RSF Index Shows PH Media Climate Better on Paper; Journalists Note Paper Does Not Stop Bullets

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Philippines has improved its position on the annual Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, a development that press freedom advocates have cautiously welcomed while noting that “improved ranking” and “safe journalism” are two different measurements that do not always move in the same direction. Coverage from Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat.

The Philippines remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists by several measures, including the Committee to Protect Journalists’ impunity index, which tracks unsolved killings of media workers. The country has appeared on the CPJ impunity index consistently for over a decade, a distinction that press freedom organizations describe as alarming and government communications offices describe as “an incomplete picture.”

What the Ranking Actually Measures

The Reporters Without Borders press freedom index evaluates countries across five categories: political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context, and safety. An improvement in any of these areas can produce a better overall ranking even if conditions in other areas remain problematic. A country can improve its legal framework for press freedom while the safety situation remains unchanged, producing a better ranking without producing a safer environment for working journalists.

“We are encouraged by the improvement,” said a spokesperson for the Philippine press freedom advocacy community, who asked not to be named for reasons that are themselves a press freedom data point. “We remain concerned about journalist safety in the provinces, the use of cyber libel laws against critical reporting, and the concentration of media ownership among families with political interests.” These concerns are, the spokesperson noted, “not reflected in the improved ranking, specifically.”

The Cyber Libel Problem

The Philippines enacted the Cybercrime Prevention Act in 2012, which includes a provision criminalizing online libel with penalties of up to twelve years in prison — significantly heavier than the print libel statute it mirrors. The law has been used in cases against journalists including Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 and multiple criminal convictions around the same period, a combination that is either ironic or a precise description of the Philippine legal environment for press freedom, depending on your familiarity with irony.

Cyber libel complaints against journalists and online commentators continue to be filed, creating what the Committee to Protect Journalists calls a “chilling effect” on reporting — meaning journalists self-censor not because they have been convicted but because they have watched colleagues be prosecuted and would prefer not to spend twelve years discovering what prison journalism is like.

The Province Problem

The press freedom situation in Metro Manila, where international attention is concentrated and witnesses are numerous, is materially different from conditions in provincial areas where local political dynasties operate with less oversight and where journalist killings have historically been concentrated. The Inquirer’s reporting on press freedom improvements noted that media groups continue to call for resolution of cold cases involving murdered journalists, cases that have remained cold for years or decades. An improved RSF ranking does not warm them.

“We are glad the ranking is better,” said a provincial radio journalist who requested anonymity because, as she explained, “that’s the point of the whole story, isn’t it.” She reports on local government and has received no specific threats recently. She reports on local government and has received no specific threats recently, she repeated, which is different from saying she feels safe.

The Ownership Question

Philippine media ownership is concentrated among a small number of families and conglomerates with overlapping business and political interests. This structure means that the independence of individual journalists is bounded by the independence of the institutions employing them, which is in turn bounded by the interests of the owners of those institutions. The RSF index evaluates economic context of media, and the Philippine media economy has not substantially restructured since its last evaluation.

The ranking is up. The concerns are noted. Both things are true. Filipino journalists will continue reporting through both, which is either admirable or inevitable, and is, in any case, what they do.

More media freedom satire: NewsThump.

The Improvement, in Context

The RSF ranking improvement reflects real changes: the Marcos administration has not pursued press freedom cases with the same intensity as its predecessor, several journalists who had faced charges have had those charges dropped or reduced, and the general atmosphere for critical media has become somewhat less openly hostile. These are improvements. The cyber libel law remains on the books. The impunity for past journalist killings remains intact. Media ownership concentration remains unchanged. The provinces remain complex environments for reporters covering local government. An improved ranking is not a clean bill of health; it is a better score on a test that measures a complex and dynamic situation at a single point in time. Filipino journalists will continue reporting regardless of the score. That is, ultimately, what the score is measuring.

The international press freedom community monitors the Philippines closely partly because the country’s experience — a vibrant, energetic press culture operating alongside genuine physical danger for its practitioners — is instructive for the global conversation about what press freedom requires to be real rather than nominal. Legal protections matter. Cultural norms matter. Economic independence of media organizations matters. But so does physical safety, and physical safety in the Philippines remains unequal by geography and by the subject of coverage. Metro Manila political journalism is relatively safe. Provincial local government corruption coverage is not.

SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/