Carmela Quidoles

3MCPJ
Electronic Newsroom
Professor Abella

“Every day silence harvests its victims. Silence is a mortal illness – by Natalia
Ginzburg.” This quotation from an Italian author best fits the advocacy of Bulatlat, an
online weekly news publication: to give voice to the victims of cruelty and injustice.

Bulatlat started after the Estrada administration. Only three people started the
publication: a UP professor, a writer in a dominant medium, and an economist. The
organization’s advocacies are on human rights, environment, agrarian reform, the urban
poor, indigenous community, labor rights, migrant workers, women and children’s rights,
and the economic situation of the country.

They thought of creating a publication where stories of victims of different

maltreatment are revealed. Mainstream media or the dominant media often disregard the
full account of the victims’ side and pay more attention to the side of those in authority.
These type of media concentrate on stories that would catch the interest of their audience,
which is important so they can profit. Since Bulatlat is not as well-off as other media
platform is, they resorted to the most inexpensive manner of disseminating information:
the Internet.

Last March 20, 2010, our class had the opportunity to visit the newsroom of
Bulatlat. The jeepney-ride trip we had lasted for almost an hour, and was excruciating for
others. We had a minor difficulty in search of its location. Once we’re inside the room,
the people welcomed us. Honestly, I could see in the faces of my classmates their
uncertainty on the place: limited equipment, few numbers of staff, confined work area. It
wasn’t the expected newsroom I had in mind. But as we had the chance to ask questions,
it was made clear to me that Bulatlat is not the typical news organization in the country.

Every Monday, they review the published news they had on the prior week. They
discuss about the latest happenings, both in the urban, rural, and international setting
regarding human rights, environment, agrarian reform, and the oppressed. Now and then,
they check dominant media’s online news publication for reference as well. Because
Bulatlat has a limited number of staff, one writer can have two to three stories to cover.
Also, one of the requirements in every article to be written is for it to be comprehensive
and detailed as possible. Since it is a weekly-based news publication, the articles must be
complete and precise already so the readers would have a full-grasp on the issue
presented.

Bulatlat reaches the international setting since it is in an online platform. The

organization sustains through donations from different parts of the globe. At times,
dominant media cite Bulatlat as their source of news (e.g. ABS-CBN News) because of
the credible and accurate details on their reports.
 The most interesting part I discovered with Bulatlat is their passion in serving the
oppressed. They proved to me that fairness is not just by citing stories from both sides;
giving voice to those who were muted by society is more important in their field.
Dominant media have the tendency to suppress stories from ordinary Filipinos who are
maltreated, because they find it uninteresting to unravel. With Bulatlat, they believe that
these people’s stories are much more important to tell. In whatever angle we look, these
ordinary people are the victims and must be given the opportunity to speak about their
burdens, struggle, and hope. Bulatlat lives on to tell tales of courage and continuously
fight for justice.

They may be deprived of the luxuries that journalists from dominant media have
(i.e. high-quality video cameras or well-ventilated spacious newsroom), but they are
proud of what they do. The fulfillment on giving voice to the oppressed is enough to keep
them going.