Introduction to Philippine News Media
Philippine newspapers have a rich history of resistance amid political reforms. The early periodicals played a major role in the country’s independence movement. This is one of the reasons why Philippine journalists like Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Mariano Ponce, Antonio Luna are hailed as heroes of the freedom movement. The Philippine revolution against Spain, which was a first by any Asian country against a western colonial, is often credited to the aforementioned journalists.
Even today, the Philippine media is known for its free and lively approach. The island nation learned from the best of business, the Americans, to play a role of watchdog. Journalists here do not hesitate to take a conflicting stance against the ruling government.
However, due to excessive freedom, some of the Philippine newspapers and websites have turned uncontrollably exuberant in nature. Some of the Philippine newspapers and websites are also criticised for sensationalism and their over dependency on advertising causing lack of ethics.
Currently, the most read newspapers in the Philippines are Manila Bulletin, The Philippine Star, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Business Mirror and BusinessWorld.
Del Superior Govierno is the first Philippine newspaper that came into existence in 1811. The newspaper was edited by the Spanish Governor General. Since most of the reading base included the local Spaniards, Del Superior Govierno majorly reported the news from Spain.
La Esperanza, established in 1846, is the first Philippine daily newspaper but it also served the Spanish elite. The Philippine daily published mostly on the non-controversial subjects, such as religion, science and history.
Diario de Manila was another initial Philippine newspaper that rose to prominence quickly. However, the paper was suppressed by the Governor General despite being in the publishing business for 38 years. The paper was reportedly inciting a Philippine revolution against the Spaniards.
In 1893, the first local publication El Ilocanowhich came into existence, followed by El Hogar — the first publication for and by Filipino women in the same year.
Today, a few prominent Filipino families and business houses own most of the newspapers and websites in the island nation. This is one of the reasons behind some reports alleging that they serve propaganda for one person or entity’s special interests.
The press owned by private enterprises has also contributed much to the sensationalism of the news.
Meanwhile, the government policy for the press freedom is managed by the Office of the President. The 1987 constitution has freedom of speech and freedom of the press well written and explained in it. Besides all the praise for the government for respecting the freedom of the press in the Philippines, there has been occasional criticism for its failure to investigate the killings of journalists. The government has also been criticised for harassing journalists in the name of public surveillance.
According to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Philippines was at the 142nd place on the fifth annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index in 2006. As many as 52 journalists were murdered with many booked under the cases of legal harassment between 1986 and 2005.
Philippine newspapers, websites and news agencies’ list
After telling you the history and importance of the Philippine media, here we present you a list of widely read Philippine newspapers, news websites and news agencies. We have tried to explain the origin, operations, status and popularity of these Philippine media entitiesamong the Filipino readers.
Part 1: Philippine newspapers and websites
In the first part of the article, we will describe everything about the Philippine newspapers and websites that are popular in the Philippines and its neighboring countries.
ABS-CBN
ABS-CBN (Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a new media network of the Philippines. It is a flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, which is a company under the Lopez Group. ABS-CBN has its headquarter at the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center in Quezon City.
Reach
The offices and production facilities span across 25 major cities which includes Baguio, Iloilo, Cebu, Naga, Bacolod, and Davao. ABS-CBN boasts of being the largest media company in terms of revenues, assets, and international coverage in the Philippines. Interestingly, ABS-CBN is colloquially also referred to as the Kapamilya Network.
For the unversed, ABS-CBN is the first television broadcaster in Southeast Asia besides being one of the oldest commercial TV broadcasters in the Asian continent.
Colour TV
ABS-CBN is the first television network in Southeast Asia to broadcast in colour and the first in the Philippines to get launched in high-definition. It also became the first TV network of the country to launch a digital terrestrial television service.
Controversies
On May 5, 2020, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and Solicitor General Jose Calida issued a cease-and-desist order to ABS-CBN. Earlier in February 2020, the NTC refused to renew the network’s franchise license.
There was huge uproar across the nation over the NTC’s refusal. According to reports, there were allegations that NTC refused franchise license renewal due to its critical stories related to the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Website
ABS-CBN has a website which offers “latest Philippines news on politics, legislation, social, health, environment and government policies as well as updates from Metro Manila and regions”. It has various sections that include News, Business, Entertainment, Life, Sports, Overseas, Spotlight and Weather.
