Asia's freest press no more

Some time back, Filipino journalists liked to claim that we had Asia's freest press. Not anymore if you go by recent years, especially after RSF last week released its 2022 World Press Freedom Index, which saw the Philippine news media fall by nine places — from 138th to 147th, out of 180 countries. And with the apparent election of Ferdinand Marcos' son as president, there are fears that things could get worse.

New Zealand led the whole of Asia at 11th place, followed by Timor-Leste (17), Australia (39), South Korea (43) and Japan (71).

In Southeast Asia, the Philippines was eighth, trailed only by Laos (161), Vietnam (175) and Myanmar (176). The freest were Timor Leste (17), Papua New Guinea (62) and Malaysia (113).

At 180th, North Korea held the world's worst record, followed by Eritrea (179), Iran (178) and Turkmenistan (177). 

Norway, Denmark and Sweden were the world's freest, at first, second and third, respectively. The United Kingdom was 24th and United States  42nd. Greece, the birthplace of democracy was 108th.

The big success story in Southeast Asia was Timor Leste, which improved by 54 places, followed by Thailand (up 22 places) and Singapore (up 21).

The biggest losers in the region were Myanmar (down by 36 places), Papua New Guinea (down by 16) and the Philippines (down by 9)

Press Freedom in Southeast Asia

ASEAN	2022
Timor Leste	17
Papua New Guinea	62
Malaysia	113
Thailand	115
Indonesia	117
Singapore	139
Cambodia	142
Brunei	144
Philippines	147
Laos	161
Vietnam	174
Myanmar	176

The biggest gainers, SEA

ASEAN	2022	2021	Change
Timor Leste	17	71	54
Thailand	115	137	22
Singapore	139	160	21
Laos	161	172	11
Brunei	144	154	10

The biggest losers, SEA

ASEAN	2022	2021	Change
Myanmar	176	140	-36
Papua New Guinea	62	46	-16
Bangladesh	162	152	-10
Philippines	147	138	-9
Indonesia	117	113	-4

Pre-match notes: Azkals v. Nepal

• A former student who now covers sports said ABS-CBN will air the Philippines-Nepal match live tomorrow, from the ANFA (All Nepal Football Association) complex in the Kathmandu neighboring city of Patan.
• This afternoon we met with some old timers from the Filipino Community of Nepal and the Nepali-Filipino Association: Rose Budhatokhi, Salve Shakya, Marivic Gurung. 
• They said they didn't know about the match until last week when I contacted Ate Rose out of the blue. A complete stranger then, I hope I didn't startle her. (Well, not that totally, as I learned that she was a Facebook and real-life friend of another faculty colleague, who himself is now based in the Middle East. Another testament to the the six degrees of separation theory, less if you're talking about Filipinos.)
• This afternoon, over coffee, momo (a Nepalese dumpling) and some sweets at the Opium restaurant on Durbar Marg, we learned that tickets must have sold out already. The AND A venue is a training facility not really designed for large crowds. The main stadium, Dasarath Rangasala, was damaged during the 2015 earthquake and was not yet ready to accommodate fans, they said.
• Nevertheless they are in touch with the team and will show up tomorrow for the 2 pm match (4:15 pm, Philippine time).
• Salve Shakya, a 20-year-something Nepal resident and president of the NFA, said the team would host a meet and greet at their hotel after the match, unless the Philippines consul decided to take over.
• The team is staying at a hotel 5 km away from where we're lodging, and has an extra star rating. But, said Salve, some players had asked for adobo. They have been away five days. 
• Another long-time resident, Marivic Gurung, said that despite having two groups, the FCN and NFA got along fine. She shrugged when I asked if she was related to Nepal football star Anil Gurung.

From Kathmandu

AFC Asian Cup 2019 qualifier: Azkals in Nepal

Kathmandu - This is a coverage of the Philippines match tomorrow against the Nepal team. A win tomorrow will usher the Azkals (116th in the FIFA rankings) to the final round of the 2019 Asian Cup in the UAE.

Earlier this year, the Filipino footballers beat the Nepalese, 4-1, in Manila. They are on top of Group F with eight points, as against Nepal's one. Should they lose before a very partisan Nepalese crowd under circumstances favourable to the home team (FIFA No. 176) the Azkals will have to hurdle Tajikistan (FIFA No. 123) in March.

For one, the weather is much cooler, ranging from the midterms to the low 20s (think Baguio in February). It's always around the 30s in the Philippines. It's a consolation that many of our players have lived in colder climates.

Food is another concern. Unless they have their own cooks, the Azkals will have to contend with Nepalese cuisine which is Indian-, Tibetan-, and Thai-influenced. As such, curry is used a lot, along with other spices.

The water, tea, coffee, soda, even beer may be unfamiliar. Fortunately the team has been here since Wednesday. Their guts should have adjusted by then.

 And the altitude.

Also, the Nepal cricket team just made history yesterday with an upset of powerhouse India in another Asia Cup, in Malaysia. Morale is on the side of their football squad.

 ---

 This coverage is very personal, made possible by my wife's single mindedness and with the help of friends. I don't represent any newspaper or network. But I will be at the venue.

I won't find out till tomorrow who among the Filipino sportswriters will be at the All Nepal Football Association complex.

