PRESS RELEASE: FROM SUPPRESSION TO EXPRESSION

             For almost two years of studying different theories and discovering facts and the nooks and crannies of media, I can't believe that it was easily suppressed by an unreasonable person in an unjust incident.
            It was really frustrating that even how powerful and influential the media can be, still, the media was suppress during the Martial Law.

               After watching the part 6, 7 and 8 of BATAS MILITAR (Martial Law in the Philippines), I really don't know how to react as an aspiring journalist. I don't know if I was disheartened in pursuing my course upon knowing about the Press Suppression at that time . During the Martial Law, the power of the press was purloined and bridled. The media at that time was nil. There are journalists who tried to do their role by gathering news during that time, yet they were ceased.

               To add insult to injury, those journalists were arrested when all they want was to serve the public. I was really dejected that the press was repressed at that time. The media should have been the bridge to unfold all those secrecy and deception. They were supposed to be the voice of the voiceless. But how can they be the voice of the voiceless if they were taciturn? The press is the sixth sense of the public. The supposed to be “watchdogs” turned in to “clutched dogs”.

               Yes, there were allowed magazines and newspapers during that time, yet they're nothing but crony newspapers. A crony newspaper, in one way or the other, won't serve the public in a just manner. It would merely feed the public with lies and gainsays the hidden truth.

                 I was even thinking that the journalists should have fight for their right as an individual and as a journalist. I think it's possible since they were not putting the public in danger but instead, uplifting the spirit of the Filipino people. If I were in their shoe, I could have fight for my right. But a thought sink in my mind. According to Sir Ramirez, “there is no story worth-dying for”. I believe, that was one of the reasons why journalists ceded their right as an individual and as a journalist during that press suppression.

                     Despite the influx of press suppression that transpired during the Martial Law, I still salute those journalists who were ceased yet tried, reposed yet never surrender. Suppress them, oppress them, depress them, repress them, but the press will continue to express.