ABS-CBN also has a YouTube channel and one can subscribe to it for the latest videos. You can also download its application, available for both Android and iOS users.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Philippine Daily Inquirer is one of the prominent-most daily newspaper of the island region. It was founded in 1985 with a fearless approach and commitment to the truth for the welfare of Filipino citizens.
The company is in existence for 34 years now and has employed over 311 people. In 2020, Philippine Daily Inquirer claimed 1,979,000 as its recorded number of readers.
Newspaper credibility
Philippine Daily Inquirer has been an influential newspaper in the region with the readership of over a million readers nationwide. The newspaper journalists have exposed countless people and reported on incidents risking their own lives.
Catholic Mass Media Awards, Jaime Ongpin Awards for Investigative Journalism, Anvil Awards and WAN-IFRA Asia Media Awards are among the most noted recognition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. In all, the broadsheet has received over 500 awards and citations so far.
The Philippine newspaper has four regional bureaus and employed over 130 provincial correspondents across the nation. The printing presses of Philippine Daily Inquirer are located in Laguna and Manila.
Inquirer Website
Philippine Daily Inquirer has a website inquirer.net that garners one million page views per day on an average. The website represents all INQUIRER Group of Companies (IGC), such as Philippine Daily Inquirer, Hinge Inquirer Publications, Cebu Daily News, Inquirer LIBRE, Bandera, Inquirer Mobile, Print Town, DZIQ 990AM Radyo Inquirer, Delivery Access Group, and Inquirer Digital Outdoor Media.
The 24/7 website reports breaking news related to politics, entertainment, sports, lifestyle, business and technology. Besides that, the international stories that are relevant to all Filipinos are also covered by Inquirer.net.
The Inquirer group news website has a strong presence on various social media platforms and engage with the readers to constantly enhance the content.
Newsletter and alerts
The Inquirer offers a free daily newsletter and subscription of the news alerts to its registered users for free of cost.
Philippine Daily Inquirer Online
Philippine Daily Inquirer ePaper
Philippine Daily Inquirer Android App
Philippine Daily Inquirer iOS App
Bandera?
Bandera is a daily tabloid newspaper that publishes news in England and Tagalog, a language spoken by Tagalog community of the Philippines. The newspaper is published by the Inquirer Publications, Inc. The editorial and business offices of Bandera is located at the Media Resources Plaza Building, Mola cor. Pasong Tirad Streets, La Paz, Makati City.
Bandera comes with thirteen pages at a price of 10 pesos. The sensational tabloid content is published on the Bandera news website as well that comes under the domain of Inquirer.net.
Bandera mostly covers news related to local and international events and publishes hard-hitting columns by prominent Filipino writers.
Cebu Daily News
Cebu Daily News, also known as CDN, is a regional newspaper and has an online news portal that operates under the domain of the Inquirer Group of Companies. The office of CDN is situated at Kaohsiung St. cor. S. Osmena Road, North Reclamation Area, Cebu City.
The Inquirer calls CDN Cebu’s Only Independent Newspaper and claims that it “has no politician owners or alliances”. The regional paper published its first issue on February 8, 1998.
By 2010, CDN had claimed more than a dozen local, national and international awards with impressive journalism in first 12 years.
GMA News
GMA New Media, Inc. (or NMI), founded in 2000, is known for offering interactive apps in television, mobile, web, marketing and online gaming industry. Headquartered in Quezon City, Philippines, its parent company is GMA Network. Its subsidiaries include Philippine Entertainment Portal, X-Play Online Games, Inc., Media Merge Corporation and Digify.
GMA News Online
GMA News Online, launched in 2007 was then called gmanews. The website bagged a couple of awards besides Best Website in the 9th Philippine Web Awards in the same year. GMA News Online is available for download on android and iOS.
One can get alerts and notifications on smartphones or tablets as and when a breaking news is published. There are various sections such as News, Sports, Lifestyle, Showbiz, SciTech and Opinion and one can access all the news related to these sections. One can also see videos from GMA and GMA News TV besides listening to DZBB am radio which streams throughout the day.
You can also share stories of your choice on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter through the app.
GMA Network Portal
Later in 2011, GMANetwork was launched as one-stop portal offering services of GMA News Online, GMA Entertainment Website and IMReady Public Service Portal.
GMA News TV, launched as a replacement of “Q”, is a Philippine free-to-air television network. It is owned by Citynet Network Marketing and Productions Inc., which is a subsidiary of GMA Network, Inc. Its studio is located at the GMA Network Center, EDSA corner Timog Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City.
