By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat perspective

Press freedom is said to be a fundamental human right and one of the foundations of democratic societies. In 2006, then UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Shashi Tharoor lamented, The number of journalists killed in the line of duty has become a barometer for measuring press freedom.

However, press freedom advocates also note Wherever there is an independent media, there is bound to be friction with the Government. (Ann Cooper, Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists [CPJ], May 2006). Not only that, the CPJ noted that 85 percent of the murder of journalists had been committed with impunity.

The CPJ said that most attacks on journalists come from governments, drug lords, criminal mafias, or others with reason to silence critical, independent reporting. So in the case of the Philippines, the others include local warlords and political dynasties who, in reality, are no different from drug lords and criminal mafias because they corner all legal and illegal profit-making ventures in their respective fiefdoms.

The Philippines has earned the infamy of being one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, second only to Iraq, because of the Ampatuan massacre.

The CPJ deemed that the failure of justice is the most urgent threat facing journalists worldwide. With the developments, or lack of it, in the Ampatuan massacre case, the Philippines appears to be headed toward becoming the face of impunity in the killings of journalists.

On the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day commemoration on May 3, 2014, the UN highlighted the importance of independent, free and pluralistic media to protecting and promoting these rights.

Only when journalists are at liberty to monitor, investigate and criticize policies and actions can good governance exist. (Joint Message from Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations and Ms. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, 3 May 2014).

Aside from the killings of journalists, what other threats to press freedom are there in the world today? How independent are media conglomerates? Has the media been exercising its liberty to monitor, investigate and criticize policies and actions of governments?

Consider this: An article published by the Economic Collapse Who owns the media: The 6 monolithic corporations that control almost everything we watch, hear and read written by Michael Snyder and published in October 4, 2010, revealed that in 1983, around 50 corporations controlled majority of the news media outfits in the US. Now, it is controlled by just six giant corporations that own television networks, cable channels, movie studios, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, music labels and even many websites.

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Press freedom?