Volume 7, Issue No. 53
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 Monday, June 15, 2026
~ The avalanche of news in and outside Toronto momentarily distracted me from marking the birth of my first foray into mainstream reporting in Canada. Currents & Breaking News (aka The Gotcha Journalist) debuted on June 12, 2010 on YouTube, my effort to present a Filipino perspective to the news even as I had the long experience working for foreign news organizations in Japan and Germany.
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CURRENTS & BREAKING NEWS
News Channel On YouTube
Marks 16 Years of Service
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
TORONTO - This month one of my social media news outlets marks 16 years of uninterrupted service to the mainstream community.
The exact date was June 12, 2010 when Currents & Breaking News (CB&N), also known as The Gotcha Journalist, debuted on You Tube. (youtube.com/user/TheGotchaJournalist).
From the 560 videos I created as of today, June 15, 2026, C&BN had amassed a decent following: 2.26K subscribers, and views totaling 1,839,894.
I had intended it to be the sole soapbox for commentaries and for news relevant to Filipinos and non-Filipinos alike in the Greater Toronto Area and occasionally in foreign countries I had a chance of visiting.
I soon realized the importance of separating mainstream news from local or community news given the multiracial and multicultural makeup of Toronto, Canada's largest city with a population of more than three million, and where over 160 languages are spoken.
Four months later with that idea in mind, came the birth on November 15, 2010, of another news entity, the Filipino Web Channel (FWC), my flagship, on You Tube and on Vimeo. (https://www.youtube.com/user/FilipinoWebChannel#g/u).
So far, it has attracted 6.57K subscribers. Its 1,621 videos have generated 3,211,968 views. Combined with C&BN, the numbers (5,051,862 views and 8,830 subscribers) are quite staggering for me.
It's humbling to know people out there still choose to follow the news rather than the noise prevalent in social media. Objective, fearless, fact-based reporting remains the foundation of my journalism.
I mean only to chronicle the birth of C&BN even though it's three days off the mark because its inception was my kind of independence day from the rigours of deadline and highly-competitive news reporting for the foreign press.
That's exactly why I timed its founding on June 12, 2010. Same day in 1898 when the homeland declared independence from Spanish colonizers. In case someone asks, 2010 was my arrival year in Toronto from California. (Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved).