On February 20, 2011, Q was discontinued, and after a few days on February 28, GMA News TV was launched.
Key People
Jaemark Tordecilla is the Editor-in-Chief while Raffy S. Jimenez, Lou Albano and Norman Bordadora are Managing Editors. GMA News TV also has an official YouTube channel.
Rappler
Rappler, launched in 2012, is a Philippine online news website. It is based in Pasig, Manila. According to the website, Rappler is an amalgamation of the words- “rap” (to discuss) and “ripple” (to make waves). The website offers news on various beats including Technology, Asia Pacific, US & Canada, Europe, Movies and Nation.
Origin
It initially began as a Facebook page, MovePH, in August 2011 and later converted into a full-fledged website on January 1, 2012. Rappler was among the first news sites of Philippines to extensively use online multimedia.
Key People
The CEO & Executive Editor of Rappler is Maria A. Ressa while Glenda M. Gloria is the Managing Editor. The website mentions that the idea to start something like Rappler began around the end of 2010. In the About Us section, the website says, “Rappler is our generation’s response to all the societal problems each member of the team had long tried to fight alone.”
Crowd Funding
Rappler relies on crowd funding as a source of finance and dissemination of news. Asking its readers for support, Rappler states on its website, “We don’t want to just give you the news; we aim to promote critical thinking, self-reflection, and empathy to encourage informed decision-making. Help us stay free and independent of political pressure and commercial interests.”
Rappler provides a membership programme called Rappler PLUS. Through the membership, readers can get exclusive content that provides a deeper perspective into a wide range of subjects that matter. One can also collaborate with other members of the “Rappler community”.
Controversies
Rappler started being critical of Duterte-led government of the Philippines, which took office in 2016. Later, in 2018, Rappler’s license to function as a “mass media” entity was revoked in an alleged violation of Constitution’s Foreign Equity Restrictions in Mass Media by being completely foreign-owned.
SunStar
SunStar, also known as Sun Star, is an English daily newspaper that operates from Cebu City in the Philippines. The newspaper publishes as many as 11 editions for different cities of the Philippine islands.
Various editions
The city editions of the Sun Star are published in Bacolod, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Davao City, Dumaguete, General Santos, Iloilo City, Tacloban and Zamboanga City. Pampanga and Pangasinan residents get special provincial editions of the Sun Star newspaper.
The regional editions of the Sun Star Philippine newspaper are circulated in Metro Cebu and Metro Manila. The news related to the national remains usually the same in all the editions of the newspaper.
Sun Star comes in a tabloid form for the residents of Bacolod, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Metro Cebu and Pampanga. Add to that, the Sun Star has an online newspaper exclusively published for the residents of Dumaguete, General Santos, Iloilo, Metro Manila, Pangasinan, Tacloban and Zamboanga City.
Website
The prominent Philippine newspaper has a website as well that provides news related to the provinces to both national as well as global readers. The SunStar Cebu website has been live since 1996. While on May 10, 2000, the Philippine news website started compiling news from all editions of the Sun Star newspapers.
The Sun Star website is quite popular among the Filipino readers as it covers news from Manila, Baguio, Pampanga, Pangasinan in Luzon, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Tacloban in the Visayas, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga in Mindanao.
Awards
In 2010, the 24/7 active news portal was bestowed with the Best Website (newspaper category) title in the 4th Digital Filipino Web Awards. Earlier, in the 2009 Catholic Mass Media Awards, Sun Star won the award for Best Website (corporate category).
The SunStar Network Exchange (Sunnex) manages the Sun Star website under the ownership of the SunStar Publishing Inc. that is headquartered in Cebu City, Philippines.
Sun Star Cagayan ?
Sun Star Cagayan is one of the primer-most editions of Sun Star newspaper and news website. On the main Sun Star website, a section of Sun Star Cagayan de Oro has been dedicated to the news and other interesting stories from the Cagayan de Oro City of the Philippines.
Sun Star Pampanga
Sun Star Pampanga is another popular and widely read edition of the Sun Star newspaper. The Sun Star Pampanga claims on its official Facebook page that it is the only daily newspaper in Pampanga. The main website of Sun Star also has a sub website specially dedicated to Sun Star Pampanga for the readers of Pampanga province of the Philippines.
