The Visayas Examiner (TVE), the Iloilo-based community
newspaper circulated in Western Visayas, "strives to be
the paper that readers in our communities would regard with
affection. The editors, news reporters, columnists and contributors
prepare the daily issues with the needs and values of these
communities in their minds."
Its community thrust is expressed in the paper's ad blurb:
"The Visayas Examiner strives to have a neighborly quality,
the kind that you will trust to speak on your behalf and
share your aspirations and your struggles for a better world.
It deals with issues, whether monumental or mundane, of
politics and corruption, the everyday heroes, the ordinary
folk you would meet down the road."
This clearly reflects the paper's adherence to public journalism
that translated into initiatives such as the public forum
called "Burning Questions: Why Incineration Is Not the Solution"
held at the RDC Hall of the NEDA building in Iloilo City
in August 2001. The forum sought to explore alternatives
to the burning of waste, especially bio-medical and pathological
waste from hospitals by bringing together experts, advocacy
groups and communities to build consensus.
TVE organized the forum with GreenPeace Southeast Asia.
The paper is also working with the Kahublagan Panimalay,
an environmental group in Iloilo, the Philippine Information
Agency, Bombo Radyo and GMA 6 for the regular airing of
an environmental school-on-air entitled "Ugat sang Tubig."
TVE describes its other public journalism project: "When
in the past people only listen to news and issues being
dished out by media, now communities are setting the agenda
when, after listening to the school-on-air, they began forming
groups (such as the) Barangay Information Centers or BICs
where they discuss issues directly affecting their environment.
Participants to the public journalism project rally (other)
people to surface issues and call the attention of stakeholders
and government to resolve these. TVE then writes in-depth
stories on the issues raised in the radio program."
It is now looking at the Maasin Watershed and Banate Bay
Project, both Galing Pook Award winners, as areas for doing
public journalism.
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