Opinion

August 30, 2019

By Princess Jade A. Flores

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Photo credits to AlJazeera.com

Whether as a full pledge journalist or a future journalist, we exactly know what world we are giving in to. All our fears and threats are part of our everyday lives. With a small amount of wage and the danger we encounter most of the time, we are undeniably one of the unsung heroes of the world.

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According to to the index released by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Thursday, April 18, from 133rd place last year, the Philippines is now ranked 134th out of 180 among the world's worst countries for press freedom in 2019. Our country scored 43.91 points. And mostly, our problems and cases are rooted with our government.

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The Philippines was dubbed as the deadliest peacetime country for journalists in Southeast Asia, according to this year’s Southeast Asia Media Report, as published by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Friday, December 21, 2018. The report is the first-ever IFJ Media Freedom Report for Southeast Asia with the Southeast Asia Journalist Unions (SEAJU).It also ranked the Philippines as the worst offender in media impunity in Southeast Asia because of its high number of media killings.

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Much is expected from us since we are the source of information. Our countrymen are looking unto us to see for we are the 4th estate of our nation. As the 4th estate, as journalists, we are expected to perform our very best to set a good example to others especially that we have the power to inform and influence our audience.

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Immediate, decisive action required to protect journalists. Without a free and vibrant press, abuses of power go unchecked, corruption increases, and overreaching leaders can distort our democracies and rights.

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In other countries – Brazil, Myanmar, and the Philippines, for example – news media organizations are under attack from tides of authoritarianism, exclusionary nationalism, and aggressive populism. Today, just 13% of the world's population enjoys access to a free media. In the last decade over 1,000 journalists and media workers have been killed. 2018 was the deadliest year on record, seeing 80 journalists murdered and another 348 imprisoned and 60 held hostage, according to Rappler.

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But how can we perform at our best when every time we published or broadcast news against the government, our lives are at stake? Since President Rodrigo Duterte's administration begun up to present, he continues to attack the media. He badly wants to shut down Rappler as an example because of its bluntness towards him and showing fearlessness despite of being attacked by the government.

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Defending journalists who find themselves under legal, electronic, or physical threat is critical, but ultimately, our goal should be to prevent these attacks from happening. It is much easier to silence one individual journalist than a vibrant community

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So, should we be like Rappler’s Maria Ressa who’s bold enough to exploit Duterte is and he’s up to or just do our job cleanly and quietly? We, as media practitioners, though we aren’t like the engineers, teachers and doctors who have their license and when they made mistakes, can be revoked. Every day, we have the chance to prove to ourselves that we’ve got what it takes to serve our countrymen, to be deserving of the job: JOURNALISTS.

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We are not journalists for nothing. We are born to stand for the truth even if everyone is against us. No matter how hard it is for us to go against the government, we must stay firm and strong, we may be not be known by everyone but at least, we know to ourselves that we’ve been doing our best since day one. To serve and protect the people even if it requires us to risk our lives.