Media as an invaluable partner for global peace (Part 1)

The Global Peace Foundation, an international nonprofit organization focused on the pursuit of community, national, and regional peace-building activities, held its Global Peace Media Forum in preparation for the Global Peace Convention this December 2023. The program sought to gather media professionals across different disciplines for a forum on how our industry can contribute to the progress of their cause.

Among these personalities was yours truly – I was lucky enough to be invited as one of the speakers. I'd like to share with you some excerpts from my take on how the media can be a partner for peace, which, incidentally, also made me reminisce about my journey in the industry.

When I learned about the mission of the Global Peace Foundation and saw the esteemed speakers who would be joining me today, it filled me with gratitude for belonging to a generation that has witnessed the transformative power of traditional journalism, and how it navigated the digital revolution. 

I think I can speak for a lot of us when I say that we weren’t just observers of this evolution; we have influenced, pioneered, and shaped it.

Our experience has given us invaluable insights into the effects of the digital revolution on the media landscape, whether from the perspective of broadcast or print media professionals. 

I recall the earliest days of my career in ABC News in New York City when nonlinear editing was the most cutting-edge technology in media, a far cry from the advanced tools we have today. 

In contrast, when I returned to the Philippines to join ABS-CBN, we were expectedly still a bit behind in terms of broadcasting technology, still using U-matic tapes and linear editing. There was no “Teleradyo” then.

But fast forward to today, after I spent nearly two decades in TV, radio, and "Teleradyo," we have witnessed a radical transformation in how news and media are created and disseminated, all thanks to digital platforms and social media.

Being a journalist has been one of my life's greatest blessings, enabling me to be a firsthand witness and narrator of the most significant stories in our country and around the world.  More importantly, it gave me the opportunity to