Abante
Abante is a Philippine tabloid newspaper that is published on a daily basis in the Philippines. The newspaper has a website as well that reports news 24/7. The office of Abante is located in Makati City.
Ownership
Abante is owned by a start-up company, Prage Management Services. Veteran journalists Rey Marfil and Gil Cabacungan Jr. formed the start-up company and now manage the operations of Abante along with its sister tabloid, Abante Tonite.
The Abante Tonite is published by the Monica Publishing Corporation, a company that belongs to the famous Macasaet family. The Philippine tabloid published its first issue in October 2017.
Other ventures
Abante also owns and operates a news website called Abante: TNT, which means Tunay na Tabloidista. The news website works on real-time basis. Other ventures of Abante are online radio company Radyo Tabloidista and entertainment magazine Celebrity Radar.
In 2006, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group attempted to raid Abante’s office but failed to do so as the television crew was present to capture their video. The incident happened during the State of Emergency in the Philippines.
Abante Tonite
Abante Tonite is a sister tabloid of Abante and has a news website as well that publishes reports on news, entertainment, lifestyle and sports.
Philippine Star
The Philippine Star is a newspaper and digital portal in the Philippines that operates in English. It is the flagship brand of the PhilStar Media Group. The Philippine Star rates among the top newspapers when it comes to circulation. According to the Philippine Yearbook 2013, the average circulation was 266,000 copies per day.
Ownership
It is owned and published by Philstar Daily Inc. The same company also publishes monthly magazine People Asia and Sunday magazines Starweek and Let’s Eat.
In March 2014, MediaQuest Holdings, Inc. acquired The Philippine Star after purchasing a major stake in Philstar Daily, Inc.
The newspaper was established seven months after People Power Revolution. The 1986 movement toppled Ferdinand Marcos and propelled Corazon Aquino to the power.
Revolution
Before The Phillippine Star was established, the founding members Betty Go-Belmonte, Max Soliven and Art Borjal were veteran journalists of “Mosquito Press”. It is a name given to the newspapers that were critical of the Marcos administration and were published after the Martial Law era (1972 to 1981).
Belmonte, Soliven and Borja, along with Eugenia Apostol, Louie Beltran, and Florangel Braid, founded Philippine Daily Inquirer on 9 December 1985. This English-language newspaper gradually became the most vocal critic of Marcos administration.
After the 1986 People Power Revolution, differences surfaced among the founders due to concerns related to finances and shifting priorities. This ultimately led to Belmonte, Soliven and Borjal to establish The Philippine Star.
Origin
The first issue of The Philippine Star was published on 28 July 1986 and had eight pages. The first issue carried no advertisements and had the headline, “Wear yellow and die”. The story covered the death of 23-year-old bystander, who was lynched by a mob of Marcos loyalists during a rally.
The Philippine Star’s website has sections like Opinion, Nation, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Lifestyle.
CNN Philippines
CNN Philippines, also known as CNN PH is a Philippine television network, owned and operated by Nine Media Corporation along with Radio Philippines Network (RPN). CNN Philippines was launched on March 16, 2015. After CNN Indonesia, CNN Türk, CNN Arabic and CNN-IBN (now CNN News18), CNN PH is the fifth local franchise of CNN in the Asian continent. It is headquartered in Mandaluyong, Philippines.
First 24/7 English News Channel
From March 2, 2011, to October 29, 2012, the channel was Talk TV, which bid goodbye to pave the way for the launch of Solar News Channel. It was the first 24-hour English news channel on both cable TV and free-to-air TV. Solar News Channel was rebranded and launched as 9TV in 2014. Then, CNN Philippines replaced 9TV. It was launched along with the tagline “We Tell The Story Of The Filipino”.
With the help of CNN/U.S. and CNNI reporters’ pool, CNN Philippines covers local and international news. Special programs from CNN/U.S. and HLN are also broadcast, mainly during the overnight. The programs are aired as a part of the deal between CNN and Nine Media Corporation.
Some of its star anchors are Pia Hontiveros, Pinky Webb and Rico Hizon among others.
Website
CNN Philippines caters to its viewers through the digital medium as well. The news website offers stories of various beats and has sections like News, World, Business, Entertainment, Sports Desk, Life, Videos, Transportation and Special Projects.
