Media urged to be stewards of truth

CEBU, Philippines – As the Cebu media celebrates Press Freedom Week, practitioners were told to be stewards of the truth.

The week-long celebration kicked off yesterday with a parade at 7:00 a.m. from the Plaza Sugbo at the City Hall to the Capitol Building where a mass was held at the Social Hall before the program.

Rev. Fr. Generoso Rebayla stressed in his homily the importance for broadcasters to articulate and for print journalists to write information truthfully and accurately.

He emphasized the values of "sharing, honesty and dedication" for media practitioners. "As media practitioners, you should live a life of sharing, honesty and dedica-tion to work."

According to him, telling the truth should not be affected by money.

Various media outlets from print, television and radio stations participated the "freedom walk" which marked the opening of the celebration of the 16th Cebu Press Freedom Week.

Prizes were drawn for parade participants aside from the traditional prizes given to the winners of the presentations during the program. The opening day event were sponsored by Smart and PLDT.

The FREEMAN placed third in the group presentation taking home a total cash prize of P7,000. Sun Star Daily, this year's lead convenor, bagged the P15,000 first prize while Cebu Daily News finished second with P10,000.   

A series of activities are being lined up until Saturday, including today's forum organized by The FREEMAN and Visayan Electric Company at the Marcelo B. Fernan Press Center, to foster professional journalism and camaraderie in the industry. - with Brenda D. Batuto of Banat News /FPL (FREEMAN)