STAND WITH THE CAMPUS PRESS! DEFEND CAMPUS PRESS FREEDOM! NO TO DIGITAL CENSORSHIP! NO TO RED-TAGGING!

The College Editors Guild of the Philippines, UP Solidaridad, and Alyansa ng Kabataang Mamamahayag ng PUP stand in solidarity with all campus publications and media outfits as we continuously fight against all forms of media repression. Recently, student publications, namely SINAG, The Manila Collegian, and The Catalyst experienced digital censorship, red-tagging, and state-sponsored troll attacks. SINAG, the official student publication of the UP Diliman College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, was ridiculed and red-baited by trolls and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) over their articles on revolutionary leader and Communist Party of the Philippines founder Professor Jose Maria Sison; as well as the underground youth group Kabataang Makabayan posted on December 23 and 24, 2022. NTF-ELCAC Deputy Director for Operations Mario Jose Chico baselessly associated the publication with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front, while former NTF-ELCAC Spokesperson Lorraine Badoy shared and maligned the news report on her page, attracting more attention from trolls. NTF-ELCAC in 2020 and 2021 had previously red-tagged SINAG for articles exposing the indiscriminate bombings of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Mindanao which targeted Lumad communities. Trolls likewise sent death threats and red-baiting materials to some editors of the publication and other member formations of UP Solidaridad, UP's system-wide alliance of student publications and writers organizations. Additionally, on December 27, The Manila Collegian, the official student publication of UP Manila, was flagged by Facebook as “at the risk of being unpublished” because of their coverage of the tribute program for the late Joma Sison. Suffering the same digital censorship the following day, a photo of the same program, which featured the face of Sison, had been taken down from the page of The Catalyst, the official student publication of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. We condemn in strongest terms these renewed attacks against SINAG, The Manila Collegian, and The Catalyst and their patriotic and democratic brand of campus journalism. We see these attacks as desperate moves that cast a chilling effect on the exercise of campus press freedom. These assaults on publications are outright manifestations of the Marcosian political repression against journalists and students. It is a brazen incursion on the right to express and publish, especially within student institutions that ironically should be safe havens for critical thought and practice. In a time of social unrest and chronic crisis, it is the duty of campus journalism to expose the realities of the Filipino people in their struggle for genuine democracy and freedom. As part of the alternative press, we deem it fit to cover these activities to raise consciousness about the ongoing civil war between the state and the revolutionaries in the hopes of addressing the root causes of armed conflict and achieving just and lasting peace. We also denounce Meta’s arbitrary community standards which are used to censor progressives, as well as the platform’s contribution and role to the proliferation of disinformation, fake news, xenophobia, racism, misogyny, and other harmful contents, capitalized by the ruling elite to their interests. With this, it is obvious that the Marcos Jr. administration is hellbent on manipulating the truth to favor their misinformation, historical distortion, and black propaganda campaign. The only acceptable journalism for the administration and this regime is stenography—a transcription-based PR journalism whose writers serve as parrots of their lies and deceptions. We call on our fellow campus journalists, the journalism community, and all concerned Filipinos to join SINAG, The Manila Collegian, The Catalyst, and other campus publications as we fight back against the Marcos administration’s persecution of the truth and truth-tellers through NTF-ELCAC and their troll armies.

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