'Media ethics and professionalism keys to survival of RP journalism'

“We should not just cover the community we serve but also serve the community we cover." These are the words of Pachico Seares – lawyer, professor, and pioneering community journalist – who on July 4, 2008, was awarded the prestigious Gawad Plaridel Award for outstanding media practitioners by the University of the Philippines. Past recipients of the award include media icons, such as press freedom fighter Eugenia Duran-Apostol, award-winning actress Vilma Santos, popular radio host Fidela “Tiya Dely" Magpayo, and broadcast journalist Cecilia “Cheche" Lazaro. It was the first time that a Gawad Plaridel, an annual award named after the nom de plume of Filipino hero and writer Marcelo Del Pilar, was granted to a media practitioner based outside Metro Manila. Seares is editor-in-chief of Cebu’s leading newspaper, Sun.Star-Cebu, a content partner of GMANews.TV, as well as its Cebuano counterpart, Sun.Star Superbalita in Cebu. Seares also belongs to several media organizations that uphold professionalism and press freedom. “Pachico has redefined the contours of Cebu’s media landscape, and to a large extent also the community press of the nation," said the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication that nominated Seares for the award. Community journalism in the country is beset by a tremendous amount of problems, Seares said in his lecture titled “The Future of Community Newspapers.". 'Vicious cycle' The Sun.Star example has proven, however, that a community paper can achieve both prestige and profitability. The Sun.Star network today has 12 newspapers and online publications in various regions of the country: Manila, Baguio, Pangasinan, Pampanga in Luzon; Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo and Dumaguete in the Visayas; and Davao, General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, and Zamboanga City in Mindanao. Sun.Star-Cebu is the “mother publication" and enjoys the province’s largest readership and advertising share. But it wasn’t always the success it is now, said Seares. At the time of its foundation in 1982, Sun.Star was plagued with several problems that most community papers in the country experience to this day. “Community journalists are hardy and pragmatic," said Seares. “They have gone through problems of lack of equipment, inadequate training, financial woes, and a lukewarm market." “Standards and values were often sacrificed…to get the paper out, to make enough money for the next issue," he said, adding that in most cases community newspapers are understaffed and underpaid. These problems often translate to poor sales leading to the closing of publications, sloppy journalism leading to libel suits, and corruption, which Seares said is especially rampant during elections when politicians are eager to feed on the papers’ lack of funding. Running a community paper tends to become a “vicious cycle," he said, even as corruption “holds local journalists in tighter grips of professional decay." “The dilemma of community newspapers is how to improve standards," said Seares. “And at the same time struggle for survival," he said. Then there are the “threats" faced not just by community newspapers but by print media in general. “It is not only community newspapers that worry about the problem of dwindling circulation, diminishing credibility, and the increasing threat from the new media," he said. The strength of the community newspaper, however, lies in its very nature - it has a specific audience with whom it can connect with on a more personal level. And this is what Sun.Star aimed for, Seares said. New media “Kinship with community is the community papers’ major strength," said Seares. “The paper carries stories about people in the community and how events affect them." It is this bond which beats competition both from traditional print as well as the new media, he said, adding that the advent of the Internet has initially made things difficult, particularly for community papers that are still struggling in the old tradition. “Many community publishers just ignore the new media and focus on the problem at hand," he said. The Sun.Star Network, however, has gradually learned to embrace the new media. Its Dumaguete, Manila , Pangasinan, and Zamboanga publications are online, and can be accessed through network's website sunstar.com.ph. The site gets around 2.5 million unique visits a month, said Seares. Technological developments and outside assistance have also helped the community press improve itself, said Seares. New software and utilization of laptops and digital cameras have made publishing easier. Formal training from media institutions such as the Philippine Press Institute and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility have generated changes in the papers’ look and content. Seares said the network also dabbles with “new ideas" such as civic journalism, preventive journalism, peace and conflict journalism, and conscience journalism. But the glue that holds Sun.Star together, said Seares, is the policy that they must always practice good journalism. The Gawad Plaridel awardee said seeking clarity, maintaining fairness and objectivity, and refusing to be “puppets" are some of their "best practices." “The closest media can get to the elusive truth is to get the facts right," he said. “Truth, how can you capture truth? But at least you can get the facts right." Press freedom The Garcia-owned Sun.Star-Cebu has occasionally come under fire, just like all media institutions. At one point it was called a “Marcos crony newspaper" and a “Garcia propaganda sheet." Seares, however, said these assaults on the paper's credibility have not dented its readership. Credibility is what the newspaper is fiercely trying to protect. It makes itself accountable to the public by welcoming replies and comments from readers, Seares said. He himself is a founding member of the Cebu Citizens-Press Council, which mediates complaints and correction of factual errors, keeps track of media threats, and even produces short documentaries on journalists’ experiences in Cebu . “Good journalism is good business, I always say," said Seares, adding that at the same time, profitability gives them independence because they can afford not to rely on advertisers. “Good journalism can help prevent the filing of abrasive libel suits and the murder of journalists," he added. Sun.Star Cebu will celebrate Press Freedom Week on September. Seares said it is the time for citizens to be reminded that press freedom should always be protected – that as shown during the Martial Law era, press freedom is key to all other freedoms. The issue is especially relevant to the community press. The bulk of journalist killings in the country, after all, come from it, he said. Seares believes that the press he has helped establish over the last few decades will flourish as long as journalists stand by the professional and ethical principles of journalism and continue the fight for press freedom. - GMANews.TV