Journalism/Media

News in Distress:
The Southeast Asian Media in a Time of Crisis

Finalist: National Book Award for Documentation (1999)

WHILE OFFICIALS and experts are still arguing about the real causes of what is now called the “Asian crisis,” one thing seems clear: There was lack of information that would have allowed officials, businesspeople and ordinary citizens to anticipate the crisis, understand its causes, and deal with its impacts.

How such paucity of information could exist in the so-called “Information Age” points to the contradictions in Southeast Asian societies. On one hand, the booming countries of the region had opened their economies to transnational capital flows, encouraged foreign investments and embarked on an ambitious path to growth based on integration into the global economy. On the other hand, in many of these countries, long reigning leaders have tried to keep their citizens on a tight leash, restricting freedom of expression and flows of information that they think would threaten their regimes.

News for Sale:
The Corruption of the Philippine Media

Finalist: National Book Award for Journalism (1998)

MEDIA CORRUPTION is not an easy subject for jorunalistic investigation. In this unprecedented work, Chay Florentino-Hofileña looks at the history of media corruption in the Philippines, probes corrupt practices in the 1990s, and discovers how a free press can be bought.

This study shows that compared to the past, media corruption in the post-Marcos era is costlier, more pervasive, and even more systemic. It is also disturbingly sophisticated, and in some cases, even institutionalized. The organized way in which corruption takes place—through a network of jorunalists reporting to other journalists or to professional public relations or PR people—makes it seem almost like the operation of a criminal syndicate, a mafia of corrupt practitioners.

Uncovering the Beat: The Real-World
Guide to Reporting on Government

Finalist: National Book Award for Journalism (1997)

This easy-to-use reference book compiles information on the workings of key government institutions: the presidency, Congress, the courts, the police, the agencies that regulate the economy and the environment, and those that provide education and health services.

It describes the structure of these institutions and the laws that govern them. It explains how these agencies work and untangles the often arcane procedures taht govern their operation. Government is a maze, and Uncovering the Beat is a guide to that maze.

The Electronic Trail

Finalist: National Book Award for Journalism (1997), out of print

THE DIGITAL revolution has had profound consequences on the way of doing journalism. Computers and modems have made it possible to transmit almost instantaneously large amounts of information from anywhere on the planet with a telephone. But more than that, the new technology has also made available to journalists a whole new world of research and reporting possibilities.