Danilo Arao is a journalist and teacher who spends more time writing than teaching. He was Bulatlat’s first webmaster. Married for two decades, he met his spouse via Friendster. He is the most active on many social media platforms, and TV interview savvy.
Danilo Arao is a journalist and teacher who spends more time writing than teaching. He was Bulatlat’s first webmaster. Married for two decades, he met his spouse via Friendster. He is the most active on many social media platforms, and TV interview savvy.
The future of public communication rests on giving relevant media literacy. Audiences should be taught the valuable lesson of asserting and fighting for a media that we all deserve. This means fighting attempts by government to control the media, as well as demanding responsible gatekeeping by the owners of social media platforms.
The media should resist all commercialist trappings and not favor profit over truth-telling. Journalists and news media organizations need to brush up on the normative standards of journalism, if only to realize that bias is inherent and should not be hidden.
There should be no attempt to regulate video-streaming services like Netflix because the Internet already has several layers of filtering that can be done by clients/subscribers and service providers. Just like in other forms of media, online media or digital media should be self-regulated. Any attempt by government to regulate media content would be a violation of the constitutional provision that prohibits abridging the people's basic freedoms.
A journalist should be fair but he or she cannot be neutral. In the context of its role as the Fourth Estate, journalism is inherently critical and adversarial. A neutral observer cannot ask critical or hard questions, so in a sense the framing becomes "soft" if a...
Even if this sounds nebulous, journalistic outputs are inherently biased for the truth. Journalists are therefore expected to use as sources of information the experts (i.e., truth-tellers) instead of “fake news” peddlers.
The issue here goes beyond Rappler as other dominant and alternative news media organizations are also under attack. Ressa only becomes a convenient target because of her high profile. That's what she has in common with ABS-CBN which is a leading network. The chilling effect becomes clear by targeting both of them.
Moving forward, it is imperative for journalists and media workers to ensure that media repression and creative forms of censorship do not happen. Virtual pressers where questions are screened cannot be the “new normal.” By DANILO ARAÑA ARAO Bulatlat.com N.B. – A...
A journalist based in Hong Kong who writes for a leading international magazine sent these questions on press freedom under the Duterte administration. Please allow me to share the short answers.
Based on empirical data, e-learning is not for everyone given the unequal economic status of students. Internet access is not for everybody. Even if mobile telephony is ubiquitous, the low purchasing power of families makes it expensive to maintain good data connection in the students' mobile phones.
It comes as no surprise that the current lockdown has become a de facto crackdown for some of those who dare speak up against the government.
Letter to the Editor April 4, 2020 Much as we thank our friends in the media for highlighting the reality of uncertainty, some suggestions should be made in reporting the plight of the urban poor amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Feel-good stories that highlight...
Ending impunity entails collective action and the resolve to change the oppressive social system that engenders culture of impunity. We're definitely not there yet but there are efforts to do so. There is no clear timeline as to when this can be achieved as it depends largely on the victory of the people's movement, not just the journalists and news media organizations acting as a small sector.
Bagama’t pareho silang binigyan ng oras para magbigay ng presentasyon, isa lang po sa kanila ang may malinaw na haraya (vision) at may malalim na pag-intindi sa pangangailangan ng mga estudyante, guro, kawani, residente, alumni at iba pang sektor ng kampus.
Sa isang sitwasyong patuloy na pinapaslang ang mga peryodista at manggagawa sa midya at kinokompromiso ang kalayaan sa pamamahayag, ano pa ba ang puwedeng gawin ng mga ordinaryong taong katulad natin para mabago ang kasalukuang kalakaran? Malinaw na kailangan ang mahigpit na pakikipagkaisa sa iba’t ibang sektor ng lipunan.
Pero sa panahon ng panlipunang krisis na basta-basta na lang kinikitil ang buhay, at basta-basta na lang ibinebenta ng mismong Pangulo ang soberanya ng bansa, ano pa ang puwedeng gawin ng Panday Sining? Inaasahan ba itong tumalima sa burukrasya sa sitwasyong ang mismong burukrasya ang problema?
Isa ka ba sa mga tinaguriang Duterte Diehard Supporter (DDS)? May dalawang tanong lang po ako sa puntong ito: Taga-Mindanao ka ba? Apektado ka ba ng lindol? Para sa iyo ito kung ang sagot mo ay oo. Pero kung hindi, sana nama’y bigyan mo rin ako ng kaunting minuto....
Isang kalakasan ng pelikula ang pagsasakonteksto ng personal na pinagdaanan ng pangunahing karakter. Pero malaking kahinaan para sa akin ang pagkakahon ng indibidwal bilang dapat na hiwalay sa isang malawakang pagkilos.
Kung sinusubaybayan mo ang balita, alam mong humihingi ang Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) sa gobyerno ng humigit-kumulang P430 milyon. Dahil sa napakalaking halaga nito, alam ko na ang nasa isip mo: “Kaninong bulsa na naman kaya ang tataba dahil dito?”
Sa gitna ng namuong galit sa maraming tao (malamang kasama ka rito), may dalawang bagay na baka nakaligtaan: (1) Nangyari ang GC hindi kamakailan lang kundi ilang taon na ang nakalipas; at (2) Bago ikinalat ang GC sa social media, matingkad ang usapin ng hazing hindi sa UP kundi sa Philippine Military Academy (PMA). Kaya may dalawang pundamental na tanong sa puntong ito: (1) Kung ang GC ay nangyari noon pa, posible kayang nagbago na ang dating hindi katanggap-tanggap na perspektiba ng mga sangkot sa isyu? (2) Sa kasalukuyan, sino ang makikinabang kung ang pampublikong atensyon sa isyu ng hazing ay mapupunta hindi sa PMA kundi sa UP?
Sang-ayon ako sa suhestyong hayaan ang mga opisyal ng gobyerno, lalo na ang mga miyembro ng Gabinete, na gumamit ng pampublikong transportasyon sa pagpasok sa trabaho. Mainam na maranasan nila ang makipagsiksikan, makipagbalyahan at makipagtulakan para lang makasakay. At kung sakaling may pila sa terminal, sana nama’y maarawan o maulanan din sila sa paghihintay sa susunod na traysikel o dyip.
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