STAR top recipient of Rotary Manila journalism award

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Star is the top recepient of the Pro Patria Journalism Award 2021 of the Rotary Club of Manila for print media. For television,TV5 Network has received the Pro Patria Journalism Award from the RCM.

The Star and TV5 Network, both under the Media Quest Corp. OneNewsPh., were named as top recepients of RCM’s annual Journalism Awards held virtually via Zoom webinar yesterday. This year’s RCM’s Pro Patria Journalism Awards selection and judge committee was chaired by Rotarian ex-dean Amado Valdez.

In the certificate and trophy delivered beforehand to all the awardees, RCM cited the Pro Patria Journalism Awards 2021 were presented to them for their “commitment of valuable resources for the protection of free expression and its resilience in disseminating fair and truthful information resulting in an informed and enlightened citizenry.”

“By its fearless and selfless use of its platform and facilities for constructive criticisms of government policies and actions and encouraging and confident scrutiny of private enterprise and by promoting private and public sector collaboration in building a strong nation of healthy, peaceful, confident and dynamic people all for the love of country,” RCM cited.

“By promoting public and private collaboration in building a strong nation of healthy, peaceful, confident and dynamic people. ALL FOR THE LOVE OF COUNTRY.”

At the 44thmeeting of the RCM, outgoing RCM president Robert Lim Joseph congratulated all the awardees selected from the three media platforms on print, TV and radio.

Joseph explained the prestigious RCM Journalism Award was being done on “institutional” basis after the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019.

But by next year, Joseph announced, the RCM intends to resume the prestigious RCM Journalism Awards to media personalities who made a difference in their profession in accordance with the “Four-Way Test” of the Rotary Club.

The RCM Journalism Awards project was started in 1966 and was later adopted as a perpetual participation of the 100-year-old club in the annual observance of National Press Week. Three reporters and a columnist of The STAR were among the print, radio and broadcast journalists who received the last individual awards handed out by the RCM on June 7, 2019. The STAR is already in the RCM Hall of Fame for winning several times as Best Newspaper of the Year.

The other recepients of RCM’s Pro Patria Award for 2021 in the print media category include Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Manila Times, Manila Standard, Manila Bulletin, Pahayagang Malaya, The Daily Tribune, Chinese Commercial News, Business Mirror and BizNews Asia Magazine.

For television, the RCM Pro Patria Award was given to GMA Network, Eagle Broadcasting Corp. and CNN Philippines.

For radio, the RCM Pro Patria Award was given to World Broadcasting Corp., Radyo Mo Nationwide (RMN) Network and the Manila Broadcasting Co. (DZRH)

In his brief remarks, Joseph noted the 2021 Journalism Awards comes on the eve of his turnover of leadership to his successor as RCM president. The oldest Rotary Club in Asia founded in 1919, RCM’s charter members are persons heavily involved in the socio-political-economic life of the country and active in many socio-civic endeavors.