GMA’s Joseph Morong receives McLuhan award from Canadian Embassy Published October 7, 2015 9:08pm GMA News reporter Joseph Morong on Wednesday received a McLuhan Fellowship award from Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines Neil Reeder.
Morong received the award during a courtesy call on the ambassador as this year’s Marshall McLuhan Fellow.
Morong was awarded the prestigious fellowship in August.
Named after the renowned Canadian intellectual, author and media analyst, the McLuhan Fellowship is the Embassy of Canada’s flagship media advocacy initiative. It aims to encourage responsible journalism in the Philippines, in the belief that a strong media is essential to a free and democratic society.
As the Marshall McLuhan fellow, Morong will embark on a two-week familiarization and lecture tour of Canadian media and academic organizations, and will have the chance to sit as a fellow at the McLuhan Institute in Toronto. He will also conduct a lecture tour in the Philippines.
According to the Embassy, Morong was chosen to receive the fellowship for his excellent reportage of the issues surrounding the peace process in Mindanao, especially the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law. — BM, GMA News - See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/539877/lifestyle /gma-s-joseph-morong-receives-mcluhan-award-from- canadian-embassy#sthash.quW35Yaz.dpuf
2016_Joseph_Marong_backgrounder.docx Page 1 of 8 GMA reporter awarded prestigious Marshall McLuhan fellowship Published August 27, 2015 1:21pm
GMA News reporter Joseph Morong was named the Marshall McLuhan Fellow of 2015 on Thursday in a presentation ceremony held in Makati.
The prestigious fellowship, named after the philosopher of communication theory, is sponsored by the Embassy of Canada.
As part of the fellowship, Morong will embark on a two-week familiarization and lecture tour of Canadian media and academic organizations. He will also conduct a lecture tour in the Philippines.
The fellowship was presented at this year's Jaime V. Ongpin Journalism Seminar (JVOJS) conducted by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility with a focus on peace in Mindanao and the Bangsamoro Basic Law, corruption and the 2016 elections.
Aside from Morong, this year's panel included Lore Mae Andong, Gigi Grande, and Raffy Santos of ABS- CBN, Carolyn O. Arguillas of MindaNews, Cherry Ann T. Lim of Sun.Star Cebu, and Ed Lingao of TV5.
MindaNews, an online news outlet based in Mindanao, also received Award of Distinction from the CMFR during the ceremony. - JST, GMA News - See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/534540/lifestyle/gma-reporter-awarded- prestigious-marshall-mcluhan-fellowship#sthash.eobFbOke.dpuf
2016_Joseph_Marong_backgrounder.docx Page 2 of 8 MindaNews Received Award of Distinction and Joseph
Morong named Marshall McLuhan Fellow of 2015 POSTED BY CMFR || 28 AUGUST 2015 By Melinda Quintos de Jesus
Audiences listen closely to the JVOJS 2015 panelists. (From left to right: Joseph Morong, GMA Network Inc.; Carolyn O. Arguillas, MindaNews; Gigi Grande, ABS-CBN Corp.; Lore Mae Andong, ABS-CBN-Corp.; Cherry Ann T. Lim, Sun.Star Cebu; Raffy Santos, ABS- CBN Corp; and Ed Lingao, TV5) IN a presentation ceremony held at the SGV Hall of the AIM Conference Center in Makati City, the Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility (CMFR) gave MindaNews the Award of Distinction and, with the Embassy of Canada in Manila, named Joseph Morong the 2015 Marshall McLuhan Fellow on August 27.
The announcement was made after this year’s Jaime V. Ongpin Journalism Seminar (JVOJS). The seminar features a panel of journalists who are chosen for doing outstanding reports in the last year. The discussion took up current issues reflected in news reports: the Bangsamoro Basic Law and coverage of Mindanao, corruption and the forthcoming elections. Seven journalists shared their difficulties in having to keep up with complex processes such as the negotiations between government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and reporting this in a way that holds public interest. For those working on TV, the requirement for brevity is a challenge. They also agreed that for all their effort, the public still seems not to know much about the BBL and its importance.
Discussing the problem of corruption as a constant reality, they all agreed that the media cannot solve corruption by itself, admitting however that the media could work more on follow-up stories so the public can keep track of the case.
They agree that the media has a role to play in helping citizens make meaningful choices in the coming elections. News organizations are preparing for this challenge. Someone noted a new TV format that
2016_Joseph_Marong_backgrounder.docx Page 3 of 8 aims to familiarize the electorate with candidates that may seem more about entertainment rather than information. Another journalist said her network has laid out a plan to deal with the biases of anchors and talk show hosts for a candidate.
CMFR featured the seminar to link CMFR’s work to a special group of stakeholders, students enrolled in mass communication studies in universities and colleges in Metro Manila and faculty. In recent years, institutions outside Metro Manila have attended, including Bulacan State University, Bicol University and University of the Assumption in Pampanga.
This year’s panel had more TV journalists than print, a remarkable difference from the JVO Awards which started in 1990, selecting the best in-depth investigative reports published in newspapers for awards. In 2009, CMFR reviewed the impact of the JVO IR (Investigative Reports) awards which many agreed had encouraged journalists to produce quality reports, deciding to shift the focus from articles to journalists who have done outstanding reports, or have accomplished a body of work that has helped the public understand current issues and developments.
