A shift in the national media?

Not long after Davao City Archbishop Romulo Valles was elected as the new Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ president, the country woke up to another ‘change’. San Miguel Corporation president Ramon Ang now owns The Philippine Daily Inquirer.

It seems that the current administration’s most vocal enemies are about to turn 360 as they see new leaders who have been very expressive of their support to President Rodrigo Duterte and his projects.

But first, let’s point that Archbishop Valles’ election should not come as a surprise because he was actually CBCP vice president before Villagas’ second and final term ended.

Ramon Ang on the other hand was offered, he did not insist on holding the biggest share in the company, to buy majority of the stake by the Prietos as their strategic decision.

Yes, after 25 years at the helm, the Prietos decided to divest their share in the Inquirer Group. This, according to a Rappler report, is a sad news for their employees. As written on the article, one of the employees who’s name was not included said, “We had a number of meetings where we were told to be brave, to soldier on. Never did we think we’d be sold off to a Duterte campaign donor at that. Just imagine our disbelief.”

Perhaps they are afraid as Inquirer have repeatedly drawn the ire of Duterte ever since he assumed the top post of the land. The president complains for balanced news delivery.

If there will be any changes on the editorial content as the new owner takes his seat, it’s going to be their call as staff. After all, the company is only as free as the owner allows them to be.

But Ang has taken his vow to respect Inquirer’s legacy, so rather than lambast the buyout might as well take this as an opportunity to selfexamine our roles as media - if we are really to deliver the message as a whole or just pick the bits that suit our personal preference.

What we hold as members of the press is power that might surpass even the biggest leaders. We feed the public with information that shape their opinions. In the Philippine setting, the media’s opinion is readily accepted by the public as their own because they recognize the years spent in this industry.

Coming from Center of Media Freedom and Responsibility chairman Vergel Santos, “I think the media is coming short, they’re not asking sharp questions. The media is not investigating enough”.

Sometimes we get so deep with the idea that there are issues we think need to be exposed than we get lost at the sight of it and we forget to resurface to analyze the whole picture.

Yes, our purpose is to challenge the powers that be but if the power is appropriately utilized, we appreciate. It’s also our responsibility to contribute to the progress that the government is trying to make.