UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS

SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

DEPT. OF COMMUNICATIONS, LINGUISTICS, & LITERATURE

ICT 134 – INTERACTIVE ENGLISH FOR ICT STUDENTS

Final Exam: Persuasive Speech

Name: Simon Tantuan Schedule: MW 9:00 – 10:30 AM Date of Presentation: December 2, 2019
Photo/Caricature No. _11__
Photo/Caricature Topic: Duterte’s Defenders attacking the Media
Objective: To persuade my audience to adopt my stand.
Policy Proposition: Reinforce laws protecting freedom of the press
Thesis Statement: The government should protect the press & its rights unconditionally in practice for
an open-minded criticism.

Good morning, everyone. This caricature depicts the president with a dog which represents his defenders. The dog is
attacking or intimidating the media which in turn has become sheepish or afraid. My proposition is to reinforce the laws protecting
the freedom of expression and freedom of the press in the constitution.

Both of these freedoms are necessary in a progressive society. When journalists and citizens are able to voice out their
concerns and criticisms without fear of retaliation, dialogue on all kinds of issues are made and society becomes aware of them. That
then allows the government to adapt and improve to valid criticisms. One of the issues raised by Duterte’s supporters is that criticism
and journalism in his time are conspiring against him. The same claim has been made in the past leaders of other countries in the
attempt to stifle the flow of information. A properly functioning government will protect media freedom, even if the same media is
criticizing them because in that government, valid criticisms can only be used to improve them while destructive criticisms and false
rumors are easily put down.

Reinforcing the protection for the press is very important as the media, specifically the journalists, are an important part of
nation-building. Maintaining the free flow of information is vital in monitoring the actions of everyone, not just the government, and
functions as a check and balance that keeps abusive powers at bay. I acknowledge that the media have produced misinformation. It
is fine to evaluate the reliability of the media in whether or not one should believe if their news is true. However, to go directly on
the media themselves and completely ignoring their arguments is a step backwards.

We only need a few reinforcements to strengthen these protections. In practicability, the fact that this policy is already
under Article III Section 4 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution makes it easier to solve its lack of enforcement. We need to raise
awareness of the media’s functionality and purpose to the people by holding campaigns, and most importantly the integration of such
knowledge to the K-12 Basic Education Program, specifically putting a little bit of politics to the Media and Information Literacy topic
being held in senior high levels.

The media may be inaccurate at times but having a media that is not controlled or even afraid of the government is a net
positive for society. Calling out malicious news or misinformation is important but when journalists are attacked for the purpose of
intimidation rather than correction, then a black out of information occurs which is worse. What use is a weather station that only
covers bright sunny days?