Social media presence
CNN Philippines also has a YouTube channel. “CNN Philippines provides first-class news and information drawing on the strength and worldwide news gathering power of CNN, and the local perspective and expertise of Nine Media Corporation. It offers Filipino viewers a global perspective on key issues and trending stories from around the world, together with in-depth local coverage,” reads the description of the YouTube channel.
CNN Philippines can be followed on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Manila Bulletin (MB)
Manila Bulletin, founded in 1900, is the largest English broadsheet newspaper of the country in terms of the circulation. From 1906 to September 1972, it was known as Manila Daily Bulletin whereas from November 1972 to March 1986, the newspaper was known as Bulletin Today.
History
Manila Bulletin is also the second oldest newspaper in the country. Its official tagline is “The Nation’s Leading Newspaper”. It was started as a shipping journal by Carlson Taylor. Later in 1957, a Swiss expatriate Hans Menzi acquired the newspaper.
“The Manila Bulletin is the pioneer in taking the first giant steps to become the only broadsheet to utilize an integrated approach to a multi-level platform. Thus, it prides itself in not just being a newspaper but more so in being a multi-media company. Harnessing the power of technology to keep its readers and the market fully informed,” the company says in the About Us section of its website.
Ownership
Regarding the ownership, the About Us section says, “Company is 54.20% owned by U.S. Automotive Co., Inc., which was also incorporated in the Philippines”.
Manila Bulletin is also the first major print news outlet to offer an online Chinese edition. On June 2020, it launched its Chinese-language online edition which would cater to Filipino-Chinese diaspora.
Controversies
During World War II, Editor Roy Anthony Cutaran Bennett was not only imprisoned but tortured by Japanese as his remarks against their militarist expansion didn’t go down well with them. The Manila Bulletin was an alleged propaganda tool during the martial law era of President Ferdinand Marcos.
Tempo and Balita are its two daily tabloids. It also publishes nine magazines namely Philippine Panorama, Bannawag, Liwayway, Bisaya and several other journals in English, Tagalog, Cebuano and other Philippine languages. Wedding Essentials, Style Weekend, GARAGE Magazine are some of its lifestyle magazines.
PhilNews
Philnews is an online news portal that is quite popular among Filipino readers for its coverage on country’s politics, entertainment, lifestyle, sports, business and everything related to the Philippines that trends on the social media.
Based out of the Philippines, the Philnews website aims to report news from within the country along with other nations across the globe. Not just Filipino readers, the news websites wishes to create a base of readers from the foreign lands.
Ownership
Philnews, which is also known as Philippine News, is owned by TechSoft It Solutions from the Visayas Region. The website, which is in existence since 2010, claims in its About Us section that it is funded by a group of professional entrepreneurs.
Philnews boasts of its journey from a hobby blog to one of the leading news portals operating from the Philippine islands. The managers of the website claim that they do not have degrees in journalism and compete with the writing experts with faster and accurate news reports. They add that the reports on Philnews would have few errors compared to those running by experts.
The publishing company says its motto is to let “the readers know what you deserve to know”.
Key People
JayPabs, who is the company owner, holds the position of Admin of Philnews. He founded the Philippine news website with a friend in 2010. JayPabs was a programming expert when he started Philnews as a hobby blog.
JayPabs’ brother, Glenn, is the Office Manager and looks after the employees’ attendance, computers maintenance and distributes salaries.
Sly PJ holds the designation of the Social Media Expert. He is responsible for managing all the social media accounts of the Philippine news website.
Rue Bliss, Josh Bianc, Sandy Ghaz, Jay Nelz, Jeel Monde and Jhen Green are among authors who write regularly for Philnews.
Manila Times
The Manila Times boasts of being the oldest English newspaper in the Philippines. It is headquartered at 2/F Sitio Grande Building, 409 A. Soriano Avenue, Intramuros, Manila. The Manila Times was founded shortly after it was learned that Treaty of Paris would be signed. This treaty would end the Spanish–American War, thus transferring Philippines from Spanish to American sovereignty.
The Manila Times claims to be the fourth-largest newspapers in the Philippines in terms of circulation. It holds the fourth position after Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Bulletin and The Philippine Star.
Origin
The first issue of The Manila Times was published on October 11 in the year 1898. Its political alignment is Centre-right, which is pro-administration.
The newspaper was founded by Thomas Gowan, a native Englishman living in the Philippines. The main motto of creating the newspaper was to serve Americans who were sent to Manila during the Spanish–American War.