 This early, my thanks to Jimmy Domingo, my faculty colleague at La Salle, and his former students (at Ateneo) who are now journalists in Nepal. Bikash Karki and Kaushal Adhikari arranged with their friends/contacts at ANFA. This afternoon Bikash said I would get media accreditation. Now it just got serious.

E-books in the DLSU library

ETHICS
THEORY

• McQuail,Denis, Peter Golding, & Els De Bens, eds. Communication Theory and Research. London, SAGE, 2005.

PUBLISH

• Apfelbaum, Sue, and Juliette Cezzar. Designing the Editorial Experience: A Primer for Print, Web, and Mobile. Beverly, MA: Rockport, 2014
• Brock, George. Out of Print: Journalism and the Business of News in the Digital Age. London: Kogan Page, 2013.
• Hernandez, Richard Koci, and Jeremy Rue. The Principles of Multimedia Journalism: Packaging Digital News. New York: Routledge, 2016.
• Lupton, Ellen. Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, and Baltimore: Maryland Institute College of Art, 2011

HISTORY

• Stephens, Mitchell. Beyond News: The Future of Journalism. New York: Columbia University Press,2014

Learning political (in)efficacy from TV news

• From the Asian Barometer (Philippine data): news exposure and voting are high, (internal) political efficacy is low
• Internal political efficacy indicators (Niemi et al, 1991, p. 1408)
• What do Filipino voters (not) learn from TV news? What the two top-rating news programs covered during the first five months of the 2016 election period (Jan. 10 to May 8, 2016, excluding the 30 days after election, Comelec Resolution 9981)
• Why TV news? Why not newspapers?
• AGB Nielsen Philippines TV ratings, via pep.ph
• The literature (scholar.google.com, DLSU EBSCO) 
• Online archives on YouTube: GMA 24 Oras ('24 Oras News Today'), daily episodes; ABS TV Patrol ('ABS-CBN News') search by month, stories
• Limitation - Since it is up to the stations whether to upload the material to their YouTube channels, the online archives may not totally correspond to what is actually broadcast.
• Key questions: Does the story help the viewer to
  
  • ... be well qualified to participate in politics?
  • ... have a pretty good understanding of the important political issues facing our country?
  • ... be better informed about politics and government than most people?
  • ... make politics and government less complicated that the viewer can understand what's going on?
  • ... have any say about what government does?
  • ... think that public officials care much what people like her thinks?
• What stories to select. Coding variables. See The British Election Study codeframe

Campaign period: started Feb. 9, 2016

Date	24 Oras	TV Patrol
9 Feb	Story title (slide to mm:ss)	Miriam-Bongbong, nangampanya sa Ilocos Norte Duterte, bagong chairman ng PDP-Laban
10 Feb	Story title (slide to mm:ss)	Story title
11 Feb	Story title (slide to mm:ss)	Story title

Sample

Date	24 Oras	TV Patrol
9 Nov	Story title (slide to mm:ss)	Bagong disqualification case inihain laban kay Grace Poe
5 Nov	Story title (slide to mm:ss)	Isang nag-DNA test para kay Poe, masaya sa resulta
30 Oct	Story title (slide to mm:ss)	Libu-libong botante, humahabol sa pagpaparehistro

Notes on inclusiveness

From Why Nations Fail (Acemoğlu & Robinson, 2012)

Inclusive Political Institutions --> Inclusive Economic Institutions --> Growth

Inclusive	Extractive
Democracy	Colonialism
Strong centralized state	Weak state
Innovation
Technological change
Incentives	Restrictions
Egalitarian	Privileged elites
Reform
Openness
Rule of law
Level playing field
Gradual change
Participation, access	Discrimination
Competition	Monopoly
Market economy	Machine
Free, independent media
Secure property rights

e-books at the DLSU library

Why e-books?

Once borrowed, a printed book is no longer available to other would-be borrowers until the copy is returned. With an e-book, all bonafide students and their professors can "borrow" it simultaneously albeit for a fixed period of time. At DLSU such students must also have a library account.

[Read more on this idea in Nicholas Negroponte's being digital (Vintage, 1996).]

What e-titles do we have?

So far, the DLSU library has titles from e-brary Gale, Science Direct, Springer. These databases include non-books, i.e. articles in magazines, Web sites, and research journals, as well as real books.

For WRITING A52 and A54, I found Tate & Taylor's Scholastic Journalism (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013).

You may read it online, or download in parts or in whole. The words "Your institution has unlimited access to this book" are most soothing.

A note on full download. It means you can keep the file on your computer for 14 days. The download expires after two weeks because of a copyright-protection technology called DRM (digital rights management). The PDF is in your computer but the DRM prevents you from displaying it. Any amateur geek will know how to disarm a DRM. But look at our ELGA No.4.

On the other hand, chapter downloads become yours forever. Then again, you can divide the work of which chapters to download and you will have the whole book anyway. Again, ELGA No. 4.

Downloading an e-book legally and ethically

1. Login. When you choose to download, the system will ask you to sign in. Do so as follows:
   Email/Username name.surname@dlsu.edu.ph
   Password [use your library password, not MLS]
2. Select device you are using. Click continue, Install (Adobe Digital Editions, or if you already have this), Download the book. If you choose to install Adobe Digital Editions, you will also be asked to install the Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Installer


3. What you will get is an acsm file. This not the book. The book will download as a PDF, a protected PDF. Adobe Digital Editions will use the acsm file to link you to the protected PDF.

When your book expires

You can borrow again, of course.