Community Media Will Flourish In Durham
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| Li Eron, Ronnie Dela Gana & Claire Dela Gana, Parliament Hill, Ottawa.-June 12, 2024 |
It was all good until blogging came to life like a tornado at night and bloggers multiply like Gremlins dosed with water. What is the difference between the mainstream media and the new breed of Storytellers who branded themselves 'bloggers?' The mainstream media employs Journalists, professional writers who can't be grammatically wrong. These writers also sit on their desks waiting for their editors how much of their write ups will be chopped for length and consistency. When published, some truth to that story are gone. Journalists of big publications I heard, are influenced by big guys in politics and corporate world to advance their agenda.
The world has changed. Blogging has become the platform for the minorities. Stories happening on the outskirts of the world where no big cameras pan to document their pains or their successes. Bloggers are like a new form of untrained warriors in the world of journalism. They don't do edits and they are crafty. They not only document the lives of others with their new found weaponry; the cellphone, the go pro. The Gremlins are out and no flashing lights can blind their visions. Bloggers meant to tell the truth and spew raw emotions. But some are getting corrupted betraying the God-given opportunity to help through this digital platform.
Bloggers aren't as popular in Canada as in the Philippines. Bloggers over in that country commands the conversation. They are good at creating thumbnails with photos and captions that has nothing to do with their contents. It's fraudulent and misleading but no one cares. The better the thumbnails, the better these bloggers manipulate the topic. And they are paid big, I heard, to tweak the truth. But not all. There are decent bloggers in the planet. We do not do it here. Canada is huge on penalizing fraudulent behaviours and we do not break rules. We are dedicated and passionate volunteers in our community.
Ronnie is a publisher of Ikubo Media and one of the founders of Golden Balangay Awards in Canada. He also holds many positions in various organizations that benefits the community. I, myself, in the contrary, is just rebounding from obscurity due to the covid pandemic simply using social media to connect wth the world. I shelved off my magazine publications because I switched to helping the earthquake laden province of mine in 2013. However, I am active in storytelling and discussions of issues that affects the community in online platforms where people can read.
When we received the invitation of a good friend in Ottawa, Regina Sosing, a radio host, DJ and community personality for a Garden Party with Canada's Leader of the Opposition, Pierre Poilievre at his Official residence in Ottawa with his wife, I hop in and so did Ronnie and Claire and drove all the way to Ottawa. Regina Sosing's trust in us and consideration as being media partners, helped us rethink our stand in delivering stories and informations in our own turf in Durham region. We need a Community Media. A Community Media is a form of media that function in service of or by a community. Community Media helps in the process of building citizenship and raising social awareness. Participation and access are a large aspect in the rise of community media. Those who create media are being encouraged to get involved in providing a platform for others to express their views. - Source: Wikipedia.
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| In Ottawa wth Regina Sosing, our host in the events at Parliament Hill, June 12, 2024 |
Our status as being small media group with big desire to bring truthful and decent stories to our diaspora was reinforced by no less than the future Prime Minister of Canada who recognize and rally small time media to bring the right information to our community. This trip to Ottawa will manifest our purpose and bear fruits as our next prime minister will strengthen small time media. I believe he is right as we are not only storytellers. We are also advocates in our community. We are in touch with reality. We will rise to meet that challenge and help create change.
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