Ten Years of Free and Unencumbered Journalism in Toronto

Volume 2, Issue No. 39

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .

Our latest as of Sunday, November 15, 2020 

~ A decade of service to the community is not to be passed without remembering the hard work and struggle to keep the flame of journalism alive. On this day 10 years ago, The Filipino Web Channel came to be in Toronto as an advocate for transparency and change. Quite disappointingly, very little has changed, if at all. The stories of fraudulent conduct, ripoffs, manipulation, etcetera, are very much unconquered by the light of knowledge and bare facts. Still, the commitment is unaltered.

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JOURNALISM MEANS WINNING FRIENDS AND LOSING SOME

A Decade of Service to the Filipino Community

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“Better a good journalist than a poor assassin.” ― Jean-Paul Sartre

TORONTO - One thousand two hundred fifty-one videos, 2,718,590 views, and a base of 4.76K subscribers ensure bragging rights for this web-based news channel I created 10 years ago on Monday, the 15th of November 2010. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT74cbxq6ak).

Had not for the pandemic, I would have celebrated this tenth anniversary today (Sunday, November 15, 2020) with the eight people who had congratulated me on the birth of The Filipino Web Channel and who, over the most challenging times in presenting the good and bad news, have remained steadfast friends.

It's a tribute to their enduring friendship that I doff my hat to them, namely: Chubby Fojas, Toronto; Jesse Jose, Seattle; Merfa Bataclan, Toronto; Tenny and Myrna Soriano, Scarborough; Eddie Calderon, Ph.D., Minneapolis; Don Azarias, Chicago; and Frank Luna, Toronto.

My dear media colleague Tenny Soriano, the only person I knew when I moved here in 2010 from San Diego, California, had passed in July 2018. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdBI9EelyKE). I didn't know until now that my chatmate I fondly called Dr. Eddie (Calderon) had also passed away in November 2017. Rest in peace, my friends.

The sharp-tongued Jesse Jose retired from the US Navy as chief journalist, and now enjoys writing books in his hometown of Seattle, Washington to add to his stinging "A Cup of Kapeng Barako" collections where I had the privilege of penning the main foreword.

Don Azarias, formerly a banker who now lives in Chicago, Illinois, is equally vicious when challenged. He is unsparing in his thoughts and would not hesitate to engage in a brawl if need be. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3myEF-hauo).

The low-profile Philippine Bar topnotcher Frank Luna, formerly the Philippine Labor Attache in Toronto, wanders around like a tireless traveler in North America and Asia but calls Toronto and Manila home. His sarcasm is infectious and biting as when he let off a remark that had triggered a demand from sensitive media souls for him to be declared persona non grata. It didn't work, however.

I specifically mention their names here because these people believe in gritty journalism, not "praise journalism" many people are familiar with, and practiced by so-called media entities in the Greater Toronto Area. 

I digress a little bit there, I know, but it's important for me to acknowledge them on this milestone. They inspired me to continue with The Filipino Web Channel when no one seemed to care whether or not the community gets to know the news and the hidden stories behind the news.

Nobody was doing video news reporting in the Filipino community at that time. Everyone in the local press was into print, either as tabloid or magazine, devoted to entertainment and socials. The nitty-gritty of journalism was practically neglected, evaded even, so as not to disturb the status quo.

I've tried my best to change that. I was intent on practicing what I knew from being a foreign correspondent, reporter, and editor for decades. When covering the news, I played the role of a skeptic and took an adversarial attitude - a fact mistaken for arrogance. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik0AXXyPXaE).

In my mind, however, that was the best way to get at the bottom of the news. I still subscribe to the idea that for journalists to be objective, they should stay independent, remove from their social, political, or religious milieus, and friendships of convenience.

That sounds like a utopian dream which is impossible to keep in a community so close and personal as the Filipino community of Toronto. Well, it's a choice one has to make - to be friends with who matters and keep "praise journalism" intact, or to be an uncompromising journalist for all people.

A community performer named Manny Bade sums it up in a message posted on the channel a year ago. He says: "Romy, hayaan mo na yang naninira sayo. Basta trabaho lang. At peace tayo!"

Indeed, practicing adversarial journalism and/or investigative journalism comes with a price. Some people take umbrage at being exposed, yet they continue with their questionable activities. Others hate being written about in an unflattering light. The overly-sensitive resort to legal means to put a stop to the coverage.

Through these past 10 years, The Filipino Web Channel has effectively chronicled the unfolding history of Filipinos in the Greater Toronto Area and in the larger parts of the multicultural communities. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/user/FilipinoWebChannel#g/u).

Six months prior, or on June 12, 2010, I put up The Gotcha Journalist vlog, also known as Currents & Breaking News Channel, on YouTube to keep a tab on mainstream events. I had intended it as the go-to outlet for non-Filipino news but recently I also use it for all news coverage. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGotchaJournalist#g/u).

From that time on, the channel has racked up 1.82K subscribers and 1,596,969 views from 511 videos of my coverage in the United States (New York, Washington, DC, and San Diego); Europe (Berlin, Germany; Brighton, Oxford, London, Stratford-upon-Avon in the UK; Barcelona, Madrid, and Toledo in Spain; Venezia, Taormina, Rome, Savona, and Sicily in Italy; Marseilles and Paris in France; and Dubrovnik in Croatia.

The Filipino Web Channel and Currents & Breaking News Channel are my flagship channels. Together, they have accumulated 4,315,559 views from videos totaling 1,762. That's not counting my other channel - Filipino Web Entertainment - which has already amassed 1,562,379 views and 2.4K subscribers from 542 videos since I created it on September 6, 2011.

The whole point of all of these is that I'm marking a decade of journalism in Toronto. I've won friends and lost some. And those who remain friends are my friends forever. With them, my journalism grows free and unencumbered. (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).