Mindanao Bloggers Community

In a forum where the gatekeepers of Philippine media congregate and discuss pressing concerns, MindanaoBloggers was given the opportunity to break into the consciousness of mainstream media. MediaNation is an annual convention of publishers, editors, news managers — the movers and shakers of the country’s media organizations, and it recently concluded its sixth conference.

I was invited to participate in MediaNation5.2 (it was the second conference this year) because the theme focused on news coverage of Mindanao. Also, I was tasked to apprise the members of “new media” developments in the Philippines. Other Mindanao-based journalists were also in attendance, to give their input on the issues at hand.

Having been successful in achieving its objectives — in a nutshell, improving Mindanao-related online content and providing a virtual community to the bloggers of the island — MindanaoBloggers is now experiencing a move towards a higher purpose. Or maybe more than one.

As a repository of blogs about Mindanao, and blogs of Mindanaoans, MB could very well transform into a watchdog of Mindanao issues. Our blogs can become containers of more down-to-earth content that could provide a counterbalance to news stories published by mainstream media. Our blog posts could supply the “human face” factor to the largely cold news issuing out of the nation’s broadsheets, TV programs and radio broadcasts.

During MediaNation5.2, I was able to showcase the MB community blog, as well as the blogs of some MB members. Since we were discussing how mainstream media usually portrays Muslim-Christian conflict, for one, I showed Sarah Matalam’s rashidsmom blog. In her 20 August post, Sarah, a Muslim, talks about a relief mission she put together to help the displaced victims of Pikit, North Cotabato. And she used a quote from Mother Teresa to sum up the passion with which she and her friends (including some MB members) mobilized to help the victims of strife.

I also showed the assembly the blog of Jun Macarambon, a Bangsamoro who is one of the original members of MB. Jun blogs about his life as a Bangsamoro, as well as about information technology.

My purpose was to demonstrate to Manila’s media decision-makers that Mindanao is not all about Muslim-Christian conflict, and that it is not as pervasive as people outside Mindanao may perceive. Also, that there are plenty of other events, initiatives, issues, developments, etc. emanating out of Mindanao that might actually be newsworthy.

It was emphasized by the host organization, pagbabago@pilipinas, that MediaNation is not a summit where manifestos are promulgated. It is a forum where salient issues concerning Philippine media are identified, dissected and given a chance to be resolved. Participants come away with a deeper sense of the issues, and are thereby made aware of how better to approach them when reporting about them.

I hope sincerely that, in my own small way, I was able to contribute to the objectives of MediaNation5.2, and that those who were present were able to glean some insights from my input.

MB will see a transformation in the very near future. My dream is to see more of Mindanao represented here, and that MB will become a vehicle for fostering understanding and meaningful change.