1ST COURSE PROJECT ★★ MEDIA & INFORMATION LITERACY MANATAD, ADELLE MELYSSA IMOEN M.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023

TIMELINE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIA IN THE

PHILIPPINES
WHAT IS MEDIA ?
Media is the plural form of medium, which (broadly speaking) describes
any channel of communication. This can include anything from printed
paper to digital data, and encompasses art, news, educational content
and numerous other forms of information. Anything that can reach or
influence people, including phones, television, and the Internet can be
considered a form of media. (Techopedia, 2020)
Illustration of Media

ANCIENT
Prior to colonization, indigenous
Filipinos had their own ways of
communication, writing on trees,
leaves, and bamboo tubes using
saps of trees as ink. (Agoncillo
and Guerrero, 1978).

Baybayin is a writing system

native to the Philippines, attested
from before Spanish colonization
through to at least the eighteenth Illustration of an Umalohokan
century. The word baybay means
“to spell” in Tagalog, which was A town crier called the Umalohokan
the language most frequently served as the announcer of
written with the Baybayin script. important news such as new laws or
(Bielenberg, 2018). policies enacted by the town’s
chieftain. (Philippine Cultural
Education, 2015).
Illustration of the Baybayin script
SPANISH
COLONIZATION
Colonization changed The
the social, political, and first daily
cultural structure of newspaper
the Philippines. In 1521, La
Ferdinand Magellan
came to Philippine Esperanza,
shores, the start of a was
300-year colonisation established
by the Spaniards. in 1846
(Rosario-Braid and and
Tuazon, 1999). also
catered
The first newspaper, to
Del Superior Govierno, the
was established in 1811 Spanish
by the Spanish elite
Governor General
whose aim was to bring (Rosario
news about Spain to -Braid, and
local Spaniards. Tuazon,
(Rosario-Braid and 1999).
Tuazon, 1999).
Illustration of the 'Del Superior Govierno' Illustration of the 'La Esperanza'
newspaper newspaper
1ST COURSE PROJECT ★★ MEDIA & INFORMATION LITERACY MANATAD, ADELLE MELYSSA IMOEN M. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023

TIMELINE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIA IN THE

PHILIPPINES
the first regional newspaper El
Ilocano and the first publication An
excerpt
for and by women, El Hogar, were from
published in 1893 (Rosario-Braid, El Ilocano
and Tuazon, 1999). These (left) and
publications dealt with history, El Hogar
science, and religion to avoid (right)
being censored.

Illustrated are
propagandists:
Graciano
Lopez Jaena
(left), Marcelo
H. Del Pilar
(center), and
Jose Rizal
(right)

According to Rosario-Braid and Tuazon (1999), Philippine free press has its
roots in nationalistic newspapers aimed to raise consciousness about the
oppression experienced by Filipinos at the hands of the Spaniards. These
publications, such as the La Solidaridad, were elitist, started by the
Ilustrados (Filipino educated class) who lived in Europe,like propagandists
Graciano Lopez Jaena, Marcelo H. Del Pilar, and Jose Rizal who were facing
censorship in the Philippines (Teodoro, 1999).

The Katipunan, a Filipino nationalist organisation, was founded in 1892 and

aimed to separate the Philippines from Spain. To strengthen and widen the
organisation, their official newspaper, Kalayaan (freedom), was published in
1898 with Emilio Jacinto as editor (National Historic Commission of the
Philippines, 2012). Although only one issue was published, historians agree
that the Katipunan’s growth from 300 to 30,000 was the publication which
published revolutionary Andres Bonifacio’s two famous poems: “Pag-ibig sa
Tinubuang Lupa” (Love of Country) and “Ang Dapat Mabatid ng mga
Tagalog” (What the Tagalogs Should Know) (Rosario-Braid and Tuazon, 1999;
National Historic Commission of the Philippines, 2012). Other newspapers
widely read during the revolution were La Independencia, La Libertad, and
El Heraldo de Iloilo.
1ST COURSE PROJECT ★★ MEDIA & INFORMATION LITERACY MANATAD, ADELLE MELYSSA IMOEN M. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023

TIMELINE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIA IN THE

PHILIPPINES
AMERICAN COLONIZATION
During the American period English became the de facto medium of instruction and became the
language of new newspapers in the Philippines like The Manila Times (1898), Manila Daily Bulletin
(1900), and Philippine Free Press (1908) — most of which were published by Americans and
pro-American. (Rosario-Braid and Tuazon, 1999).
Nationalist newspapers such as El Renacimiento and El Nuevo Dia were threatened with suspension
after publishing about abuses of the American government, while another newspaper called
Sakdal, published in the regional language of Tagalog, became a hit with the masses for attacking
American imposed taxes and abusive capitalists and landlords. (Rosario-Braid and Tuazon, 1999).

An excerpt from the Manila Times newspaper An excerpt from the Manila Daily Bulletin newspaperAn excerpt from the Philippine free Press newspaper

Sakdal was founded in 1930 by Benigno Ramos and became a platform for the oppressed. It later helped
establish an underground movement that soon primed itself as a revolutionary group against the American
occupation. (Deyro, 2019). Sakdal became the official organ of the Sakdal Movement that demanded
immediate independence of the Philippines from the United States. (Deyro, 2019).

