Which Filipino media sites / blogs do we use?

I'm keen to try and keep abreast of Filipino politics / current affairs and would appreciate links to any English websites / blogs.

I understand that the media is concentrated in the hands of a small number of influential interests (sounds familiar!) who will punt the party line (whether pro business / government etc.)

Ideally I'd prefer to read dispassionate / independent prose but at the end of the day we've all got axes to grind - so I'm happy to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Thank ye kindly.

Gerry

Primarily I use Google Alerts with a filter type 'philippines' and 'cebu'. This gives me a broad brush of input from global content.

I also check CDN - Cebu Daily News daily just to see what's happening relatively local to asawa's city.

I like Rappler

http://www.rappler.com/

and the Inquirer, though its online format is annoying due to the pop up ads

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/

and the Star:

http://www.philstar.com/

There are people on this forum who will tell you that these choices identify me as a Liberal, which indeed I am. But I prefer actual news to fake.

For Cebu you have a choice of three - the Cebu Daily news

http://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/

the Sun Star:

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu

and the Freeman

http://www.philstar.com/freeman

Personally I have little or no interest in Philippine politics as what happens there has no bearing on my life.

News/media/blogs aren't just politics of course.

I am, so to speak, in the opposite corner!

I count several Filipinos amongst my friends. including some really good friends. We discuss politics at length - pretty much all politics, not just Filipino. I say that I tend to go through life "with one foot in the Philippines".

Very true, hence my recommendation of Rappler.

I realise that HaloHalo old boy

I'm in a position where I have an adult son who has dual citizenship and another son who all going well will join him as a dual citizen

Therefore, although I can never own property in the Philippines, they can.

Although my interest is not politics I do like to know what's happening in Cebu. Reading the local press provides a view of that. My home from home if you will.

I'm interested if it involves somewhere I've been or know. The killings at Resort World were something I latched onto because we went to a show there once.

You need to turn-off auto-correct on your phone - not the first of the day!!!

I don't know how some of the boys on the forum can use a phone to post, far too fiddly for me.

Can I now give Andrew a bad spelling award, he gave me one a while back?

Thanks everyone - much appreciated. I'll check out the links.

Some others here-

Philippines profile - Media - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15527446

I use cnn Philippines through facebook you can see comments from local and all over the world by many Filipinos. Perhaps it reflects through the comments the general feel of the Filipino people on any one subject

Filipino opinion tends to be:

a) Very strongly held

b) Very diverse

c) Not always well informed - whilst Facebook is "free" other data services ie the rest of the Internet is rather expensive, so people see a meme on Facebook but will not fact check it as that uses their precious data. The standard of education in reality as opposed to what people think they have been taught can be absolutely dire. Not to put too fine a point on it, amongst the Universities, Ateneo de Manila is up to international standards, UP almost is, and Silliman almost is - forget the rest.

d) Affected by regional history, particularly the "colour" of the ruling dynasty in each province. Almost anyone from Ilocos will tell you that Marcos was the best thing ever, as will anyone from Leyte, whilst almost anyone from Negros will be a Roxas supporting Liberal.

Thanks for that although I am pretty much aware of the same, your summary in points a) b) and d) really explains why the use of such social media reflects a picture of the feeling of the population who contribute no matter how diverse, how basic or how intellectual, its not about if you (the reader) agree disagree or abhor the messages its about getting a sense of feeling a mood.

point c I accept the Facebook versus useful sites data charges etc etc however many comments come from Filipinos across the world where data usage costs etc might not be the issue.

@Scotschap16 asked for "Ideally I'd prefer to read dispassionate / independent prose but at the end of the day we've all got axes to grind - so I'm happy to sort the wheat from the chaff"

Just trying to help!

That's true, but Filipinos overseas may be influenced by the social media in another way. They chat a lot with the folks back home and tend to pick up their opinons and at this point the notorious Facebook ad sorting algorithims kick in and select what they see. This happens to me - Facebook has correctly identified me as a Liberal, (a "yellowtard") and so I hardly ever see feed from Duterte people - the Mocha Uson Blog, or Get Real Philipines, for example, unless I go and look for it. Of course, it happens to everyone else too, so we all end up in "silos".

Thanks again chaps - really enjoying your perspectives.

Life was simpler in the old days - one knew where one stood. More parochially I grew up in a household which took the Daily / Sunday Express, the Sunday Times and the (Scottish) Sunday Post.

The broadsheet Express held sway over its rival the Daily Mail (Beaverbrook v Rothermere) and the Sunday Times heavily outsold its more left-leaning Observer (which I took myself in my late teens)

All right wing titles (reflecting my Father's world view) but as a young teenager I was unaware of this - I just enjoyed dipping in and out and particularly enjoyed the ST Magazine and the funnies in the Sunday Post (Oor Wullie and The Broons). The ST also had a great reputation for investigative journalism (eg Thalidomide).

There is a sadness these days that the internet / social media - so fantastic in many ways - is infantilising society - and encouraging a 10 second attention span culture based on memes. Part of the reason for Trump's success was the far right's use of the FB platform to spread its "drain the swamp" message.

I miss the satisfying "thud" as the paperboy forced the Sundays through the letterbox.

Apologies for going off-piste!