This broadened the scope of recognition, making the program more inclusive. Journalism after all is made up of different kinds of reports. With the diversity of media platforms, there are various ways of providing news and information.
Sometime in 2004, CMFR included TV news programs in their media monitor and in 2010, Kara David of GMA Network Inc. joined the panel, the first TV journalist to do so.
This year, the JVO panel featured three journalists who are based outside of Manila, Lore Mae Andong of ABS-CBN Corp., Carolyn O. Arguillas of MindaNews and Cherry Ann Lim of Cebu Sun-Star. Other broadcast journalists included Gigi Grande and Raffy Santos of ABS-CBN Corp., Ed Lingao of TV5 and Joseph Morong, GMA Network Inc.
Is the print medium slipping? Vergel Santos, chairman of the CMFR Board of Trustees, notes how print as a whole has been less effective in reaching out to an audience that has less time and inclination to read. He described it as “slipping in quality professionally, going out of fashion technologically, thus falling out of popular favor.”
As this program tries to encourage best practices, more TV journalists in the panel does not mean that there is a lot of quality reporting to be found in the country’s television news. Much of it is still sloppy and too dependent on visuals and technology. But the good ones clearly put greater effort in exploiting the visual power of the medium and do succeed to pack in a matter of minutes more information in a way that is easier to retain.
The Embassy of Canada, with support from with SunLife Financial Inc., sponsors the fellowship named after communication theoretician Marshall McLuhan. It consists of a two-week familiarization and
2016_Joseph_Marong_backgrounder.docx Page 4 of 8 lecture tour of Canadian media and academic organizations, and later, a lecture tour of Philippine universities under Embassy auspices.
The Marshall McLuhan Fellowship was first given in 1997. There are now 18 Marshall McLuhan Fellows including Sheila Coronel (Columbia Journalism School and Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism), Yvonne T. Chua (VERA Files), Carolyn O. Arguillas (MindaNews) and Ed Lingao (now with TV5) among others.
Each panelist received a certificate of recognition and a P20,000.00 honorarium. CMFR gave MindaNews P30,000.00. The certificate for MindaNews highlighted the value of the information and analyses they provide so Filipinos can understand “the particularities of Mindanao and its people, which includes but is not limited to issues of war and peace.”
The panelists, who join the roster of Jaime V. Ongpin Journalism Fellows, were chosen by the committee from a list based on the CMFR’s media monitoring and review, and recommendations. JVO Fellows are part of CMFR’s community of journalists and media practitioners who are invited to participate in CMFR’s events and programs as well as those organized by the Southeast Asian Press Alliance, a regional network of which CMFR is a founding member.
CMFR’s programs include the promotion of media responsibility and the protection of press freedom in the context of Philippine democratic development.
2016_Joseph_Marong_backgrounder.docx Page 5 of 8 Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility http://www.cmfr-phil.org/
The formation of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) addresses one of the critical concerns confronting the Philippines after People Power toppled the Marcos dictatorship in February 1986. That concern calls attention to the power of the media and the role of the free press in the development of Philippine democracy.
All over the world, press freedom has been essential to the democratic system. Effective participatory government is possible only when it can count on a well-informed society where individuals freely exchange ideas, and public debate and discussion arise from knowledge and understanding of national affairs.
That freedom involves not only media professionals, but also the public served by the media—public officials, the private sector, civil society groups, readers, viewers, and listeners—who receive information and are part of the cycle of public communication. But freedom of the press, like all liberties, has its limits, for the simple reason that it is vulnerable to abuse.
Democratic recovery confronts serious obstacles on the media front. The press and the media need to exert special efforts to measure up as a collective vehicle of information, and as an instrument for clarifying the complex issues and dilemmas of development that the public should understand.
Against this background, CMFR was organized in 1989 as a private, non-stock, non-profit organization involving the different sectors of society in the task of building up the press and news media as a pillar of democratic society. Its programs uphold press freedom, promote responsible journalism, and encourage journalistic excellence.
CMFR is duly accredited by the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC) as a donee institution with certificate of registration no. 065-2010. PCNC is a private voluntary, non-stock, non-profit corporation that certifies non-profit organizations that meet established minimum criteria for financial management and accountability.
2016_Joseph_Marong_backgrounder.docx Page 6 of 8 Joseph Marong on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Joseph_Morong Joseph Marong on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/josephmorongGMA7 Video reporting by Joseph Marong for GMA Network (in Tagalog): http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/video/reporters/josephmorong?ref=video_sidebar
2016_Joseph_Marong_backgrounder.docx Page 7 of 8 A talk by 2015 Marshall McLuhan Fellow, Joseph Marong
Communicating the message of the marginalized: Media’s coverage of the Bangsamoro peace process in Southern Philipines
Monday, February 1: 5:30-7:00 pm
2015 McLuhan Fellow, Joseph Morong, is a senior reporter of GMA Network. A journalist for over fifteen years, he was awarded this fellowship for his excellent reportage of the issues surrounding the peace process in Mindanao, especially the discussions around the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law. He has also covered extensively the alleged diversion of congressional funds to bogus non-governmental organizations.
In this presentation, Morong will discuss how the media has been covering the peace process in restive southern Mindanao, the issues related to it and how it could be improved to transform the narrative of peace and non-violence in this region of the Philippines.
Organized by the UBC Philippine Studies Series, the Embassy of Canada in the Philippines and supported by the Centre for Southeast Asian Research.
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