Using the Virtual to Discuss Real-World Issues
It’s been four years
now since Bulatlat was born. After writing about how we almost
forgot our
first anniversary, we now have readers and friends reminding us
whenever the month of February approaches. Thus, we are forced to at least
have a bilao of the traditional pancit in case someone drops
by. Luckily, there is an “original pancit malabon” outlet just five
minutes away.
BY ROWENA
CARRANZA-PARAAN
Bulatlat
 To those browsing the
website for the first time, Bulatlat — which in Filipino literally
means to dig through stacks of papers and, in a more journalistic sense,
to probe and explore — was set up by a group of journalists in the wake of
People Power II in 2001.
The seed idea of
putting up a news website though was planted when then President Joseph
Estrada sought to neutralize the Philippine Daily Inquirer by
instigating an advertisers’ boycott of the paper and when Estrada’s friend
and gambling mate Mark Jimenez took over the Manila Times.
While it is no secret
that coverage by mainstream media is often constrained by their respective
corporate interests, Estrada’s action effectively highlighted this media
vulnerability. That the highest official of the land was refusing to
tolerate critical coverage of his administration and choosing instead to
use the vast powers of his office to suppress adversarial coverage gave
the final impetus for Bulatlat to be born.
Thus, in a small
apartment in Timog, Quezon City, journalists met several times, at first
only tentatively, and later, more firmly, to discuss the concept, design
and operational guidelines of Bulatlat. And on Feb. 7, 2001,
Bulatlat’s very first issue was uploaded in the Internet.
It seemed appropriate
that Bulatlat was born in the wake of the second Edsa uprising
which was a demonstration of a people’s capacity to fight for change. It
is after all change that Bulatlat seeks to achieve through coverage
unhindered by state or corporate pressures.
Using the Net
Although a lot of
negative things have recently been said about the Internet primarily
because of cyber pornography and violence, it has also opened a lot of
opportunities for Filipinos, such as bringing the millions of Filipino
overseas workers – separated by oceans and continents and the threat of
impoverishment from their families – closer to home. It should also be
recognized that the Internet is quickly revolutionizing the way businesses
in the Philippines are being conducted and bringing profound changes in
various fields, particularly mass media.
In the case of
Bulatlat, the Internet provided the medium for a news website at
minimal cost, especially compared with the cost of publishing a newspaper
or producing a news magazine television program.
But using the
Internet to bring out issues is nothing new. Bulatlat was also not
the first Filipino news website nor can it claim to be the most
sophisticated or comprehensive.
The challenge for
Bulatlat editors and writers however is not in making it the biggest
or the widest. The aim from the very start has been to provide in-depth
analysis of issues and cover events not always given space in major papers
and networks.
In this case, the old
adage of the content being king definitely rules.
In the case of the
Hacienda Luisita strike for example, it was not enough to simply report
the number bodies sprawled on the ground after the shooting. It was
necessary to dig into the background of both the country’s biggest sugar
plantation and the powerful political clan - the Cojuangcos - who owns it.
In the case of
migrant issues, it was not enough to narrate the stories of Angelo dela
Cruz and other overseas Filipino workers. It was imperative to go into why
they leave their families behind to work in foreign lands and the
government actions or lack of action that rub salt on their vulnerable and
exploited conditions.
Inside Bulatlat
From issues of only
three to four articles, Bulatlat now uploads an average of 12
articles every week, excluding articles posted in the Reader section.
Last month, it
launched a new section called Salungguhit, a Filipino term that
means to underline or to underscore. The section features a weekly
editorial cartoon, illustrated by veteran artist Jasper Almirante.
Included in the major
articles found in Bulatlat’s main section are four sections that
give special attention to important sectors of Philippine society: Human
Rights Watch, Migrant Watch, Indigenous Peoples’ Watch and Labor Watch.
Then there’s the
Photo of the Week that features interesting sites, such as that of a
sampaguita vendor in Quiapo, providing symbol to the vibrant underground
economy. Another is that of a house in Sta. Cruz, Manila that shelters 18
families, depicting the pitiful urban housing condition in the country.
But, of course, as some readers have noticed, Bulatlat seems to
have a fetish for sunsets since it has featured at least 10 sunset photos
in the website – journalists protesting as the sun sets, Negros children
gazing at the sunset and the fisherfolk working against the sunset.
Bulatlat’s
Reader section came into being partly because of the Sept. 11, 2001
bombing of the World
Trade Center. How such a thing could
happen to the most powerful country in the world simply needed to be
understood. Thus, Bulatlat compiled articles written about the
subject. Soon, other topics were being covered: the Iraq war, Palestine,
U.S. elections, the World Trade
Organization, the Philippine fiscal crisis, and many more.
Bulatlat is possibly the only
publication - whether online or print - that has regular sections for book
reviews, alternative VCDs and Alternative Reader.
While the website
itself enjoys an increasingly bigger number of hits every year,
Bulatlat articles are also printed by many local papers. Among them
are Mindanao’s Gold Star Daily,
Mindanao
Times, Mindanao Insider and
Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro; Visayas’
Panay News, The Guardian, Visayas
Examiner, Visayas Courier, Tribune Eastern Visayas;
and Luzon’s Northern Dispatch, Sun.Star Baguio and Bicol Mail.
College publications all over the country have also used Bulatlat
articles.
Among national
publications, there’s the Philippine Graphic magazine, Taliba, abs-cbnNews.com,
Daily Tribune, Manila Times
and others. Bulatlat in
particular appreciates how the Graphic handles Bulatlat
articles, giving it ample space and well-deserved importance.
Bulatlat
is also printed by a number of foreign newspapers particularly in
Canada,
the United States,
in some European countries, Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
Bulatlat
has also several times assisted various public affairs programs with data
needs.
Meanwhile, requests
from Filipino community papers and non-government organizations abroad for
reprints and links continue to arrive.
And, by the way,
Bulatlat has also made it in the short list of the Jaime V. Ongpin
investigative journalism competition.
Working toward
interactivity
But while Bulatlat
has indeed been in the net for four years now, the news website has yet to
maximize all the features that the Internet offers, such as interactivity.
Achieving 100-percent availability of the website is also at present a big
challenge since no one in the staff could be remotely considered a
“techie.” (The stories we could tell about our battles with the myriad of
cables behind the CPU, the service providers and even computer
technicians! But that’s stuff for another article.)
Meanwhile,
Bulatlat will continue to take advantage of the Internet as an
emerging and powerful news medium but at the same time courageously giving
an alternative analysis of political, economic and social issues. Bulatlat
Rowena Carranza-Paraan is the
managing editor of Bulatlat
Messages:
Bulatlat: The
People’s Courageous Advocate BY LUIS V. TEODORO
‘The day Bulatlat is no longer needed will be a great day for Philippine
media’ BY INDAY ESPINA-VARONA
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© 2004 Bulatlat
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