Citizen power: "Being the media"

If everything goes according to plan, the May 10 elections will be the Philippines' first nationwide automated polls. And citizens themselves would be there not just to vote but to themselves cover and document this important and special democratic exercise.

As of this writing, there are already a number of projects seeking to mobilize citizen media, netizens and ordinary citizens:

Blogwatch.ph, a citizens' initiative supported by Vibal Foundation's Philippine Online Chronicles http://blogwatch.ph;
Vote Report Philippines 2010, a project of the Computer Professionals Union http://votereportph.org;
Kontra Daya 2010, a multisectoral and interfaith elections monitoring watchdog http://kontradaya.org; and
100ARAW.com, a collaborative 100-day online countdown to the elections http://100araw.com

Why are we doing it? Why are citizens taking the initiative to "be the media"?

There are many answers to this question. The most obvious is that citizens can do it -- help cover elections -- thanks to the many tools available online and offline.

Common among citizen media initiatives on the elections is the extensive and intensive use of all available new media tools, be they email, blogs, microblogs (Twitter and Plurk), photo and video uploads, social networking sites, podcasts, feeds, and livestreaming.

These tools are available to all those interested in using them. Come to think of it, even mainstream media, the political candidates and the parties, as well as the Commission on Elections, have all been using some or all of these tools for their respective purposes.

By the numbers

Citizens themselves want to act also because of the sheer numbers and scope of the May 10 elections.

Consider these: Nearly 50 million voters including hundreds of thousands of overseas absentee voters, 450,000 teachers-cum-election inspectors, 80,000 precincts and 80,000 e-voting machines, about 18,000 positions up for grabs, and tens of thousands of candidates from hundreds of parties vying for votes. All these spread out across our 7,107 islands and dozens of countries where overseas Filipinos will likewise cast their vote. The automated election system itself is full of lingering and unresolved questions and huge challenges that demand the public's attention.

Will the Commission on Elections (Comelec) accredit citizen media for the elections? Only time will tell. Some of these citizen initiatives are dead set in applying for accreditation-- and if Comelec grants their request, they would be the first ones to be duly accredited by any branch of government. If accreditation is denied based on whim, caprice or some technicality, citizens may go to court and cite legal precedents worldwide.

Second, citizen media is stepping up to the plate not to replace mainstream media. There are simply many voices, views and news that we feel are badly needed to be sought, read and heard. These cannot be covered by 24/7 coverage of all broadcast networks and the metropolitan newspapers.

Those in the provinces who are rarely visited by the glare of national mainstream media exposure -- except when a massacre or a big crime happens or when a popular or prominent persons comes to visit -- are getting the shorter end of the bargain. Local stations and newspapers are reportedly to have started, yet again, to cash in on their election coverage, charging "fees" for interviews in newscasts on top of the windfall they get from political advertising.

nickperlas-interview3 The rise of new media and citizen media can thus be a welcome change for people sick and tired of the limitations of the old media landscape that tend to be, at the end of the day, driven by the quest for big profits and high ratings.

Third, there are also political reasons for this rising interest in citizen media coverage. The youth and the middle class who dominate Philippine cyberspace wish to use the Internet as a forum to ask questions and seek answers from candidates.

Some want to use the Internet to openly campaign. In fact, candidates have also taken note of the power of the internet as new media and they have organized campaign personnel and volunteers to run online campaigns for them.

Towards better media

Contrary to rumors that the elections will be a procession towards a coronation, the race to the presidency has become volatile, according to the latest surveys. The erstwhile frontrunner has lost big time while his main opponent has caught up, resulting in a statistical tie, just days before the campaign period actually started.

More importantly, as far as political objectives are concerned, is the desire of citizens to make sure the elections are fair and free -- not only as the desired result end, but as a means to kick President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo out of office. We cannot forget 2004 and the Hello Garci fiasco that tainted the election results, and we do not wish to just sit idly if the Arroyo administration takes steps yet again to illegally perpetuate itself in power.

Of course, there is no one among the citizen initiatives who harbors an illusion that the road ahead would be perfect, sans bumps and potholes.

We expect the first challenge to be how to earn the trust and respect of the public for whatever news and views we publish online. Basic ethical standards light the way: Accuracy should be our news guidepost, while fairness should characterize our commentary. Comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable. And borrowing from La Solidaridad, make new media a faithful organ of the people. Simply put, we must practice good manners and right conduct, as well as civics, if we wish to be a better media.

We would eventually directly compete with mainstream media going midway and in the homestretch of the coverage. Perhaps the challenge is not to always beat the mainstream media in breaking news events. Better be late than sorry for inaccurate reportage that could harm persons and entire communities, and ruin candidacies. But the bigger challenge is how to focus our and our readers' attention on persons and entire communities, and candidacies that are routinely ignored or under-covered for whatever reasons.

We must also realize that the new media are not perfect. In 2009, Internet World Stats placed at 24 million the number of Filipinos who have regular internet access, or roughly one-fourth of our total population. This is already big compared to 2004, but the fact remains that the other three-fourths remain without access. We must also do our share in pressing for expanding Internet reach and usage to be able to reach more people and be even more effective as new media. (And we have yet to talk about the speed and quality of the connections.)

Elections and poll coverage are a political combat sport. We must be wary of those who seek to (mis-)use new media for traditional political (read: trapo) ends. We must reject payolas or pay-offs that could turn new media into the bad media we reject. If we have political affiliations, let us learn to use disclosures as a sign of respect for ourselves, the politicians we support and the public we swear to serve.

Perhaps these citizen media initiatives could come together to form their own election coverage consortium, in cooperation with alternative and independent media outlets and organizations such as Northern Dispatch, Bulatlat, Pinoy Weekly, and MindaNews. That would be a feat.

Who knows, that consortium could decisively help in shedding light and clarifying the situation, raising awareness and mobilizing the public to finally put an end to nine years of obfuscation by the Arroyo administration. Now, that would be news.

(The author has worked as a reporter for Malaya and for the Manila bureau of a newspaper in Japan. He is now a full-time blogger atAsianCorrespondent.com and at tonyocruz.com, which won the 2008 Philippine Blog Award for news and media. He is the founder and editor of 100ARAW.com. This article was first published in the PJR Reports, a publication of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility.)

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