Internet regulations and independent news organizations in Indonesia, the Philippines and South Korea

Professional project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Journalism from the School of Journalism, University of Missouri--Columbia

Data journalism in the Philippines: New trends, new practices for old media organizations.

This chapter offers an exploratory analysis of data journalism experiences of four of the most established and largest news organizations in the Philippines. The research examines how these local news organizations adopted data journalism into their traditional practice beginning in the 1990s when use of the internet likewise started. The paper tracks the development of data journalism in the Philippines by analyzing: 1) key organizational changes that needed to be made in the move towards a more data-driven approach in reporting; 2) adjustments in the story identification, research, collaboration, analysis, and presentation of stories as well as challenges encountered; and, 3) emerging good practices as well as areas for strengthening organizational capacity and institutional and legal hindrances that pose challenges for data journalism to thrive locally

Journalism, public health, and COVID-19: Some preliminary insights from the Philippines

In this essay, we engage with the call for Extraordinary Issue: Coronavirus, Crisis and Communication. Situated in the Philippines, we reflect on how COVID-19 has made visible the often-overlooked relationship between journalism and public health. In covering the pandemic, journalists struggle with the shrinking space for press freedom and limited access to information as they also grapple with threats to their physical and mental well-being. Digital media enable journalists to report even in quarantine, but new challenges such as the wide circulation of health mis-/disinformation and private information emerge. Moreover, journalists have to contend with broader structural contexts of shutdown not just of a mainstream broadcast but also of community newspapers serving as critical sources of pandemic-related information. Overall, we hope this essay broadens the dialogue among journalists, policymakers, and healthcare professionals to improve the delivery of public health services and advance health reporting. © The Author(s) 2020

Governing the “Golden Age of Infrastructure”: Assessing Transparency Innovations in Philippine Infrastructure Development

Amidst rising infrastructure investment across the Asia‐Pacific, glaring accountability deficits have raised questions about governments’ capacity to contain corruption in infrastructure development in the region. Recent developments in the Philippines, however, indicate the presence of challenges related to the ability of digitally enhanced transparency measures to bridge such accountability deficits. This article presents the shifting emphasis in transparency and accountability reforms related to Philippine infrastructure development beginning from the 1990s and assesses transparency innovations under the Duterte administration. While milestone measures such as the establishment of an electronic freedom of information (eFOI) platform have provided convenient access to public information, major hurdles remain in obtaining critical documents concerning infrastructure projects. As borne out in an exercise to request the feasibility studies of 48 flagship infrastructure projects, access to information is still obstructed by factors ranging from technical constraints, uneven service delivery, coordination failures, as well as active legal restrictions against the public’s right to know