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Philippines: Media Landscape

Maastricht; Brussels: European Journalism Centre (2019)
"The Philippine media landscape is full of contradictions. On one hand, it joins the global trend of technological disruptions ushering changes in the media economy, profession, and consumption. On the other hand, persistent socio-economic inequalities and the urban/rural gap limit the potential of these disruptions, thus maintaining the supremacy of traditional media (except newspapers) as source of information especially in the countryside [...] Community press and radio continue to be preferred means of communication even for armed groups. Radio, in particular, is still seen as the most pervasive media, reaching even the remotest areas. The country is labeled the "social media capital of the world" given the rate of social media usage (Pablo, 2018; Mateo, 2018) and belongs to the top 20 countries with highest Internet penetration rate (Internet World Stats, 2018). However, the telecommunications infrastructure of the Philippines remains underdeveloped in most areas, as the number of cell towers is far less than that of its neighboring countries. Internet speed is slower than in the other countries in Asia-Pacific and is even below the global average (Akamai Technologies, 2017) and mobile signal, even the older generation 2G connectivity, is unavailable in many rural areas." (Overview)