The perils of community journalism

Ritche Tribo Salgado, PTRP

One of the things that we discussed tonight over dinner is the perils of community journalism, particularly its vulnerability to corruption.

Having worked for local papers for almost ten years, I have come to realize that the reason why journalists are prone to accepting “gifts” is because they do not make enough money that would allow them to at least raise a decent family.

As much as we want to raise the ethics of journalism in the provinces, we have to accept the fact that media workers are not just chroniclers of events, they are also people with needs.

It was also raised that some community papers exist simply because the owner wants a piece of the pie on legal notices, or ads in general. Some of the fellows said that these papers do not care about the content of their paper, they are more concerned on their qualification as a publication that could print these notices. For them, to be able to print their paper, pay their people, and earn a decent income that would allow them to improve their facilities and services further, so to speak, is far more important than giving their readers quality material. In fact, they don’t really care if they are being read or not.

On the other hand, one of the fellows said that the reason why she decided to go into alternative journalism is because she could not swallow the culture of mainstream media, which is profit-oriented.

Almost always, the people who are into alternative journalism are those who still have a thread of idealism in their blood; that despite not earning much, they believe that they need to stick to their principles. But really, can’t mainstream media genuinely do what they say and be independent, free from the influence and dictate of advertisers?

If we are really sincere about raising the standards of community journalism in this country, then we must look for ways to support and promote alternative journalism, or to the most, help community papers to look for other ways of earning an income aside from advertisements.

But then, come to think of it, a strong media outfit is one that could print anything that they want to print but still get businesses to advertise with them. The question now is, just how strong and influential must a media outfit be for it to become truly independent?