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August 30, 2020

lesbian fossil hunters, etc.

Added some new URLs to my collection of online reads, penned by people I actually know. Know a journalist who is now running a newsletter or has recently transitioned from print to online? Send theirs or yours here: http://bit.ly/addvoid

Manila, 30 August—Are you guys ready for the -ber months? Me neither. But here we are, already at the edge of August. How are you? (Mentally I am here. Sound on.)

Anyway. I’ve been thinking about community journalism, especially in the wake of the last days of ABS-CBN Regional. It’s already several weeks later, but that vote in Congress remains to be just as devastating as the day it was handed down, no doubt about it. But I suppose it’s also time to ask: Where to now for community journalism?

Journalist Camille Diola has a Twitter thread that summarizes my thoughts better:

Twitter avatar for @camillediolaCamille Diola @camillediola
Few possible repercussions of vanishing regional news outfits and providers, IMHO: 1. Metro Manila, the political & economic center, will be more detached from LuzVisMin, slower to respond to concerns and opportunities. 2. Local policies and abuses left unchecked...

August 29th 2020

123 Retweets281 Likes

Regional news outfits are most prominent in times of calamity. By that function alone, their service to their respective communities is irreplaceable: Not only do they warn their communities about what’s coming, they also inform national government response by reporting from the ground as first responders. As Ms Diola points out, their absence would further exacerbate the information gap between Metro Manila and the rest of the country, and allow much more sinister efforts to take their place.

I have always loved working with colleagues based in the regions, then and now. My most memorable projects have always involved working with them at one point or another. Who would ever forget the insanity that was 25 simultaneous reading sessions from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi in 2010? It was a very formative experience. To illustrate: That article I just linked to involved write-ups from 28 different contributors from across the country.

These days, I still work with teammates based in the regions and our best stories usually come from them. There is truly no substitute for having people on the ground, not just for coverage, but for community-building, and the execution of regional programs as well. It also bears mentioning that in times of calamity, they too are first responders, as our main front-liners whenever we deploy services for affected customers. They inform the head office’s decisions with their on-ground observations, and are also involved in donation drives, as may be needed.

Which is why I can’t wrap my head around the grief of friends who have lost their region-based colleagues as a consequence of the ABS-CBN franchise non-renewal. This loss echoes—and I think we have yet to fully realize the magnitude of the void that this loss in particular has left.

At this point, I’m really wondering if there is still a way to rebuild what we have lost; what we are losing right now. Is it entirely naive to think that if there is value in something, then there is definitely value in building it? ABS-CBN Regional’s farewell, while occurring amid extraordinarily cruel circumstances, is not by any chance the only farewell of its kind. The pandemic has fast-tracked the shutdown of several regional print publications, for example. (READ: Trying times for community newspapers via Inquirer)

At the old newspaper, I have been seeing veteran former colleagues bidding goodbye after decades of service, citing retirement. The roster includes the Inquirer’s top illustrator, the paper’s most award-winning photographer and pioneering columnists like Rina Jimenez David, who is ending her column after THIRTY YEARS amid the Inquirer’s cost-cutting measures.

Eras are ending everywhere and we can’t even hug.

I still believe that as long as journalism is treated as a business, there is no saving it. There must be another way to fund it, to pay for the journalists who do the work and for the infrastructure around it.

Maybe its other functions can be “businesses”—say, printing and distribution. But everything else must not be—and that includes content. This probably involves pivoting away from the ad-driven business model. I don’t know. I don’t know if an alternative exists. All I know is that the current business model has made it so damn vulnerable.

Maybe Mrs Apostol was right—maybe newspapers really should be owned by employees, and not big businesses. (READ: Present at creation: Hysterical, historical via Inquirer: Part 1 and Part 2)

There’s much to learn about this two-part essay by Mrs Apostol, whose vision for a truly independent media outfit in the twilight years of the Marcos regime gave birth to the Inquirer: “If only people owned their newspaper or TV station, there would be less pressure from interest groups and, therefore, it would be more independent.”

Today, with the Internet making content creators, publishers and marketers out of everyone and taking out the cost of paper from the picture, I wonder if this idea merits revisiting.


Media recs

Some notes from stuff we finished recently:

☂️ Finally caught up and finished Umbrella Academy Season 2. Didn’t expect to be so into this, but I am! Dysfunctional families, cults, ghosts—you name it. And jfc, what kind of season ender was that! I have so many questions!

😈 Speaking of season enders—Lucifer Season 5 (pt 1) has been cut in half AND OH MY GOD (literally). Lucifer and Chloe being all heart-eyes at each other is a change of pace that is probably not for everyone, but is interesting all in all to see.

🐚 Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan are playing lesbian lovers in “Ammonite” (a.k.a. Lesbian Fossil Hunters In Love), which is inspired by the relationship between paleontologist and fossil hunter Mary Anning (Winslet) and another woman, Charlotte Murchison (Ronan). The trailer looks GORGEOUS. It’s like Portrait of a Lady On Fire but with dead dinosaurs and KATE WINSLET.

I mean look at it:

Anyway. We can’t wait to see this movie! Even if they premiere online with pay, we’d gladly pay for it.

P.S. Can this end-of-August letter really end without citing another Jose Mari Chan meme? Well, Jose Mari Chan memes are dime a dozen these days but this one where he warms up in NBA2K is relatively new.

Thank you for making it this far. Happy long weekend!

K

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