Para sa Negosyo o Kalayaan? Pagsipat sa Dayuhang Pagmamay-ari at Kalagayan ng Manggagawa sa Media

Abstract

This article intends to provide some notes on the emergence and development of traditional media in the Philippines such as printed publications, radio, film, television and advertising, including the new media such as online publications and others. It explores the following periods: Spanish colonialism and earlier, reform movement and the Katipunan, Manifest Destiny of the United States, martial law, and current situation. It seeks to create, through review, a preliminary discussion on the history of media ownership, and the economic and political interests underlying it. Aside from mentioning the leading media conglomerates in the world, the article analyzes the effects of liberalization within the framework of neoliberal globalization, and the proposed charter change to accomplish foreign ownership of media. It illustrates the role of printers in the history of the labor movement and the people’s tireless assertion of democracy and press freedom, which includes revealing the killing of media workers one by one through contractualization and the instantaneous killing of journalists through assassination. It was deemed necessary to identify some failures of the media in fulfilling its duties as well as weaknesses in its standards, while emphasizing the call for Filipinization.