Media fest celebrates free expression as driver of nation-building

By Philip Jamilla on August 30, 2024

From left to right: PumaPodcast founder Roby Alampay; UP President Angelo Jimenez; Probe Productions founder Cecilia Lazaro; drag queen Your Tita Baby; and award-winning filmmaker Mark Meilly engage in a plenary discussion on the responsibility of storytellers in uplifting marginalized voices. Photo by Abraham Arboleda, UP MPRO.

For the journalists, academics, members of the creative industry, and youth leaders who attended the MAKI+Fiesta media festival on August 23 to 24, upholding the right to free expression is not merely a matter of principle: upholding it allows creativity and innovation to thrive, thus driving progress and nation-building.

"Freedom of expression, a vital ingredient for a thriving democracy, is the lifeblood of a free society. . . In a nation as vibrant and diverse as ours, these fundamental rights are not only privileges: they are rights that empower us to contribute to the ongoing dialogue of nation-building, no less," UP President Angelo Jimenez said in his welcome remarks.

MAKI+Fiesta, a showcase of the collaborative spirit, was itself a product of a partnership between UP, the Quezon City government, International Media Support, and independent media organizations Probe Productions, FYT Media, and PumaPodcast.

Jimenez, whose administration's flagship programs under the Strategic Plan 2023-2029 include fostering active exchange and linkages as well as supporting culture and the arts, also envisioned MAKI+Fiesta as "a space where ideas flow freely, where collaboration thrives, and where we affirm our commitment to freedom of expression as a cornerstone of our national identity."

Power of stories, responsibility of storytellers

Across talks, workshops, and breakout sessions, the festival explored issues concerning the state of press freedom and the creative industry in the country, and their impact on different sectors; among them the continued proliferation of disinformation, emerging platforms and shifting audience preferences, the rise of artificial intelligence technology, as well as the ethics of content creation.

In her keynote address, Asst. Prof. Kara Patria David-Cancio, Chair of the Department of Journalism at the College of Mass Communication, UP Diliman, drew from her experiences in making documentaries with GMA Network's i-Witness and underscored the power of storytellers in catalyzing social change.

"What I tell my students and my i-Witness team, kung maghahanap ka na lang rin ng bago, maghanap ka na rin ng nakapagpapabago. . . the power of our stories can change lives. Pwede niyong hipuin 'yung puso ng mga manonood, at kaya ring baguhin 'yung buhay ng mga taong nai-interview ninyo," David-Cancio added.

Asst. Prof. Kara Patria David-Cancio, Chair of the Department of Journalism at the College of Mass Communication, UP Diliman, reminds storytellers of their power to catalyze social change in her keynote address for the MAKI+Fiesta media festival. Photo by Abraham Arboleda, UP MPRO.

This power and freedom to tell stories, however, comes with many responsibilities. In the festival's opening plenary session, Jimenez sat down to discuss the duties of storytellers with: PumaPodcast founder, Roby Alampay; Probe Productions founder, Cecilia Lazaro; drag queen and content creator, Your Tita Baby; and award-winning filmmaker Mark Meilly.

For Jimenez, the freedom of expression was meaningless without equity and freedom of opportunity. This sentiment was echoed by Meilly, who believed that despite the existence of democracy in the Philippines, "there is no equity in being listened to," leading to the underrepresentation and even repression of certain perspectives.

This is especially true for the LGBTQIA+ community, according to Your Tita Baby, who described the Philippines as having a "very tolerant society, but we are not accepting." Thus, the uplifting and inclusion of marginalized voices is a duty that storytellers such as journalists and content creators must uphold.

Amid a rapidly shifting media landscape, Lazaro likewise urged journalists to find new ways to present facts in order to ensure that they reach broader audiences, citing Probe Productions' fact-checking partnership with Your Tita Baby as an example: "We're using facts as a basis, because we still believe that factual information is the basis of all stories."

MAKI+Fiesta was held at the Ignacio B. Gimenez-Kolehiyo ng Arte at Literatura Theater, with breakout sessions and technical workshops at the Gimenez Gallery and the Aldaba Hall.