In the Long Run
by Froilyn Anne Naparan

Online journalism against the Philippine odds

I have first become aware of online journalism when I was in high school. I was one of the editors of the school newspaper and our faculty adviser once suggested putting our publication online. At that time when my school had no Internet connection and no courses on Web authoring (believe it or not, this happened in 2004!), I could not help but frown at the idea. How on earth could the newspaper staff create a website without having the basic knowledge of hypertext markup language (HTML)? Also, without the necessary Internet connection, how could we maintain and promote the online version of our publication? And the most important question of all, why would the students bother to visit the site when hard copies of the school paper were being distributed among them, anyway? Although many of my schoolmates had Internet access at home, there were still a number of students who did not have such convenience. Those students just went to Internet cafes whenever they needed to research and/or wanted to play role-playing games like Counterstrike and Ragnarok (according to what I had witnessed during my high-school years, the latter was more likely, especially among the boys). Almost certainly, they would not bother to view the online version of the school paper because they were too preoccupied with their other online activities to do so and they had the printed copies, anyway. Obviously, I and the other editors turned down our adviser�s suggestion and the proposed online version of the school paper never pushed through.

My point of view about online journalism somewhat changed when I became a third-year Journalism student at the University of the Philippines. Because the elective course �Online Journalism� (or J 117 in college jargon) was very popular among my peers, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and take the subject, too. Luckily, the class was worth all the hype (and every cent of its astronomical laboratory fee!). I felt a strong sense of elation when I came up with my first webpage using HTML hand-coding (no Dream Weaver or any other what-you-see-is-what-you get software assistance, please, because I do not want to depend on such unreliable, though undoubtedly more convenient software programs). In my head, I said, �Welcome to the wonderful world of the World Wide Web!� Also, after several grueling hours of creating a complete website, I discovered that I could be patient and painstaking, after all. Could I deny the fact that I also felt a little powerful after acquiring a bit of control over the Internet jungle? No, I certainly could not do that because I was truly proud to be considered a �webmaster� (no matter how amateurish) at last.

All exhilaration aside, I have to take a long, hard and practical look at the situation of online journalism in the Philippines. No matter how many articles or columns I write for my website, I know that not a lot of people would be able to read them because of some serious setbacks. Being a citizen of a Third World country, I know that not all Filipinos have electricity in their homes, let alone personal computers (PCs) and Internet connection. Even if electricity bills can be squeezed into a family�s budget for important expenses, not everyone can afford to buy computer hardware and software or subscribe to Internet service providers (ISPs). An analysis of the 2005 statistics from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) confirms that the physical infrastructure of the Philippines is still lacking even if PCs and Internet connection is de rigeur in most houses and business establishments in urban areas. Although the NTC data did show a 188-percent increase in ISP subscription (from 500, 000 in 2001 to 1.44 million in 2005), this is still less than two percent of the country�s 85-million (and still growing) population.

Apparently, the problems mentioned above were enough to make me go back to my senses. I have learned (and I hope other aspiring online journalists would, too) that a greater reach of online journalism would only be possible if the buying power of the Filipino people increases. If buying power increases, then many would be able to have electricity, PCs and Internet access, among other more basic needs. For now, we must keep in mind that as long as these limitations are present, online journalism cannot really flourish as an effective medium for disseminating news and information.

P.S. Thank you Sir Arao for your article Teaching Online Journalism. I would not be able to write my column without stating some facts and figures from it.