Readers were encouraged to share their copies with others. In the provinces, it was said that one
copy was read by more or less 10 individuals. In communities with illiterate citizens, groups of 10
to 20 people would listen to the pages read aloud. An estimate of around 200,000 to 400,000
readers was recorded. (Deyro, 2019).

Sakdal eventually became a political party called Sakdalista Party and won national and local
seats in the 1934 elections. (Rosario-Braid and Tuazon, 1999).

Pictured is an
excerpt from
the Sakdal
newspaper
( upper left ),
Sakdal
founder,
Benigno
Ramos
( upper
right ),
Sakdalista
movement
( lower left ),
Sakdalista logo
( lower right )
1ST COURSE PROJECT ★★ MEDIA & INFORMATION LITERACY MANATAD, ADELLE MELYSSA IMOEN M. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023

TIMELINE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIA IN THE

PHILIPPINES
JAPANESE OCCUPATION
During World War II, all publications except those used by the Japanese — Manila Tribune,
Taliba, and La Vanguardia — were closed, and all publications were censored by the Japanese
Imperial Army. (Rosario-Braid and Tuazon, 1999).

An excerpt from The Tribune publication. An excerpt from the La Vanguardia publication.
An excerpt from the Taliba publication.

In the 1950’s farm

After the war, Philippine press was programmes, features,
regarded as the “freest in Asia” and Salvador Lopez (1984), former
president of the University of the documentaries and
was said to be the “golden age of government
Philippine journalism. Most Philippines, describes this time
in Philippine journalism, “with programmes were
newspapers were wholly or partly broadcast on the radio
owned by businesses, as it is today. media owned, organised, and
operated by rich families or and television was
These newspapers also owned radio introduced in 1953
stations and television channels. For powerful corporate bodies, it
followed that they were catered to the elite,
example, The Manila Chronicle, with televisions
owned by the Lopezes, also owned instinctively committed to the
defense of their own clan’s costing $600 at the
thirty radio stations and television time. In 1960, local
channels. (Rosario-Braid and interest.”
brands were made
Tuazon, 1999). available, making
television accessible to
more people. In the
60’s, most shows were
canned programmes
from the United States,
which were cheaper
than television stations
producing their own
shows. (Rosario-Braid
and Tuazon, 1999).

This era saw Philippine

media as “real
watchdog of the
government.”
An excerpt from the Manila Chronicle newspaper
(Rosario-Braid and
Former president of the University of the Tuazon, 1999).
Philippines, Salvador Lopez
1ST COURSE PROJECT ★★ MEDIA & INFORMATION LITERACY MANATAD, ADELLE MELYSSA IMOEN M. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023
TIMELINE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIA IN THE
PHILIPPINES
Former Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos
Illustrated below is a retro TRS-80 computer
ELECTRONIC AGE
Broadcast or storage media that take advantage of
electronic technology. They may include television, radio,
Internet, fax, CD-ROMs, DVD, and any other medium that
requires electricity or digital encoding of information. The
term 'electronic media' is often used in contrast with print
media. (Timetoast, n.d.)
Illustration of different social media applications
MARCOS REGIME
Ferdinand Marcos, ordered the closure of all
newspapers and broadcasting stations when he
declared martial law and abolished Congress in 1972. He
wanted to deprive media oligarchs from power, hauled
journalists and publishers off to prison. When some
newspapers outlets reopened under strict government
supervision. Media was owned by either Marcos’
relatives or friends or his “cronies”.Surveyed by
military censors and instructed by mass media media
to not cover controversial and critical stories.
(Timetoast, n.d.)
Illustrated below is an address bar
LOCAL ONLINE MEDIA
Benjie Tan, who was working
for ComNet, a company that
supplied Cisco routers to the
Philnet project, established
the Philippine's first
connection to the Internet at
a PLDT network center in
Makati City. Shortly
thereafter, he posted a short
message to the Usenet
newsgroup
soc.culture.filipino to alert
Filipinos overseas that a link
had been made. As of March
29, 1994 at 1:15 am Philippine
time, unfortunately 2 days
late due to slight technical
difficulties, the Philippines
is now connected.
(Timetoast, n.d.)
THE INFORMATION & DIGITAL AGE
During the Information Age, the digital industry
creates a knowledge-based society surrounded by a
high-tech global economy that spans over its influence
on how the manufacturing throughout and the service
sector operate in an efficient and convenient way.
Therefore this evolution of technology in daily life and
social organization has led to the fact that the
modernization of information and communication
processes has become the driving force of social
evolution. (Timetoast, n.d.)
References

Karunungan, R. (2020, September 30). The history of Philippine media. Renee

Karunungan.
https://reneekarunungan.com/2020/02/19/the-history-of-philippine-media/

Timetoast. (n.d.). THE EVOLUTION OF MEDIA IN THE PHILIPPINES timeline.

Timetoast Timelines.
https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/the-evolution-of-media-in-the-philip
pines-2a6e8df1-0455-4873-b9ea-1da1a1b0ea56