The head of the university’s journalism program has been recognized by the Diocese of Pasig for his contributions and efforts to uphold Christian and positive values.
Journalism program coordinator Felipe Salvosa II has been awarded with the 2021 Servus Dei award, which is given to outstanding media practitioners in Pasig, Pateros, and Taguig, areas that are under the diocese’s jurisdiction.
“Communicators have a most important part to play in forming public opinion, and the development of public opinion in the Church is in fact deemed essential,” Salvosa said during the 8th annual Pasig Catholic Mass Media Awards (PCMMA) held last Nov. 6.
“At the same time, it admonishes us that not every opinion that is given publicity, including propaganda, should be taken as a true expression of that public opinion,” he added.
Salvosa, also an editor at PressONE.ph, said it is a Christian obligation to disseminate the truth and the right news, thoroughly examine information, and right any wrongs on social media.
The pastoral instruction on social communication ‘Communio et Progressio’ remains relevant today as it recognizes the media as God’s gifts and provides an ethical framework for its practitioners, he added.
“Right now, in our media environment that is often disrupted by disinformation, misinformation, and fake news, this Church document reminds us that the channels of social communication, even though they are addressed to individuals, reach and affect the whole of society, and can help advance human progress,” Salvosa said.
Salvosa made headlines in 2019 after he resigned as managing editor of the Manila Times over the newspaper’s decision to publish a story about a supposed effort to oust President Rodrigo Duterte.
The story on the ‘oust-Duterte’ matrix, which only relied on an unnamed source, linked numerous news organizations, civil society groups, and personalities to a supposed plot to discredit the administration.
Then presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo claimed that the report was reliable and that the government would file charges against the supposed plotters who had committed “overt acts” to bring down the administration.
However, Panelo’s successor Harry Roque distanced himself from the report after one of the persons mentioned in the matrix – weightlifter Hidylyn Diaz – bagged the Philippines’ first Olympic gold medal this year.
Before joining The Manila Times, Salvosa was an editor and research head for BusinessWorld, Philippine researcher for the Financial Times, and division chief for publications and circulation for the Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
The PCMMA is “a media fest for all walks of life” within the Diocese of Pasig and a diocesan activity to recognize the best media, according to its Facebook page. F – Arthur N. Apostol
