Press trusts; Pagcor moa with Pamantasan

I once read of a newspaper that sent correspondents all over the world but they were not expected to write daily stories or on events. They were to live among the natives and get the feel of the real life. That takes time to know and understand. But the news is in context with what it is really like for the natives living there. That was the kind of story a correspondent was expected to file.

The reasoning was that if they filed a story everyday they will come in bits and pieces, depends on the politics of accounts most of whom were not true. It also means the tendency to concoct stories that advance the newspaper owner’s agenda. I thought that was a rare newspaper worth emulating but not always possible. That kind of newspaper would be ideal especially if you have good correspondents who will give you a complete picture of what is happening.

Still there were second best news operations that did not require a lengthy stay in the country of assignment. The solution that some newspapers to guard against disinformation and owner biased newspaper was to organize a Press Trust. That means a common source of news provided by a press trust. The press trust is a conglomerate of both newspaper owners and press agencies shared by all.

A good example of this is the Press Trust of India (PTI) that can be described as the largest news agency. Investors put their money in a trust and the interest is used for the operations of the news agency.

It is headquartered in New Delhi and is a nonprofit cooperative among more than 500 Indian newspapers and has more than 1,000 full-time employees, as on January 22, 2016. It employs over 400 journalists and 500 part-time correspondents located in most of the district headquarters in the country. A few correspondents are based in major capitals and important business centers around the world. It took over the operations of the Associated Press of India from Reuters after India’s independence in 1947. It provides news coverage and information of the region in both English and Hindi. Its corporate office is located at Sansad Marg, New Delhi and registered office in D N Road, Mumbai.

Apart from the sharing of news among PTI members the newspapers also exchange information with several other news agencies including 100 news agencies based outside India, such as Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, The New York Times and Bloomberg L.P. Major Indian subscribers of PTI include The Hindu, Times of India, the Indian Express, the Hindustan Times, The Statesman, The Tribune, the All India Radio and Doordarshan. PTI has offices in Bangkok, Beijing, Colombo, Dubai, Islamabad, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow, New York and Washington D.C.  Press Trust of India is the only news agency in South Asia which operates its own communication satellite, an INSAT, to broadcast news and information. Its current chairman is Viveck Goenka.

Will a similar structure of a press trust in the Philippines work? It should if we truly want an independent and informative press. But we started the wrong way with newspaper owners and broadcasting companies using their media outlets for political and economic interests.

That became especially true with the Manila Chronicle and the ABS-CBN with its owners proudly boasting that they can make or unmake presidents. And so they did. It would be foolish not to have a media outlet that can be used by government and its regulatory bodies. Today the ABS-CBN is the largest broadcasting outlet. It is well known that it is this group that was used to promote the Aquino III presidency.

It counts among its broadcasters senators simply because of their exposure in media. The biggest loser here is the public who are seldom aware or knowledgeable enough to know the real truth with the newspapers and broadcasting companies acting as propaganda vehicles of the candidates.

That was the main reason for the break-up of the Marcos-Lopez tandem. It is time that these propaganda outlets are curtailed. Happily, the phenomenon of social media came in time as a counterforce. We will watch developments in the special relations between good government and media owners.

MISCELLANY: Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Pagcor sign moa for off-campus Master in Business Administration Program by Kelly B. Vergel de Dios.

The Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, the City of Manila’s premier state university, signed a new memorandum of agreement Thursday with officers of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. for an MBA graduate course under the Pamantasan’s off-campus program. This is the 14th batch of students that will undertake the off-site course under the PLM-Pagcor partnership.

The program for Pagcor – Master in Business Administration (MBA) – is open to all Pagcor officials and employees who have earned a bachelor’s degree in any field of specialization with a general weighted average of at least 2.50. Classes will be held Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Pagcor’s Malate office.  A minimum of 15 students – including transferees who have earned master’s units in other graduate programs from other institutions – who meet the academic requirements set by the Pamantasan and who have complied with the academic standards of the College of Business and Government Management graduate programs, will be accepted in each class.

Tuition and other fees will be shouldered by the participant and/or shall be advanced by Pagcor.  Participants of the program who have satisfactorily completed all the requirements will be conferred the appropriate and corresponding degree by the Pamantasan after four terms (or one year and four months). At the signing of the memorandum of agreement between the PLM and Pagcor yesterday were signatories PLM president Dr. Ma. Leonora V. De Jesus and Pagcor chair and CEO Andrea Domingo.

Witnessing the signing were Pagcor directors Gabriel Claudio and Carmen Pedrosa and Pagcor AVP (hrdd) Regina Jaleco, PLM-CBGM OIC-dean Neil Gamus and Prof. Romark Resuello, PLM officers Gil Evasco (acting-EVP) and VPs Ruffy Abuda (legal), Randy Nunez (finance), Marlo dela Cruz (administration), Kelly Vergel de Dios (public affairs) and Benedict Avila (OIC-ICTO).

Last year, the PLM’s President Ramon Magsaysay Institute of Government also opened a Bachelor of Government Management undergraduate course for Pagcor at its Roxas Boulevard corporate offices, that is currently going on.