The Philippine media still lives up to its reputation as the “freest press” in Asia, the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) said Friday.

PTFoMS Executive Director Undersecretary Paul Gutierrez made the statement to mark World Press Freedom Day, citing the vibrancy of Philippine media with more than 1,300 mainstream media outlets.

Citing July 2023 data from the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), the PTFoMS said the country currently has 753 radio stations (53 percent), 421 newspapers (30 percent) 162 television and cable stations (12 percent), and 73 magazines (5 percent).

This is on top of more than a thousand media companies distributing their content on social media platforms.

Gutierrez said the difficulty in monitoring the number of media outlets operating in the social media realm is due mainly to the Philippine government’s “liberal” attitude toward the Internet.

“These numbers debunked unsubstantiated claims that the press is under threat, being curtailed, or being suppressed in the country,” he said.

In terms of the Philippine government’s effort to protect journalists by addressing the culture of impunity, Gutierrez noted that all of the five reported incidents of media violence that left four victims dead and one seriously wounded since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in July 2022 have been deemed resolved with the identification, arrest, and ongoing court trials of the suspects.

He said aside from ensuring a safe environment for media practitioners, the task force is also implementing the Media Information and Literacy (MIL) campaign of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) under Secretary Cheloy Garafil, PTFoMS Co-Chair.

This campaign involves not only addressing the issue of misinformation, disinformation, and fake news but also developing a culture of responsibility and professionalism among Philippine media practitioners, especially in the regions outside Metro Manila.

According to the PTFoMS, five regional media summits were successfully held in 2023, while four more regional media summits are being prepared this year to capacitate members of the press on internationally recognized best practices on journalism and personal security awareness.

Gutierrez said ongoing government efforts to educate and increase the awareness of media workers while strengthening the existing mechanisms of the PTFoMS in immediately acting on media’s concerns helped increase the confidence of members of the press to practice their profession in a safe and responsive environment.

“To create a media environment that is free from fear is among the key priorities of the Marcos administration during its entire term,” Gutierrez said. (PNA)