Media Matters with Ja Ellao

Award-winning journalist Inday Espina Varona shares pointers on how we, as journalists, can continue to exact accountability from the Duterte administration on its last months in office. 

Government officials, civil society groups, academics, private individuals - journalists deal with them on a daily basis in our attempt to bring the best obtainable truth to the public. And it isn't an easy job. How can we call out lies? And what can we do when our news sources are under attack?

On World Press Freedom Day, Ezra Acayan, chairperson of the Photojournalists' Center of the Philippines, opens up on the threats and challenges facing the profession, and why it is all worth it.

Activist and journalist Michael Beltran shares how community pantries are debunking systemic biases against the urban poor, and why perpetuating these false assumptions is a disservice to journalists' role in speaking truth to power.

As journalists for the alternative media, we are often asked how we are able to practice ethical journalism. How do our advocacies influence our reporting and framing of news? Are we objective? Bulatlat's managing editor and newly-elected NUJP secretary-general Ronalyn Olea tells us how, and most importantly, why. 

Allow me to introduce to you, the newly-elected chairman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines Jonathan de Santos, and his MEMAs on why journalists should not hesitate on taking a stand on issues that concern our rights.

I talked with recently-freed journalist Lady Ann Salem, or Icy, and she gave her insights from the inside.

This week, award-winning journalist and mother-of-three Zeng Umil shares her MEMA on how media and social media influencers distort our sense of self-love, sex, and marriage. 

It's Feb-ibig! AlterMidya's Marjohara Tucay shares his MEMA on how love is portrayed in the media.

In this week's MEMA, let's revisit the political economy of media and how this communication theory can help us understand how it works and how it covers and reports.