TO A COUNTRY already so desensitized to change and quite numb to the prevalence of upheaval, the closure of ABS-CBN’s free-to-air operations back in 2020 seemed to be the gravest and most potent threat ever to the free press in the country. But just when we thought that we have reached the crescendo, well, guess again.
Last January 25, Media Newser reported that Nine Media Corporation, the entity which had entered into a licensing agreement with CNN to bring the media outlet’s brand to the country, mutually agreed to no longer pursue their contract due to “significant financial losses.” It was recently renewed back in 2019 and was due to expire at the end of this year, following a five-year agreement between the two companies.
“As the fourth estate braces for a bruising decade ahead, it is sitting at a crossroads… whether to embrace the tide of change… or to just trust that all of these developments are fads merely passing us by.”
The news reverberated across the country. Social media was abuzz with tributes to the anchors and staff of CNN Philippines, with many netizens crediting the network’s presidential and vice-presidential debates as the reasons why they were able to make up their minds during those tumultuous campaigns. It can also be remembered that in the 2016 vice presidential debate hosted by CNN Philippines, then-Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s testy exchanges with Senator Alan Peter Cayetano and then-Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo made the rounds online. During the 2022 presidential campaign, the clips of these exchanges again made headlines following Marcos Jr.’s failure to attend the network’s presidential debate.
Despite being a relatively younger competitor to already-established news bureaus in the country, such as GMA Integrated News, News5, and ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs, CNN Philippines was able to field its own lineup of veteran anchors and correspondents. It boasted the likes of Pia Hontiveros, Pinky Webb, and Rico Hizon, among other experienced journalists, as its hosts. It also provided comprehensive wall-to-wall coverage during elections, sent its reporters to crisis areas, and covered major natural disaster events as they came.
For its efforts to contribute meaningfully to Philippine broadcasting, CNN Philippines has under its belt several accolades, with Webb’s The Source and Hizon’s The Final Word hailed as the country’s national winners for Best Current Affairs Programme or Series and Best News Programme, respectively, at the 2020 Asian Academy Creative Awards.
But what CNN Philippines reaped in international recognition, it lacked in revenue, with substantial financial losses amounting to Php5 billion since its inception in 2015. In a report, Rappler detailed the daunting fiscal troubles faced by the network, citing an official audit by Reyes Tacandong & Co. mentioning that the losses “indicate a material uncertainty which may cast a significant doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
Across newsrooms worldwide, the same concerns over the viability of journalism to remain profitable has spread. According to CNN, at the start of 2024, the Los Angeles Times “slashed its newsroom by more than 20%,” TIME “cut dozens of staffers,” and Business Insider announced that it would “trim its workforce by 8%.” Changing patterns of information consumption, paired with the huge cuts in ad revenue, have significantly impacted the feasibility of the traditional model of broadcast journalism to stay alive. Even print media, which has already been embracing increased digitalization as its model, is still struggling to keep afloat in a landscape that prioritizes speed and expediency over accuracy, not to mention the threats posed by artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs).
As the fourth estate braces for a bruising decade ahead, it is sitting at a crossroads, pondering whether to embrace the tide of change and adapt to the evolving media landscape—maybe at the peril of ethical journalism, or to just trust that all of these developments are fads merely passing us by. Whatever path industry leaders choose in these next few months will be crucial in determining the fate of journalism in this century.
Email me at thebedan_editorinchief@sanbeda.edu.ph