Philippines Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar participated in the 16th Asia Media Summit in Siem Reap, Cambodia on June 12, where he discussed the competitive environment in media amid the digital revolution, and how developing countries can not only catch up, but also move beyond technology.
Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen opened the summit with a keynote speech, along with messages from Cambodian Minister of Information Kheiu Kanharith, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, and Asia-Pacific Institute of Broadcasting Development President Fayyaz Sheheryar. Along with Andanar, communications ministers of Cambodia, South Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, and Samoa also shared their best practices and policies in the adoption of digital technology.
During the plenary session, Andanar highlighted the importance of technological advancements in covering simultaneous events, as it saves time and effort in terms of administration and management in the media industry.
“Technological advancements therefore, serve as tools for communication and information dissemination, because of the speed, the clarity, the algorithmic convergence of simultaneous events, the simulcasts of occurrences, the instantaneous reportage as the coverage is happening, the facilities for recording, editing, reproduction and storage, and several other sophisticated applications that are already possible.
Every day, there are new discoveries, new systems, new methods, that make transmittal at the tip of one’s fingers, and quite dexterously,” Andanar said in his speech. “We all aspire for a condition, where the facility and ease of broadcasting and printing, would be done with electronic comfort, by machines that would perform the work of consolidating a variety of reports, organizing sequential data, supplying research materials, and most importantly, transmitting the finished product instantaneously to as large an audience as possible. Powerful and wealthier countries already enjoy this advantage,” Andanar said.
He said that sharing this advantage through various modes of cooperation would not only support lagging economies in the region, but also provide a catalyst in establishing a platform of connectivity — in line with the goal of a seamless and comprehensive integration in ASEAN.
“Competition lies in the capability to acquire and to own the latest and most advanced of these technological tools. Would developing economies of developing countries have the logistics to move into the high-end platforms of the more advanced nations? This is where cooperative ventures and partnerships become the best possible manner by which the sharing of technology among the nations of our region can achieve an ideal regional landscape of government-to-government synchronicity,” he said.
“At best, all our peoples would be served and elevated to an understanding of each country’s life, culture, politics, economics, and the binding spirit of the ASEAN. We should not be apprehensive about the adaptation to new technologies,” he added.
Nevertheless, the PCOO Secretary said that stories go beyond technology, stressing that the narratives written and spoken are what makes content significant in the media industry.
“But there is a common threshold for both the advantaged and the disadvantaged media networks. And this is: the use of words. Words are the life-blood of the world wide web technology. Words are the essence of the condition and the spirit that relates to all humankind,” Andanar said.
“Beyond technology and all its continuing improvements, our words are basically the fundamental ground of anything and everything that operates technology,” he added.
“Content for news is based on the truth, on facts that are verified, on data that is confirmed. News cannot be manufactured, nor fabricated; it simply covers the what, the where, the who, and the how. Let there be no complications regarding these,” Andanar said.
Moreover, the Secretary shared the initiatives of the Duterte administration in enhancing the media landscape of the Philippines — which he said that the Philippines is willing to share with neighboring countries.
“This is the Freedom of Information Order which covers the public’s accessibility to the records of the government’s executive departments. Every program and expenditure of the executive branch can be looked into by every citizen, with the exception of national security and highly classified intelligence information. This has brought about the condition of a well-informed citizenry,” Andanar said.
“In tandem with this, is the Media Security Order, that guarantees not only the security in the practice of the profession, but also the immediate medical and hospital assistance for urgent cases. We are most willing to share the methodology of these government policies,” he added.
“New technologies will always be advancing, well beyond our capabilities to decipher, the increased complex operations of the zeros and the ones in our computers. The state-of-the-art instruments we use for communication and information dissemination may be transforming the manner of transmittal, but it is only you and I, all of us, who can undertake the transformation of our lives,” Andanar concluded.
