Your Baguio Midland Courier will go down in history as the only community paper in Northern Luzon that has continued publishing its print edition after the entire island of Luzon was placed under enhanced community quarantine since March.
Most community newspapers around the globe, including the Philippines, stopped printing and have instead resorted to the digital and multi-media platforms due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is another milestone in community and civic journalism that becomes even more significant in the time of this world crisis when the public needs to be empowered with timely and right information to better protect themselves against the invisible enemy crippling all nations across the globe.
The Courier marks its 73rd founding anniversary on April 28, the period when the founders proclaimed the birth of this paper that would soon become the most coveted weekly regional paper in the country so to speak. This time around, it comes while the world is battling the Covid-19 crisis. It marks a historical saga of a world tragedy happening a century after the last Spanish flu pandemic.
Since its maiden issue that swept the newsstands more than seven decades ago, the Courier has withstood the test of time by delivering news and information to its countless readers amid the most devastating natural and man-made disasters. This time it is fearlessly pushing straight through the dreaded Covid-19.
For the record, the Courier remains the only paper in the country with uninterrupted publication even when media censorship and takeover was high during the Marcos dictatorship, or when Baguio was devastated by the 1990 killer earthquake. This tradition held through good and bad times as the Courier knows that the demand for stories and images soars during critical times, as the public is empowered through right information.
Despite projected losses due to the huge drop in advertising triggered by the economic shutdown in this time of pandemic, the Courier remains resolute in bringing timely information from its online and social media platforms. It continues churning out comprehensive reports and has become a partner of government and the private sector in efforts to prevent the spread of the virus.
The Courier may be likened to a man who becomes wiser with the passage of time having chronicled historical events in the northern highlands and faraway lands over the past seven decades.
In spite of the series of closures of countless publications in the country and overseas due to the saying that “print journalism is dead,” the Courier and other local and national publications remain to be a force to be reckoned with in this ever complex society where news, current events, entertainment, and other forms of information are readily available at everyone’s fingertips.
The Courier salutes the men and women of the Fourth Estate for staying true to their mandate as stewards of truth and watchdogs of those in the halls of power, especially in matters of use of government funds to fight the pandemic.
But the most challenging role the Courier, along with other mainstream media organizations, has to face is to fight false news or misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic on social media. Accurate reporting is also meant to help political leaders discern the appropriate actions to ensure public health and safety.
As one of the pioneering publications in the country, the Courier will remain steadfastly committed to the four tenets of journalism laid by its founders. That is to remain fair, fearless, friendly, and free.
April 20, 2024