An OnLine Interview on Press Freedom

November 9, 2005

A few weeks ago, I spoke at a PCIJ event on media and blogging.  It was a great session where I saw firsthand the issues media people are facing in relation to blogging.  It seems a journalism student in Australia caught the session from the PCIJ blog and sent me an email with a bunch of questions.  I marked the email with the intention of responding but I haven’t had the time.  So, I figured I’ll multi-task and make the interview the subject of today’s post.

Here’s a quote from the email to put the questions in perspective:

I’m a journalism student in Australia writing a feature on press freedom in the Philippines. I am also an Internet Media activist (I am involved with both global and local Indymedia, and have worked with both Manila and QC Indymedia, and various geek collectives) I have been especially interested in blogging as a new way to overcome censorship.

Whilst interning at the IFJ I have become particularly interested in the killings of Filipino journalists, and some of the practical reponses that have been made. I have also been following the Arroyo impeachment case, and resulting acts of censorship on the media and protestors.

After listening to your presentation (online) at the recent PCIJ blog conference, I was really hoping to interview you about blogging, with particular emphasis on the legal issues surrounding it.

Apart from your personal blog, what other internet related projects are you involved with?

I’m the Director of the U.P. Law Internet and Society Program (ISP) and we’re currently pursuing projects on open standards, free/open source software, information privacy, Creative Commons Philippines and electronic evidence.

What prompted the organising of iblog?

I guess you can call us copycats.  While I was taking my masters, the Berkman Center organized not one but two blogger summits called BloggerCon.  One was held in the Fall of 2003 and the other in the Spring 2004 at Harvard Law School.    I was so busy I didn’t get to attend either one.  

When I got back to the Philippines, blogging was clearly catching hold and we at the ISP felt that the time was right to get everyone together for summit.  Besides, we were curious what the bloggers looked like in person.
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