#Ispeak black speechin black speech free#

While it amazes me that they can still produce quality output despite the challenges of the new normal, it also saddens me that some media institutions treat media workers less than what they deserve.

This means a huge and painful cut in their paycheck, even if they produce stories at home. Since movement is limited during the pandemic, they can’t report to the office as much as they could in the pre-COVID-19 era. Just the other night, I was talking to a colleague from another media outlet whose “no work, no pay” scheme worries him and other employees, since the enhanced community quarantine is still in effect in Metro Manila. This is why the Philippines is the fifth deadliest country in the world for journalists, according to a 2019 report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).īut media workers from esteemed institutions are not exempt, either. Sometimes when they get too critical, they face harassment or they take a bullet to the head. Some of them have no health insurance and benefits, no bonuses, no transportation allowance, and no promises of regularization. Aside from the smaller pay, the labor conditions are dismal. In the provinces, community journalists have it worse. This is exactly why ABS-CBN and Rappler, among other media outlets, have been in trouble and have faced threats of closure, because fearless journalism is the last thing an insecure administration wants. Here in the Philippines, a journalist criticizing the government is perceived as “biased.” Any attempt to fact-check information released by government agencies is seen as an attack on the government.

#Ispeak black speechin black speech free#

Yesterday was World Press Freedom Day, but is the press really free when media institutions across the globe are being stifled by despots, and media workers are faced with job insecurity in a disease-stricken world? (READ: Duterte crushes free expression amid pandemic) And so as long as they delay the tackling of the bills, the agony and uncertainty for both management and employees like us remain, and the fight for press freedom continues. (READ: Calida warns NTC against granting provisional authority to ABS-CBN) While House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano assured ABS-CBN that it can broadcast beyond May 4 as per his instruction to the National Telecommunications Commission, the fact remains that it’s just a band-aid solution to a problem that is, in the end, a personal attack by butthurt politicians. Today, the network’s franchise is supposed to expire, yet bills for its renewal are still pending in Congress. It was a tough time for the network, more so for employees like us who were uncertain about our future. Journalists, artists, celebrities, progressive groups, and media advocates rallied to send a message to the government: stop gagging the press. We lit candles outside the network’s compound. Every Friday, from January to February, we donned black or white shirts to protest. Earlier this year, we found ourselves fighting for press freedom amid the government’s threat to shut down ABS-CBN.