Lords of the press (Media Situations)

For the Most Part such

Vulnerability

the existence of a robust and rambunctious press

no government control of publishing and no official censorship exists

restrained only by laws on libel and sedition

Constitutional guarantee of a free press

utilized by their owners to wage political and business battles

Press Vulnerability

SOURCE: BUSINESSWORLD TOP 1000 CORPORATIONS

*In October 1995, the Emilio Yap’s Manila Bulletin, the country’s second largest newspaper, ran daily front-page stories criticizing the awarding of the sale of the Manila Hotel to a Malaysian consortium*The paper asserted that the historic hotel was part of the national patrimony and should therefore be sold to a Filipino company.

Mouthpiece of Owners

In August and September 1996, the Manila Standard owned by Razon's family ran editorials and news stories questioning the awarding by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) of the contract for port services to the Hong Kong company Hutchison Ports Philippines Inc.

Mouthpieces of Owners

Proprietorial meddling is open-ended and outcomes can vary

Some newsrooms are like marketplaces, where bargaining between journalists and owners occurs, and where journalistic principles are often compromised, but sometimes also prevail.

Proprietorial meddling

At some situation in Manila Standard, they leave their editors to decide on what the paper can print often as favors to friends or when they think the reporting has become too critical of key officials

In Manila Bulletin on the extreme , the owner takes the place of editors as gatekeeper of news and information, deciding what readers will find in their morning paper

Proprietorial meddling

In the Philippine daily Inquirer, some editors manage to strike out a relationship where owners have a hand in drafting editorial policy but leave the newsroom decisions to professional journalists

Other newspapers like the Philippine Star or Malaya editors unquestioningly accept the rules set by owners and dutifully execute orders to highlight or kill a story

Proprietorial meddling

Philippine Daily Inquirer

The Inquirer, which started out as a fighting, journalist-owned opposition paper, operates on such mode, even if its main owner, the Prieto family, is involved in businesses that include a paper mill, fast-food chains and real estate

Proprietorial meddling

in the beginning of the 20th century, foundations of modern-day newspapering in the country were laid by American colonizers

American notions of a commercially run, profit-oriented press, brought in modern printing technology, and schooled a generation of Filipino journalists in U.S.-style reporting

Foundations of modern day newspapering

By the 1920s, newspapering was becoming a profitable business, with the expansion of the market for subscribers as well as advertising directed to that market

Lewis Gleeck, took place in the first decades of this century: “the conversion of Filipino journalist of opinion run by politicians into newspapers run as business enterprises.”

Foundations of modern day newspapering

Alejandro Roces –Spanish Mestizo who founded a chain of newspapers and the pioneer of this trend

William Randolph Hearst - U.S. press tycoon and an icon to Filipino press proprietors

Manuel Quezon- a senator, persuaded his millionaire friends to set up the Philippines Herald to serve as a mouthpiece for his political faction

Development of Philippine Press

In the 1930s, the wealthy Elizalde family acquired other newspapers to form the El Debate-Mabuhay-Herald-Monday Mail (DHMM) chain.

In 1938, the chain was leased to J. Amado Araneta, a sugar baron who needed a voice to lobby for a bigger U.S. market for sugar

Foundations of modern day newspapering

In 1947, Eugenio Lopez Sr., bought The Manila Chronicle to help boost his efforts to get congressional action on behalf of sugar planters

I.P. Soliongco and Renato Constantino- country’s leading crusading journalists work for the Lopez

Foundations of modern day newspapering

Luis R. Mauricio -a Veteran journalist during the Quirino administration and the news editor of the Chronicle and was under pressure from Eugenio Sr. not to highlight anti-Quirino stories

The Lopezes Manila Chronicle was at the lead of the press pack that was stridently critical of Marcos campaign to undermine his presidency

Foundations of modern day newspapering