The Philippine Press Institute (PPI) is a non-stock, non-profit private organization duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission whose principal mandate is to defend press freedom and promote ethical standards for the professional development of the Filipino journalist.
Founded in 1964 and reactivated in 1987, it was rendered moribund during the martial law regime (1972 – 1986). July 3, 1986 marked the formal revival of the Institute when the reconstituted Board of Governors met for the first time. On June 8, 1987, it became an incorporation under Philippine laws.
Also known as the national association of newspapers, it represents the interests and concerns of the newspaper sector in media and in all forums. Its membership includes the major national and provincial daily/weekly newspapers in the country.
The institute conducts training programs and organizes educational activities for Filipino journalists, seeks to protect their rights and freedoms in the pursuit of their practice, creates and introduces opportunities for the development of the journalist as a practitioner.
The affairs of the institute are governed by a board of trustees that meets quarterly. The board is composed of publishers and editors of member-newspapers who are elected annually. The major newspapers that are represented in the board are The Philippine Star, Manila Standard Today, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Journal, Malaya Business Insight, and BusinessWorld.
Its past chairmen were Joaquin “Chino” Roces of The Manila Times, and Eugenio Lopez Jr. of The Manila Chronicle, and Raul Locsin of BusinessWorld.
It keeps a full-time secretariat led by the executive director for its daily operations. Past executive directors were Juan Mercado, Adlai Amor, Alice Villadolid, Isagani Yambot, Ermin Garcia Jr., Guillermo Santos and Jose Pavia.
Programs and Activities
With its local partners, the institute plans and implements regular seminars and workshops on writing, libel and ethics, newspaper management, and coverage of special interest activities, i.e. environment, business and economy, health, science and technology, children’s rights, women’s issues, ethnic conflicts, governance etc. It conducts a regular forum among editors and publishers on ethics and industry affairs.
PPI organizes the annual National Press Forum and General Membership Meeting. For fifteen years, this back-to-back event has gathered publishers and editors who represent the member-publications to discuss media issues and industry concerns. The first annual meeting was held in April 1988 at the historic Puerta Isabel in Intramuros. The first dual event was organized in April 1996. In 2008, the Institute opened the Forum by invitation to select non-members and non-media from the academe, business, government and civil society.
PPI oversees the management of the Annual Community Press Awards program which was launched in 1996 in partnership with The Coca-Cola Export Corporation (TCCEC). The program honors community newspapers which have demonstrated journalistic excellence in various categories such as editing, editorial page, science and environment reporting, business and economic reporting and photojournalism. The Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC) serves as the project secretariat.
PPI supports media information and education activities of child-advocate agencies. It has organized press seminars and forums to support the causes on women and children under the auspices of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). It also a member of the communication committee of the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) which awards the Bright Child Outstanding News Features on Children.
It also trains future and aspiring journalists through the Scholastic Press Outreach Program which invites mass communication and journalism students to a seminar-workshop whose resource persons are respected print media practitioners.
In the past, it had the opportunity to work as project partner with the Embassy of the United States thru its Small Grants Program, The Asia Foundation, Ramon Magsaysay Foundation, Metrobank Foundation, International Center for Journalists, and the Bank of Philippine Islands for skills training of its members.
It also has a partnership with The Coca-Cola Export Corporation (TCCEC) on Building Better Communities Through Civic Journalism. Started in year 2002, the project has organized 25 seminar-workshops across the country. The three-year sustainability program includes upgrading of journalistic skills.
Membership Categories
Membership in the institute is by publication or organization. There are two categories of membership, namely: regular and associate. Regular membership is reserved for newspapers and newsmagazines published for general and commercial circulation while associate membership is granted to news organizations and publications other than newspapers, i.e. special interest magazines, news agencies, sectoral publications, scholastic publications, online and digital media, among others.
Linkages and Networking
The Philippine Press Council is composed of journalists and selected representatives from the legal profession, the business sector and the academe to protect and promote the news subject’s right to reply. It receives and acts on complaints against unfair practices of the press. The Editors’ Forum is a collegial body of senior editors of member newspapers that plan and implement activities to improve reportage of news events. It has expanded its membership to include a lawyer, an educator and a member of the civil society.
The United Print Media Group (UPMG) represents the business interests of the member-newspapers in the advertising industry. It also helps create marketing opportunities for member-community newspapers.
PPI and the Kapisanan ng Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) or the Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines have signed an agreement to cooperate and jointly address media concerns such as training, ethics, advocacy, technical, trade standards and government legislation.
It collaborates and shares technical resources where it can with other media organizations such as Probe Media Foundation, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, Asian Institute for Journalism and Communication, Vera Files, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University, and the Center for Community Journalism and Development.
It is one of the founders of the Council of Asian Press Institutes established in 1998 with other press institutes in Asia and the Pacific. PPI has been elected as the first standard bearer of this regional umbrella organization.
It is also one of the institutional members of the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, along with KBP, CMFR, PCIJ and CCJD. Launched in January 2003, FFFJ was organized to address the numerous attacks against journalists and news organizations around the country.
Write or call us.
PHILIPPINE PRESS INSTITUTE
Room 206, B.F. Condominium Building
A. Soriano Ave., Intramuros, Manila
Tels. 5279632, 5274478 Fax 5273390
ppi1@mozcom.com
