Mirror in Bits

When transparency and freedom are at the cost of bureaucratic adherence, the true business is to fight for causes of transparency and freedom—as there is no single institutional policy that derails these fundamentals of democracy would ever validate, much less justify, any command of rules.

On 15 January, an eviction notice was plastered on the door of the last remaining office of Today’s Carolinian Publication in the Downtown Campus of University of San Carlos (USC), an academic institution based in Cebu, Philippines, ordering the staffers of the publication to abruptly vacate from their post for the immediate placement of the Alumni Office in replace of the publication. 

This act takes the height of the siege against the publication, which started in its critical  2019  coverage of the Tuition and Other Fees Increase (TOFI) that led to its defunding and non-recognition as official publication by the university administration,  pushing the publication to a death’s door without the admin footing their bill.

From critical examination of campus challenges to the publication’s progressive approach towards addressing socio-political issues, it has since confronted power and illuminated an information outlet that provokes discussion on pressing matters affecting the status quo. Its mobility enables the publication entity to serve the studentry and, at large, the broader mass–a public duty and rights that should not be stomped on by any powers that be or any independence-undermining policy.

By legality, campus journalism builds upon the merit of Campus Journalism Act of 1991, a phrase titling the RA 7079, that underscores the indispensable role of journalism in democratic society especially at a campus level, where critical thinking is primarily fostered. Undue pressure for Today’s Carolinian to re-accreditation process adherence involving red tape for it to again be recognized as the institution’s official school publication is not only egocentric, but also unbecoming of what’s supposedly a democracy-respecting academic institution, undermining the very ideology of freedom of expressions, and consequently displacing the rights of the student to academic and political freedom.

Studentry, with the presence of functional publication, is able to glean a guided understanding of the complexities of societal structure, hence fostering a growth in socio-political concern and encouraging participation in the effort to amplify the clamors that should be bold and brash enough to be heard. This key facet of the press as democratic pillar erects a counterbalance to poor and mismanaged governance, which often thrives on the lack of intellectual discussions and public scrutiny. Every act of oppression against the press, be it wielded by institutions or state forces, is a block taken out in the bridge between the leaders and the people–a shatter of the essence of the media and the press, and thus condemnable.

In this light, it is urged that the adoption of House Resolution No. 2193 filed in the congress ensue immediately, condemning the “pattern of repression” that infringes upon the free expression of other USC-based organizations and publications, which calls upon the higher education commission to drill on these incidents. Further, provided these worsening chokeholds on campus press freedom, it is likewise tendered for the immediate passage of the Campus Journalism Bill, which enactment shall ensure a rightful stronger safeguards for student-truth-seekers and for genuine freedom of media mobility.

Campus journalism is a laboratory of democracy, inviting students to glean and practice their rights as vested by the system, and campus publications are mirrors that reflect whether or not rights are sustained or waned within the institution and way beyond. These mirrors, they are not missing. They are displaced, yes. And brazenly, they are stomped, shattered to bits—even as they are not mere decoration, but an essential element to the framework of any democratic structure.