Takeovers
After being sold several times since its origin, Dante Ang, a publicist for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo finally acquired The Manila Times from Mark Jimenez. “On August 8, 2001 Dante A. Ang formally sat as publisher and chair of The Manila Times,” the official website says.
Writing about its Chairman in the About Us section, The Manila Times says, “Ang’s vision is to make The Times ‘handsomely profitable’ as well as one of the top influential dailies in the country”.
“He is no stranger to newspapering. He published Money Asia, a business magazine, and founded the Filipino broadsheet Kabayan. He also maintains five publishing houses and is president and chair of a public relations firm that handles corporate accounts,” it states further.
Website
The Manila Times is also catering to its readers via the digital medium. Its news website offers several sections such as Nation, Regions, Business, Entertainment, Sports and Lifestyle.
BusinessWorld
BusinessWorld is a specialised business newspaper that rolled out its first issue in the Philippines as BusinessDay on February 27, 1967. In the five decades of media operations, BusinessWorld expanded its operations and went on to become Southeast Asia’s first and leading business daily newspaper.
Key people
Raul L. Locsin, the publisher/president and editor-in-chief, inspired BusinessDay to make its own place in the market for “credibility and integrity”.
BusinessDay was on the verge of suspension twice, first during the martial law and on the second time when a labor strike forced the company to shut its operations on June 5, 1987.
Rebirth
However, in July, 1987, a group of the non-striking workers got together and formed the BusinessWorld Publishing Corporation. The rebirth of the business daily saw its advancement in technology for the printing process.
Major developments
In May 2003, when BusinessWorld founder Locsin died, the business paper underwent significant changes. Locsin wife, Leticia took over as the president, publisher, and chairperson of the BusinessWorld until her death in August 2005.
A year after Leticia’s death, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) managed to acquire a stake in the media business. The BusinessWorld’s stake was sold by its Beneficial Trust Fund unit, MediaQuest Holdings, Inc.
Business Mirror
?Business Mirror is another popular business daily published and circulated in the Philippines. The name of the newspaper is symbolic to the nature of its operations. Business Mirror says on the About Us section of its website that the paper is committed “to provide people with a broader look at the nation’s business in these challenging times”.
Content
Business Mirror doesn’t only publishes content related to economy, companies and markets, but also reports on development, nationwide movements as well as trends. In its reports related to policies, Business Mirror tries to explain its actual relevance for the Filipino citizens.
The business daily incorporates statistics and all the relevant information in its articles. While reporting on government goals, the paper tries to explain the readers how it can help of affect the personal objectives of the citizens.
Subscribers
The people who have subscribed Business Mirror newspaper and regularly visit its website come from all sectors of the society. On its website, Business Mirror claims of acting a linking role between government with the private sector, policymakers with citizens of the country, corporations with its workers and business with each other.
Such a role makes Business Mirror stand out among its competitors from within the Philippine islands.
Asian Journal
Asian Journal aims at connecting Filipinos to the local community besides making them aware of the national and international news. It is managed by Asian Journal Media Group, which is a multimedia agency of Philippines.
More About Website
According to the website, “AsianJournal.com provides global Filipinos with their local, regional, national, and international news. From features, entertainment, immigration, business, to in-depth insights and analysis from award winning journalists and industry expert columnists, AsianJournal.com has provided an affluent, influential audience with information that provokes and inspires action”.
As per its website, 7 million weekly community newspapers are published annually by Asia Journal in the USA.
Interaksyon
InterAksyon, owned by Philstar Global Corporation, is a news website of Philippine. Besides offering some human-interest stories, InterAkyson usually carries news from The Philippine Star and BusinessWorld, which too, are owned by Philstar Media Group.
Launched in 2011, InterAksyon is headed by Kevin Belmonte, Philstar Global president and chief executive officer. Camille Diola is the Editor-in-chief of the digital platform.
Ownership
The website was initially unveiled as a news portal of TV5 Network though the latter had already launched its website News5.
After the loss, TV5 transferred the ownership of InterAksyon to the sister company Philstar Media Group in March 2018.
Manila Standard Today
Manila Standard, owned by Philippine Manila Standard Publishing, Inc., is a broadsheet newspaper. While the founder of Manila Standard is Rod Reyes, Rolando G. Estabillo is the publisher. The newspaper inclined towards right-wing as far as political alignment is concerned.
