the Filipino viewpoint in the fight for independence. In August 1920, disgruntled former Manila Timesjournalists left their jobs and formed the backbone of the Herald. Early staff members included Narciso Ramos, Antonio Escoda, Bernardo Garcia and Jose P. Bautista— names that would become among the most revered in the history of the Philippines’ press.
The 1920s also saw the birth of English-language women’s magazines, which were primarily the products of women’s clubs. Women’s Outlook was published 10 times a year and was the official publication of the Women’s Club of Manila, according to the Philippine Journalism Review.Another prominent publication was Woman’s World, the publication of the Philippine Association of University Women. In 1935 Woman’s World joined Woman’s Home Journal to become Woman’s Home Journal World, and the combined magazine featured sections on food, fashion, beauty and gossip.
In April 1925, Alejandro Roces, who would also own the Manila Times and other papers, established the Tribune. Under the editorial leadership of Mauro Mendez, the Tribune tackled topics such as the alleged misuse of government funds; a plan to potentially cut the jobs of about 2,000 low-income government employees in order to save money; the merits of English being the language of instruction in schools; and a proposal to hand members of the House of Parliament a large lump sum for travel allowances, postage, stationery and clerical help with no accounting for how the money was spent. Mendez later transferred to the Herald and his journalistic attacks continued, this time venturing into topics such as peasant unrest in the 1930s, women’s suffrage and the threat of Communism.
After the Philippines were granted independence, newspapers threw off their shackles and proceeded to write about wrongdoing in high places. Their motives may have been pure, but they tended to use unsubstantiated or one-source stories. As time went on, elite families took over newspaper ownership in Manila.
In 1972 then-President Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial law. He confiscated the assets of those newspapers not in his own coalition. Between 1972 and 1986, newspapers were under the rule of Marcos’ friends, family members or others close to him. The press remained under these unfriendly conditions for 14 years.
The assassination of presidential hopeful Benigno (“Ninoy”) Aquino Jr. in August 1983 united Filipinos, and eventually helped spur a return to a freer, more independent press. His growing unpopularity led Marcos to flee the country in 1986. After his departure the Commission on Good Government confiscated newspapers and their assets from Marcos’ allies. The press rejoiced as it regained control; some newspapers were even returned to the families that had owned and operated them prior to Marcos’ takeover.
By the early 1990s, there were about 30 daily papers of all sizes, types and political perspectives. News was offered by about a dozen English-language broadsheets, while around 14 tabloids—primarily in Tagalog and Cebuano—featured sensationalism as a staple. Papers were diverse, and four were published in Chinese.
At the turn of the twenty-first century, national newspapers numbered eight from a high of 22 in 1986, according to the World Press Review. Slightly more than 400 community newspapers, most weeklies or monthlies in English are found amid the nation’s 7,100 islands. National dailies have circulations of between 10,000 and 400,000 while their provincial cousins have circulations between 500 and 45,000.
Grouped by circulation, there are about a dozen newspapers with a circulation between 100,000 and 300,000; about a dozen with a circulation between 50,000 and 100,000; three with circulation of between 25,000 and 50,000; one with circulation of between 10,000 and 25,000, and two with circulations below 10,000.
Publications are printed in a variety of languages. In English the three top are the Manila Bulletin (circulation of around 320,000), Philippines Star (222,900) and Philippines Inquirer (148,800). In Filipino they are People’s Tonight (320,900), Pilipino Ngayaon (272,000) and Taliba(226,800). In Taglish, the top three are People’s Journal (372,500), Headline Manila (105,100) and News Today (75,000).
The Philippine Constitution, Article 3, states “no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.” Section 7 guarantees the right of the people “to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions or decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to such limitation as may be provided by law.”
A resolution crafted by participants said, in part, that any strategy to address the threat of terrorism “must promote greater respect for freedom of expression and of the media, rather than imposing restrictions on these fundamental rights.” In addition, the media has “both the right and a duty” to report on terrorism in the interest of the public’s right to know.
Since the Philippines are spread over a vast area and poverty is prevalent in outlying areas, radio is the more popular medium. Approximately 600 radio stations are found in the Philippines, of which 273 are AM, according to the Worldwide Press Review.
Television has cut into the popularity of newspapers, particularly in urban areas. Major television stations include ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.; GMA Network Inc.; National Broadcasting Network; Associated Broadcasting Network (TV 5); Radio Philippines Network & Solar Entertainment (Solar TV); GMA News TV and Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation.
The Internet is increasing its role in Philippine journalism, as many print publications offer an online version of their product, including the Philippine Journalism Review ( http://www.cmfr.com.ph/pjr/ ), which is published by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility. A partial list of online publications includes the following: Balita News ( http://www.balita.org ) offers news from the Philippines News Agency, and is the homepage of the long-established Balita-L news digest; Bankaw News ( http://www.geocities.com/bankaw ), an online weekly featuring stories on Leyte, Samar and Biliran, plus opinions and features; Business World http://www.bworld.com.ph/current/today.html ), the online edition of Business Day ; Chinese Online Newspaper ( http://www.siongpo.com ), the Philippines’ first Chinese online newspaper; Diaryo Pilipino ( http://www.diaryopilipinon.com ), based in Los Angeles, Calif., this is a weekly Filipino-American publication; Malaya ( http://www.malaya.com.ph ), the national newspaper covering news, sports, business, entertainment, living, travel and more. Other publications offer news of the Philippines to Filipinos no longer living in their homeland, such as Philippines Today ( http://www.philippinestoday.net ), which bills itself as the longest running, most widely read newspaper for Filipinos in Japan.
Comparing these two countries’ broadcast media systems; I’ve just realized how lucky we are Filipinos right now. We are free in accessing information, current local and foreign news, and hearing other sides of stories. Unlike North Koreans that are limited in accessing media messages. Media in this nation is being controlled by the government, so what this’ citizens usually receive are the positive sides of their government. It’s so sad that North Koreans didn’t have the right to express freely what they want to. We all know that expressing what you really feel is an important part of personal growth and development.
On the other hand, we, Filipinos should and always be responsible in exercising our freedom of expression. Remember that in every right there is always an equivalent responsibility.
Reporters without boarders from press freedom
http://www.pressreference.com/Ma-No/North-Korea.html
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107686.html
http://www.historyofnations.net/asia/northkorea.html
http://cpj.org/reports/2006/05/10-most-censored-countries.php
http://www.pressreference.com/No-Sa/Philippines.html
