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ABS-CBN reporter named 2020 McLuhan fellow

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Three months after the forced closure of their media company, an ABS-CBN reporter was named the 2020 Marshall McLuhan Fellow at the conclusion of today’s Jaime V. Ongpin Journalism Seminar.

Christian Esguerra was presented the prestigious distinction by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) in the first ever online version of the annual event.

Esguerra was cited for the quality of his reports on television and online along with PhilStar.com’s Camille Diola who in turn received this year’s Award of Distinction.

Esguerra and Diola were among this year’s seminar panellists with Rappler’s Lian Buan, ABS-CBN’s Mike Navallo, GMA Network’s Raffy Tima and ABS-CBN’s Chiara Zambrano.

“More than the personal recognition, I‘m hoping for greater courage and solidarity among journalists. Journalism, especially at this time, is not for the timid and subservient,” Esguerra said of his award.

Esguerra also received the Titus Brandsma Emergent Leadership in Journalism Award in October 2019, the latest of only three recipients so far.

This year’s Jaime V. Ongpin Journalism Seminar discussed the coverage of various issues in the news in the past year: COVID-19, China and the West Philippine Sea, the relationship of the press and the government, the state of the press, and other governance issues.

The McLuhan Fellowship, named after the Canadian communication theoretician, had been sponsored by the Embassy of Canada in the past 24 years.

The fellowship consists of a two-week familiarization and lecture tour of Canadian media and academic organizations, and later, a lecture tour of Philippine universities.

It was first awarded in 1997 and among its 21 fellows were Sheila S. Coronel (Columbia Journalism School and Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism), Yvonne T. Chua (VERA Files), Ed Lingao (TV5), Carolyn O. Arguillas (MindaNews), and Cheche Lazaro (ProbeTV), among others. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

‘To stay true to journalism’s calling’

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“I am deeply honored and at the same time humbled by the recognition. But more importantly, may the memory of Titus Brandsma inspire all of us to stay true to journalism’s calling, at a time when press freedom — and truth — are under heavy attack.”–Christian Esguerra, 2019 Titus Brandsma Emergent Leadership in Journalism Awardee

Luis Teodoro leads 2019 Titus Brandsma Awards winners

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Veteran journalist and activist Luis V. Teodoro leads this year’s recipients of the prestigious Titus Brandsma Awards, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) announced.

The former two-time University of the Philippines College of Communication dean and People’s Alternative Media Network (Altermidya) founding chairperson is named the Freedom of the Press awardee by the the Titus Brandsma Media Center, media ministry of the Carmelite Order in the Philippines.

Teodoro is a CMFR trustee and currently writes a column for BusinessWorld.

“Teodoro is recognized for being ‘a journalist, editor, and journalism educator whose incisive critiques of Philippine media have inspired generations of media practitioners and scholars,’” the CMFR announcement said.

“Many of the latter are now established journalists, editors and media scholars who, in turn, imparted to their audience and students, the ethical principles and the professionalism of the craft of journalism that they have learned from Luis. His sharp analyses in his columns often step on the interests of the powerful and the mighty, and necessarily so as the overall thrust of his media advocacy is a democratized access to information for a learned society,” it added.

Six other journalists are also recipients of the 2019 Titus Brandsma Awards:

  • Ed Lingao, TV5, for Leadership in Journalism;
  • Christian Esguerra, ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC), for Emergent Leadership in Journalism;
  • Belina San Buenaventura-Capul, Philippine Information Agency (PIA), for Leadership in Communication and Culture & Arts;
  • Gina Lopez (posthumous), ABS-CBN Foundation, for Leadership in Environmental Communication & Advocacy; and
  • Fr. James Reuter, SJ (posthumous), for the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Esguerra told Kodao he is deeply honored by the recognition.

“I am deeply honored and at the same time humbled by the recognition. But more importantly, may the memory of Titus Brandsma inspire all of us to stay true to journalism’s calling, at a time when press freedom — and truth — are under heavy attack,” Esguerra said.

The Titus Brandsma Awards are given to individuals and groups especially to journalists in print and broadcast media who shares the virtues of Blessed Titus Brandsma, a Carmelite priest, journalist and educator who was martyred in 1942 in Nazi Germany’s Dachau Concentration Camp for writing and defending the truth.

Brandsma was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 3, 1985 and was declared a “Martyr of Press Freedom.”

The award is the Philippine version of the international Titus Brandsma Award given by the Union Catholique Internationale dela’ Presse, the world forum of professionals in secular and religious media.

Former winners of the local Titus Brandsma Awards include Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Conrado de Quiros, Rappler’s Patricia Evangelista, Vera Files’ Yvonne Chua, GMA’s Kara David and Howie Severino, MindaNews’ Carolyn Arguillas and others.

The awardees will formally receive their awards in a ceremonial dinner on October 28, at the SM Skydome, North EDSA in Quezon City.

The award comes with a National Artist for Sculpture Napoleon Abueva-designed trophy. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

[The reporter is the 2015 Titus Brandsma Award for Emergent Leadership in Journalism recipient.]