WITH the advent of internet and social media, the rural press, in its purest sense, has nearly lost the luster that made it the star of reportage in prior decades, affected no less by the redefinition of what brass-tacks newsgathering is all about.
The significance of rural media, i.e., the provincial journalists, in our national life is a theme that has been given very little appreciation. In the past, this breed of scribes always took the circuitous route in getting the news first-hand from the source and delivered their outputs with clarity, depth, drama, and completeness. They were, in a manner of speaking, the cream of the crop when it came to deliver the hottest report. Today, reports are treated virtually like gossips.
Decades ago, the news being fed by rural media to national publications were treated as precious jewels that usually earned front-page treatment. National publications, as a matter of policy, even set aside few pages for provincial reports that afforded readers a virtual look into the situations obtaining in the countryside.
Sad to say, the newspapers today are mostly devoted to politics, economics, fashion and entertainment, and other sections. Only calamities and tragedies in the provinces earn preference, and only scandals, mixed with politics, are worth the front page.
Bringing back the status of rural media in our news life reconnects people and conveys the events transpiring in remote regions of the archipelago. By changing existing patterns in reportage, the rural press can look forward to shedding its label as journalism’s outcasts.
Amid the threats that technology brings, the Publishers Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PAPI), for the love of rural media, has, over the last quarter of a century, consistently walked the extra mile in hosting the only active annual assembly of rural journalists. To its credit, it has moved on, inspired by resourcefulness and commitment, with fire in its belly.
On December 3-6, 2019, PAPI, optimistic as always, will hold the 24th National Press Congress in Kalibo and Boracay Island in Aklan. The media event executes Presidential Proclamation 1187 signed in 2005, declaring December of each year as ‘Month of the Community Press in the Service of the Nation,’ with the PAPI, now presided by Nelson Santos, as lead outfit.
Central to the event, which carried the theme “fraternal leadership, service to the nation, and responsible media practice advocacy,” is the launching of a five-year agenda that will culminate with the 50th anniversary of the founding of PAPI in 2024.
