Volume 6, Issue No. 50
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Saturday, May 17, 2025
~ Hardly noticed amidst the political noise coming from the south, the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, has made a promise that should be a boon to distressed members of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC), also known as "Canada's other voices." On World Press Freedom Day two weeks ago, he declared: "My government will also protect and fund more local news, including those with Indigenous perspectives."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CANADA PRIME MINISTER MARK CARNEY VOWS:
Protect, Fund More Local News
The Pledge Should Be a Boon to Ethnic Media
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
"International Press Freedom Day is just a dream and a wish to all of us. But in order to keep our hopes, we have to fight for it." - Thomas Saras, President and CEO, National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada
TORONTO - Three days before Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Washington, DC and told US President Donald Trump that "Canada is not for sale. Ever," he had made a promise that should be music to the ears of cash-strapped members of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC).
That was on Saturday, May 3, World Press Freedom Day, which is widely celebrated in countries where freedom of the press is contemporaneously held sacrosanct, observed, threatened, attacked, and cut down.
“In a sea of foreign media and disinformation," Carney said in Ottawa, "we need Canadian voices more than ever,” adding that "In this time of crisis, we must protect what it means to be Canadian. A strong, independent, and free press both defines and defends our values."
"My new government," he vowed, "will protect reliable Canadian public forums, so we can tell our own stories in our own languages. My government will also protect and fund more local news, including those with Indigenous perspectives."
That last sentence sounds like a marching order and an assurance of continued federal government support for community publications, particularly to the NEPMCC constituency.
The organization's roster of members consisting of 850 publications and150 electronic media (TV and radio) serving 101 linguistic and cultural communities truly makes it "Canada's other voices" that's separate from mainstream media.
Even as NEPMCC regularly receives grant money from the federal government through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) and Local Journalism Initiative (LJI), it appears such financial assistance may not be enough.
Data has not been made available to make a determination of NEPMCC's financial health but all these months, the not-for-profit, non-governmental organization seems forever cash-strapped.
During its monthly meeting in February, NEPMCC president Thomas Saras told members the provincial government of Ontario "might allocate funds to ethnic publications based in Ontario" in the face of rising printing costs that forced shutdown of some publications. (Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFgYaFvRz8I&t=10s).
Moreover, he expressed hope the "federal government will improve Aid to Publishers Program and increase federal government advertising."
NEPMCC is also tapping Google. He said the organization "has been trying hard to negotiate a better deal from Google regarding the compensation for the members of the ethnic media industry."
Saras' remarks, published on its website in February (the latest and most current) and earlier, underscore the financial difficulties impacting community publications.
One of these is a Filipino tabloid, The Philippine Reporter (TPR), the left-leaning tabloid owned and edited by husband and wife Hermie Garcia and Mila A. Garcia.
Copies of the paper have not been seen for months. The front page of its last print issue was in January 2024. Its website occasionally publishes stories seemingly intended to make it look like it's running.
Speculation has been that TPR went under soon after staff writer Michelle Chermaine Ramos (who has since resigned) discovered and divulged to NEPMCC and to Canadian Heritage the litany of lies and deception by the Garcia couple to hide their abject failure to pay reporters' salaries on time.
(The Filipino Web Channel and Filipino Web Magazine broke the bombshell story nearly two years ago at: Lies, Deceptions by The Philippine Reporter Exposed).
|
In addition to their regular job at TPR, Ms. Ramos and another writer based in Edmonton, Alberta were reporting for the government-funded Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) implemented locally by the NEPMCC.
The delays and non-payments were not supposed to happen to Ms. Ramos and the other writer simply because the monies for their salaries had been advanced to Hermie Garcia in one lump sum a full year earlier.
While Saras had launched an investigation by the NEPMCC Ombudsman following Ms. Ramos' detailed complaint, nothing has been said about it months later.
However, in a recent interaction with NEPMCC executive director Maria S. Voutsinas, she claimed the Garcias were "sanctioned" but up to what extent was not clear. (Full story: A Not So Welcoming World Press Freedom Day in Toronto).
|
"There was a time when I was proud to be part of TPR because I thought we stood for the truth and had integrity and served as a voice for the oppressed," lamented Ms. Ramos earlier.
"But discovering that they're capable of lying to their own staff and abusing our trust and mismanaging the government funds they were entrusted with to cover our pay , , , well, that's disgustingly inconsiderate and professionally unethical," she added.
Ms. Ramos said she would have understood if the Garcias had been candid with having financial troubles than concoct lie about the grant money and their salary and cover it up with another lie.
"I would have respected that and totally understood," she explained. "There would be no problem at all and we'd just work something out as friends."
"Still, I tried to understand TPR's situation so I wouldn't blow up on them. I considered the fact that they're seniors and forgetful and getting overwhelmed . . . "
(Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).
No comments:
Post a Comment