Origin
It was founded on February 11, 1987. Back then, its offices were located at Ayala Avenue in the Makati CBD. In 2005, Manila Standard merged with another newspaper, Today, thus becoming Manila Standard Today (MST). Again in 2015, it renamed itself to The Standard before going back to its original name in next year.
They also have a website manilastandard.net.
Journal Online
Journal Online is the online edition of tabloids- People’s Journal, People’s Tonight and magazine, Women’s Journal of Philippine. Describing itself on Twitter, the official handle website says, “Philippine news compilation from the country’s oldest and leading dailies”. Journal Online claims to deliver “hottest political, entertainment, sports, business, national, provincial and other news.”
News Sections
Journal Online offers news to its readers through sections such as Sports, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Technology besides Editorial and Specials.
According to the information on its website, Journal Online is owned by Harbour Web Development. Journal Online is also available on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
Panay News
Giving insight about its founder Daniel “Danny” Fajardo on the website, it says without him “Panay News would never have germinated and sprouted”.
News Website
As per the website, Panay News’ aim is to provide “fast, fresh, reliable, accurate and complete information daily”.
“To gather and spread information that educates, moves, and inspires readers,” it writes further. One can follow Panay News on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook for latest news, updates and breaking.
Panay News caters to its readers via sections such as News, Sports, Business, Life & Style, Entertainment. They have different sections for Opinion and PN Specials.
Visayan Daily Star
“The Visayan Daily Star is the most widely read newspaper in Negros Island,” according to About Us mentioned on its Facebook page. The newspaper was founded in 1982.
Last days
However, the newspaper will stop its operation due to financial crunch resulted from COVID-19 pandemic. According to Inquirer.net, one of the oldest newspapers in the Visayas will stop publication after August 31.
“For several months, since this all started, we struggled, until we had to finally bite the bullet and call a halt to our issues,” Ninfa Leonardia, editor in chief and president of The Visayan Daily Star wrote in her column.
Tribune
Daily Tribune, founded on March 12, 1999, is an English broadsheet publication in the Philippines. It was established by a group of scribes from the then-defunct The Philippine Post.
Daily Tribune was led by then-Editor-in-Chief and founding Chairman Ninez Cacho-Olivares. Later in 2018 Concept and Information Group, which is the publisher of the online Concept News Central, acquired Daily Tribune from Cacho-Olivares.
Controversies
On February 24, 2006, Philippine National Police raided its office during State of Emergency imposed by Arroyo. Police remained there until the emergency was lifted on March 4, 2006. The newspaper was critical of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Minda News
MindaNews is a digital newspaper by Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center. It is based in Mindanao, Philippines and it has circulation across the region.
“It is composed of independent, professional journalists who believe and practice people empowerment through media,” the website says.
MindaNews has sections like Business, Environment, Governance.
Samar News
On its website, Samar News describes itself as “a leading online news service in Eastern Visayas from the Philippines”.
The website has different sections such as News, Special Report, Insight, Photo Gallery, Video Gallery, Podcast, Radio among others. One can contact Samar News via email. Write to them at info@samarnews.com.
Bohol Chronicle
The Bohol Chronicle, also known as Chronicle, is a newspaper in Bohol, Philippines. Founded on May 16, 1954, it has bagged several awards. The Bohol Chronicle has won Best Editorial Page (2012, 2019), Best Disaster Reporting (2013), and Best in Culture and Arts (2014) by Civic Journalism Community Press Awards.
Bulatlat
? “Journalism for the people,” is the tag line of Bulatlat. Its website has sections like Commentary, Special Reports, Multimedia, Special Sections among other.
“We will give space to propagating the issues affecting majority of the Filipino people and to the issues and struggles of the oppressed,” Bulatlat says in About Us.
Tempo
Tempo was founded in 1982. It caters to its readers via print and digital medium. “To unfailingly provide accurate and unbiased information,” the website describes its mission on the social networking site.
One can connect with Tempo on Facebook and follow them on Twitter for the latest news and updates.
Pinoy Weekly
Pinoy Weekly published by PinoyMedia Center. Inc. was founded in 2002. Its main focus is on investigative stories. It majorly does stories on peasants, workers, overseas Filipinos, youth, indigenous peoples, and women.
Pinoy Weekly is currently a weekly print and an online news magazine. Earlier, it published special print issues.
Remate
“Remate Online brings you breaking news, from the metro, showbiz and other news exposés,” the website describes itself in the About Us section of its Facebook page.
