An OnLine Interview on Press Freedom

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.

How is iblog, and the recent PCIJ blog conference usefull to bloggers and would-be bloggers?

We’ve put the content on-line in the hope that others can learn from the sessions.  Beyond that I believe that many people blog and do so with a passion.  Getting these people together to talk about it is important because we need to reflect on this technology that one way another has changed the way we relate to the Web.  We’ve been transformed from browsers to content providers — from consumers to producers.  

I think we also believe that blogging has the potential to have a social impact as important as SMS in the Philippines.  As you may know, SMS played a role in unseating an elected President.  Who knows what bloggers can do?

The Philippines is one of the few countries in the world that has laws covering 10 different types of cybercrime, do you think these pose a threat to the future of cyberdissidence and the blogging pehenomenon in the Philippines?

I don’t think so.  We have seen some efforts at using the Internet for protest such as eLagda (a sign up sheet used during the ouster of Erap Estrada) but we have not seen government using cybercrime laws to stop criticism on-line.  

Considering the proposed new anti-terrorism measures, particularly article 10 of House Bill 3902, Is news reporting and/or protest in an online space safer than traditional methods?

I don’t think so.  One could say that anonymity will protect bloggers but I find that anonymity is not the best way to build up credibility.  And you’ll need that to make a difference.  Therefore, the risks will probably be the same.  If the government is minded to use terrorism laws to stifle dissent then bloggers are potential targets, too.

How will the recent adoption of the Intellectual Property Law and the Optical Media Act, affect bloggers and cyber dissidence?

I don’t see it affecting bloggers as much as say the DMCA.  As you know many Philippine bloggers are hosted in the US and therefore susceptible to a notice-and-takedown process under the DMCA.  Of course, there will have to be a copyright claim before the service provider will comply.  

How do think blogging has helped the Filipino quest for press freedom?

Maybe I’m wrong but I think press freedom is alive in this country.  I was hoping bloggers would take the lead in fact gathering and fact checking — as a way of raising the standards for our professional journalists.  Maybe it will happen soon enough but for now, bloggers have not become amateur journalists.  The PCIJ though is leading the charge and showing the rest of the blogosphere that blogs can become a primary source of information.  Maybe as blogging becomes more pervasive, we’ll see this shift.