Uses of a free press; Airplanes and airports

SINGAPORE — When I was a young journalist I was told that the Philippines had the freest press in Asia, some say the world and Filipinos ought to be proud of that. Maybe. For myself, and having lived and watched the world longer, it really depends what the “freedom” is used for.

Being in Singapore for a visit and seeing how things work here — ie water, electricity, transport, clean streets, parks and tree-lined trees, the question has to be asked.

I have before me the Straits Times last Friday. This is a newspaper that has existed since 1845 so they do know how to run a newspaper and keep it viable commercially. I am not going into that.

What concerns me is a simple test of its contents and whether its articles can both perform a public service and sell the newspaper.

In this issue, the headline story is “Move towards fairer hiring with right EP system.” And what is this headline story about? It is about work, probably a concern widest among readers. So it is editorially correct to make it the issue’s banner story. It should sell because there is an ongoing debate on whether Singaporeans should be given priority when hiring workers.

Here is the story: “The Employment Pass (EP) framework for hiring of foreigners will be tightened later this year to ensure a level playing field for citizens in the workforce and build up a Singapore core, especially for Q1 pass holders who earn between 3,000 and 4,500 Singapore dollars monthly. Singapore’s Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said yesterday that any such refinement will not mean that the country is closing itself off to opportunities and insisting that companies hire citizens regardless of merit.”

Other stories in the front page are “New Pope Francis signals change” and “China’s New President.” It has the picture of Pope Francis on the top half and a smaller picture of President Xi Jinping of China.

At the bottom is an ad of Tiffany and Co across the page of about 7 inches in height.

At the top are stories in the inside pages Global Battle with Disease in the Opinion page, Keep the Kids Busy from the Life/Weekend page; Revisiting the SARS Crisis in Top News page and the F1 Season Preview: Revving Up for 2013 for the Sport Page.

All in all, the news is a good mix for popular reading on issues that matter personally to readers — work, health, and sports. Important world news on the new pope and the new president of China are on the front page as it should be. No crime, no sex scandals and no personality politics. If that is repressed information, so be it. I find it more useful to me as an individual to know about whether or not I will be out of work than which politician is going to bed with which actress. Since it is I who will cough up a few dollars to know the news, it better be useful to me.

A newspaper must have a mission and a tradition and nothing better it seems to me than the education of its readers. As for selling, here’s what someone wrote “that’s why I don’t buy newspapers here. They emphasize bad news and glamorize the inane.” And from someone in the US “The American newspapers aren’t much better either.”

There you are. So freedom of the press can be put to better use than the license to print smut.

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It is good to hear that Philippine Airlines will soon fly to Doha, Qatar. This is a Middle East country with a big Filipino community — more professionals than domestics, I am told. Through the years, as a returning resident myself after 20 years in London, I know how Filipinos would prefer to fly PAL than any other airline any time:

Pagtungtong mo pa lang ng PAL para kang nasa atin na (The moment you board the plane, you feel at home).

But then for a time its services deteriorated, flights were delayed and airplanes were old and not properly maintained. Worse, PAL came to be known as Plane Always Late. All that has changed.

It is time for a new slogan that will capture the new life of the flag carrier under San Miguel’s Ramon S. Ang management — brand new or refurbished planes, good food, great service with unobtrusive attention from flight crew and most important the effort to be on time according to schedule. I used to fly Singapore Airlines to come to this city but I can say with confidence flying PAL is just as good.

On delayed flights, the problem is the lack of a decent airport in Manila. Even when the plane is ready for take off, it has to circle around or park to wait for its turn because of the crowded runway. So a new airport with more runway space should be the answer to this crucial problem of reviving the flag carrier — how to be on time.

The issue of airport and new airplanes and routes has come down to the metaphor of love and marriage. It is like horse and carriage so it goes. You can’t have one without the other. PAL’s flight to Doha is just a start of opening Middle East routes where more than a million Filipinos live and work. It also announced new flights to Brisbane, Darwin and Perth in Australia as part of the push for more tourists.

This year, eight Airbus A330s and another eight Airbus A320s, which were ordered last year, will be added to PAL’s fleet. The new planes, together with PAL’s operations coupled with PAL Express are the components of the key strategy for PAL to post a profit by 2014. But without a proper airport how can this be done?