Remate was founded in October 1992. The website offers news through sections like Sports, Tech & Trend. You can contact Remate via email at rematenewscentral@remate.ph.
Kicker Daily News
Kicker Daily News is a Philippine news aggregator that was launched in September, 2013, with an objective to provide Filipino citizens a platform to share news.
In its About Us section, Kicker Daily News says its team of well qualified writers collect news from different sources and frame it in their own words to help readers “Kick-off” their day.
Manila Shimbun (in Japanese)
The Manila Shimbun, officially called The Daily Manila Shimbun, is owned by TAKION, Inc. Headquartered at Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines, it is a daily broadsheet newspaper in the Japanese language.
Founded in May 1992, it is first modern-day daily Japanese newspaper of Southeast Asia. It also has an English section.
Manila Shimbun (in Japanese) Online
Part 2: Philippine news agencies
The second part of the article includes news agencies, both government and privately-owned, operating from the Philippine islands.
Philippines News Agency
Philippine News Agency (PNA) is a news agency, officially owned, managed and regulated by the Philippine government. The island nation’s News and Information Bureau supervises the PNA, which is often described as an agency attached to the Presidential Communications Operations Office (President’s office).
Initial objective
The news agency was established by the former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on March 1, 1973. The agency is currently headquartered in Quezon City of the Philippines.
It is reported that Marcos formed this news agency control the Philippine media and their all sources of information.
Controversies
PNA’s only competition in the Philippines islands is the Philippine Press Institute (PPI). However, during the time of martial law, the government suspended the operations of PPI. Add to this, the government sent “advisers” from the PNA to the various news organisations. The advisers used to instruct the media organisations on what to report and what not to report.
One of the prime example of this was asking these media offices to cover the news of the armed Muslim rebellion in Mindanao.
Philippines News Agency Online
Philippine Press Institute
Philippine Press Institute (PPI) is a news agency registered under the Securities and Exchange Commission as a non-profit private entity. The main purpose of the media organisation is to defend the freedom of press in the Philippines.
The PPI was founded in 1964 but wasn’t in service during the martial law regime from 1972 to 1986. The news agency reactivated in the Philippines in 1987 and now has a board comprising representatives from prominent Philippine newspapers such as The Philippine Star, Manila Standard Today, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Journal, Malaya Business Insight, and Business World.
Philippine Press Institute Online
Conclusion
The media in the Philippines has been quite powerful and active since its inception. However, the current state of affairs show that advertisers influence and control most of the media houses in the Philippine islands.
The free-to-air news channels like ABS-CBN and GMA decide the narrative of the nationwide electronic media. Some of the local language channels operate from Manila, while Cable TV has decently great reach to the Filipino citizens.
As far as radio stations are concerned, there are hundreds them throughout the island nation with the Manila Broadcasting Company leading the network.
The print media has been quite strong in the country as it challenges the government actions without any fear. There are more than hundreds of the newspaper operating from the Philippines. The reach of the Filipino-language tabloids is the maximum of all the newspaper, mainly because of the sensationalism it serves.
The Philippine constitution guarantee Press freedom but the journalists here aren’t much protected by the authorities. According to the United States’ Freedom House, the Philippines is among the most dangerous counties for scribes.
The Reporters Without Borders claims that the “private militias, often hired by local politicians, silence journalists with complete impunity”.
The Philippines is also known as “text capital of the world” as the Filipino citizens send a large volume of text messages to each other and abroad on a daily basis. According to the InternetWorldStats, the country had 67 million internet users mostly using Facebook and Twitter by 2017.
There is no censorship of the content published online in the Philippines.
While the propelling industry knows no bounds, we at MediaBuzz are working hard to provide encyclopedic coverage of all the news sources. We are a team of professional writers with a knack for the trends in the world of journalism.
We are always looking for suggestions to produce a more concise list.
Please help us with your answers for the below questions in the comment section.
Which Philippine newspaper is best?
What is the oldest existing English language newspaper in the Philippines?
What are the different newspaper in the Philippines?
What is the best Philippine news website?
What is a newspaper of general circulation Philippines?
What is the best newspaper in the Philippines which has no bias?
Did we miss any deserving newspaper or news website?
What are your views on the political inclinations of different Philippine newspapers?
What are the best Philippine newspapers for business, entertainment and sports news?
Is there any particular Philippine newspaper that caught your attention?
Do you have any other information related to Filipino-language tabloids?
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