Refocusing Perspectives

[This thought was first posted in my Facebook page after reflecting on social media discourse and in understanding the dynamics of relation in social networks.] Technology radically shift global and peoples relations. The advent of information technology democratized the world and empowered people to write their thoughts online; share information which strongly affected them directly & indirectly; challenge leaders' management of state affairs; make their demands more pronounced in social networks; share joys on their family gathering and socialization; and, articulate facts from their experiences and learning. It is actually complementing and supporting the work of journalists and reporters-- helping them vivify and validate social concerns, problems, issues, and argue matters principle-based, although at times, some ideation would appear dull to the intelligent or annoying to the arrogant. The voices and thoughts of these people crossed national boundaries, cultu

A speech delivered by Violeta M. Gloria at the Mindanao Peoples Peace Movement Pre-summit at Iligan city; November 5, 2013 . Many years ago, I joined MPPM’s summits to document proceedings. I guess, there were two or three summits that I have documented. Today seems new as I am tasked to share our experiences from our profession. From my perspective, let me begin by saying that media workers are like butterflies. We are involved in the process of cross-pollinating facts, information, and ideas. If you are all flowers and if we have the luxury of time to flutter around you, then we could have an enriched discourse of information and opinions. In contrast, people relied/gather news and information everyday from the media industry: radio, television, online, on print. But as we all knew, the evolution of technology has transformed the media which completely share reports via social network and instantly put stories under public scrutiny and criticism. Thru written s

Lecture delivered by Violeta M. Gloria to civil society organization  in Iligan and Lanao initiated by MPPM & LAHRA at Palao, Iligan city;  October 8, 2013; 1-5pm. What is freedom? What is information?  Depending on socio-political context and philosophical perspective, freedom can be defined in many ways. Is freedom a necessity? As peoples are subject of social contract, don’t we like that our freedom be controlled and managed by government? Do you really need information? Is your sense of freedom dependent on the kind of information that you gain from the academe? From community? From government? From international organizations? Why do you think media workers and non-government organizations are/should be in the front line in advocating for Freedom on Information? These are just essential preliminary questions that can be raised as advocacy on FOI and frustration over corruption or public disservice are mounted nowadays. Two hours ago, I overheard you disc

(Lecture/speech delivered by Violeta M. Gloria on Dilemmas in the Professional Media for Communication Studies 109 students as part of the thematic discourse on Journalism Ethics,  Ram Café, Mindanao State University-Main Campus, Marawi city; October 1, 2013) The world is in disarray. There are varied forms of conflict: controversial social issues, corruption within our bureaucracy, increasing poverty (disparity of social classes), wanton destruction of ecology, rapid influence of libertarian practices that challenged norms and customs, and scaling competition within media (both as a profession and as a business institution) amid rising number of victims of summary execution with impunity [1] . We also confront cultural fragmentation and waning multicultural identities, hence the spatter of ideologies and influences unfortunately result in a cacophony of  indifference... which situate pluralism at a misnomer [resulting to] e.g. organizational browbeating and political bigotry. T