As movement restrictions have been reimposed, a second lockdown has made waves in impacting the journalism industry in the Philippines. Telum held its first Philippines webinar with panelist Kristine Daguno-Bersamina, Managing Editor of Philstar.com, Melvin Calimag, Executive Editor of Newsbytes Philippines, and Roby Alampay, Founder and CEO of PumaPodcast. The webinar discusses pressing issues in the Philippines including journalism in the current situation, as well as effects of the anti-terror bill, and realities of the role of a Journalist in the Philippines.

With the imposed quarantine, Kristine shares that working from home is now a norm for journalists. “It's available for Metro Manila journalists because there are too many distractions at home, their staff have the option to come in or not.” In the age of fake news, Kristine shares that bias accusation has eroded trust in journalism. And publications, such as Philstar, will depend on editorial guidelines and a code of ethic to try to be fair in their reportage.

“The only difference I can see right now, we no longer go to press conference and events but there are a lot more stories right now as everything shift online. So, there is a tech angle on everything.” Melvin adds.

“There is more than enough content, certainly. But there is another side of it that we cannot cover most of the stories that we really want to in the middle of the pandemic.” Roby shares. At the same time, he emphasises on the difficulties reporting on the ground due to the pandemic including taking personal responsibility in terms of health and safety to oneself and others from being a vector for the virus. However, taking advantages of the new normal, Roby adds, “The world is more flat, we can reach out to someone faster, anywhere in the world through digital means.”