Reflecting On A Turbulent Time For Journalism With Rambo Talabong
By Brandittes Chua
For much of history, societies sought to quickly and efficiently convey information to the people about what has occurred throughout the world. What began as news that traveled through word-of-mouth eventually transformed into the unprecedented speeds at which our computers and phones receive and transmit information today.
Despite this incredible development, it seems as though in recent events for every step of progress made in developing the mediums for global communication, there emerges a growing sense of distrust of what is being exchanged.
In an interview with Rambo Talabong, he conveys his experiences and sentiments regarding this troubling trend. Being an award-winning journalist working for Rappler, Talabong is best known for his coverage of local politics and governance – notably, the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
At the time this interview took place, it was during the 2022 Christmas season. For him and Rappler, it was a very stressful time referring to the busy workload covering the eventful season.
“As we all know, the profession is very stressful but it’s very rewarding,” Talabong shared when discussing all the sources of his work stress.
Talabong describes 2022 as a very eventful year which caused him a lot of stress, especially with the Philippine presidential elections that took place.
“The stress came from the pressure of really delivering, because at a time when people are really confused — at a time when the country is politically-charged, and emotionally-charged, we journalists have to give them clarity.”
“Journalists have to take on the role of giving them [the people] direction — the proper information they should take in,” he further expounds. “And I really felt the pressure to also deliver even in our small newsroom with our limited audience, we still have a responsibility to bear. I truly believe that our responsibility is important and with that responsibility, comes the pressure: the pressure not to make mistakes, and the pressure to be fair all the time.”
But for Talabong, the workload is one of the many challenges journalists have to face. “We have a lot of haters and these haters range from being homophobic to threatening our lives. This has also been stressful. Doing a good job, doing great work takes a lot of effort, and it also means a lot of backlash from people who feel threatened from the work that we do.”
Another thing he feels anxious about is regarding the social status of journalists in the contemporary Filipino setting. From Talabong’s point of view, the reputation of journalism as a field of work worthy of respect has largely declined in recent trends.
“Journalists are not seen as necessary; journalists have been demonized.” To this end, he has his suspects.
“This is thanks in part to the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, and which the Marcos campaign and the Marcos administration really exploited.”
“So, trust for journalists, especially journalists from established news outlets; GMA, ABS-CBN, Rappler, Philippine Daily Inquirer — it’s an all-time low for all of us,” he concludes of the outcome of such a decline. “It has led to an existential crisis in the industry.”
“Earlier in the Duterte Administration, during the drug war, there was still a certain level of respect for journalists,” he expressed, creating a timeline of when this decline occurred. “Social media was quite different, and there was a time when comment sections — when Facebook, Youtube were not awash with trolls. But now, once you open social media and see an article, there are a lot of comments — a lot of people sharing and quote-tweeting, also commenting: expressing their discontent and distrust of the news media.”
When it comes to the topic of safety, he shared how ever since the tragedy of the Percy Lapid case, he no longer felt safe. It was a case in which Percy Lapid, a journalist vocal about his criticisms against Marcos and Duterte on his radio program, was murdered by gunmen.
“Before, we felt safe in Metro Manila because when you say ‘journalist killings,’ it usually happens in the provinces, which is equally horrible, but I was a local here in Metro Manila.” But his fear ran beyond just the very proximity in which the tragedy occurred. “He [Percy Lapid] was just doing his work,” Talabong uttered. “It wasn’t even threatening work — it’s just him doing a commentating show, it was just a show that he did to express his opinions about current events. He was not reporting and releasing confidential documents, he was not being slanderous to any politician — it was all fact-based.”
“Percy Lapid was only doing radio commentary, and yet he was killed outside his home.” Talabong pointed out, relaying how this sets a dangerous precedent for other journalists in the country like himself. “I have also been receiving death threats. That’s the reason why I feel really unsafe where I live and where I am.”
This tendency for the people in power to silence journalists doesn’t just begin in government politics, nor is the government the only institution guilty of such actions. Talabong acknowledges that even the most minor of journalistic organizations are exposed to such an abuse of power by any form of authority.
“I’m happy and lucky to be in a space where I’m given an opportunity to cover the events that I believe really mattered… I know that a lot of other student publications and other news organizations do not give that benefit to their journalists because they experience oppression, they experience censorship, they experience political pressure, university pressure…” Talabong shares while recalling his beginnings as a student journalist.
Talabong began his career in journalism late into his university years. During his third year, he decided to go into journalism after no longer feeling the confidence to pursue filmmaking.
“I wanted or I was pushed to really look at how I can leave something in the world that I was going to be proud of… so I decided: ‘Why not try journalism?’ Because it’s the most intrinsically socially relevant and socially involved track in communication.” Being struck with this enlightenment, he went to apply for the Ateneo student publications Matanglawin and The Guidon where he was accepted by both.
When institutions are proven to go to great lengths to silence any attempts by journalists to report on their actions, what are the measures that journalists must take to ensure their protection? When journalists come under fire, they can’t, unlike say — a soldier, go into hiding. As Talabong puts it:
“The usual thing we get as advice from our audience and the people we care about to protect ourselves is to be silent — to stop publishing anything, but that is not an option. We cannot stop publishing; we cannot stop reporting. The press must go on. The threats are only proof that we are doing our job well, that we are doing our job great.”
Journalists follow security protocols as a way of protection — to practice restraint in daily routines but never in reporting. It is, however, the job of news agencies to protect their reporters and be proactive in seeing to it that nothing endangers them.
The 2022 Global Impunity Index — which calculates all known local journalist-related unsolved murders in a country as well as the country in question’s total population, ranks the Philippines as the seventh worst country for journalists.
Talabong believes that three things are at the forefront of the sources of issues that make journalism so dangerous in the country. “If I’m going to change something, I would like to change our education system. A lot of my frustration is from how a lot of Filipinos are not aware of how to consume media. Another thing is of course, poverty: the reasons why Filipinos are being lured into disinformation is because they’re vulnerable: they do not live comfortable lives, and they do not afford the internet to fact-check what they see on the internet. Of course, we also deserve a better political system — we deserve more than the politicians we currently have…”
We live in a truly unprecedented age of global constant communication. And yet, despite the rapid advances made that bridge whole continents together, somehow, we are witnessing the same tools being used to drive us all to tear each other apart.
As journalists continue to brave a connected world growing skeptical of the supposed truth, they become first-hand witnesses to the dangers of intolerance. Despite this, they continue to march forward. As Talabong is quick to share his sentiments about the thrills of journalism in the midst of all its innumerable yet growing dangers.
“Despite the stress, I find comfort; I find faith in the belief that I am still choosing the right path thanks to the people I work with — not just in Rappler, but also in other publications and also the state of journalism all over the world, where thousands of journalists continue to choose this profession because they know that it’s important, and people still continue to look for answers.”
Talabong and Mikael Borres conducted a Zoom interview on Monday, November 29, 2022.
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Image from Rambo Talabong’s Facebook | Photo taken by Kimberly dela Cruz
