“Journalists lose their lives in showing us the truth about our governments’ secrets.” - Ross Almocera

Everyone has their dark secrets. If someone’s dark secrets are revealed, that person will try to conceal them again. Governments are no exception. When information about the government’s secrets is revealed to the public, they will do anything in their power to suppress it.

No government is perfect. All governments have some level of corruption or any other foul play present within, but the most oppressive and “popular” one is the censorship of information in China. The Chinese government continues to censor all information that may expose them in any way, including the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4, 1989. According to Reporters without Borders, independent journalists who report “sensitive” information about the Chinese government are threatened, harassed, and possibly even tortured and killed.

There are problems with free journalism here in our own country, the Philippines. During the Duterte administration, many free and independent journalists were framed for several things, such as posting communist propaganda and other things, which end up getting said journalists at best arrested. This has also negatively affected organizations and channels of news, like Rappler and ABS-CBN, with the former being threatened to be shut down and the latter actually being shut down.

“At least 190 journalists have been killed since 1986,” wrote Danilo Araña Arao. “The prevailing climate of media repression sends a chilling message to journalists and media workers in the country that they should toe the administration line.”

Let us also not forget the time of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship. The ruthless dictatorship caused many people who shared information about the bad actions of the dictatorship to be brutally tortured and killed. All information about the killings were also hidden from the public during this time.

Information about the censorship of information is also being censored. Media repression has been denied by the Philippine government, including the cases of Rappler and ABS-CBN, along with denying the entire culture that threatens free journalists. 

Media repression is not just a problem in China and the Philippines, this is a problem occurring everywhere around the world. According to a graph in Sarah Repucci’s article, media repression is present in Africa, the Middle East, Russia, and many other areas around the world. 

With all the absurd actions being taken against journalists by governments, we should take a stance and stop media repression immediately. The measures governments are taking to suppress sensitive information are too extreme, and our journalists do not deserve this kind of treatment. This is especially true for our democratic nation. Val E. Nat in the video “Totoo Ba ‘To?” says that “A free press is key to having a democratic nation.” So why are our journalists being brutally oppressed? The problem of media repression needs to be stopped as soon as possible.