Traditional media remains relevant: PTFoMS exec

“It is still very relevant today,“ PTFoMS Executive Director Joel Egco said in an open forum in the ongoing 1st National Information Convention (NIC) at the SMX Convention Center in Lanang, Davao City. (PNA photo)

DAVAO CITY — The increasing presence of new media platform as source of information won’t change the relevance of traditional media, a Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) official said.

“It is still very relevant today,“ PTFoMS Executive Director Joel Egco said in an open forum in the ongoing 1st National Information Convention (NIC) at the SMX Convention Center in Lanang, Davao City.

Undersecretary Egco, former Palace beat reporter of Manila Times, said there is no reason for traditional and social media to compete with each other in information dissemination.

“When it comes to informing the public, they are helping each other. There is no fight between traditional and social media. We are all brothers,” he said.

He believes traditional media will not disappear despite the advent of new media which is changing fast the world of media and communication.

Egco said he uses both traditional such as newspapers, television and radio and new media like Facebook and Twitter as sources of information.

For his part, veteran defense reporter Noel Alamar of dzMM said he has respect for new media and bloggers but expressed concerns over uncontrolled information the public has been getting from Facebook’s live.

“I respect them but we in the mainstream media, we have guidelines being followed. Me, I confirm, I re-confirm. I verify, I re-verify,” Alamar said.

Egco and Alamar have been invited as among the resource persons of the three-day NIC2018 which brought together public communicators from 16 regions and representatives from national and local media, academe, and communications and technology industries.

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCCO) organized the NIC 2018 with the primary aim of empowering public and private sector communicators to propagate responsible sharing of information.

The brains behind NIC also hope to start a movement that will serve as platforms to inspire civic engagement in nation-building.

On the second day of the event on Wednesday, PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar spearheaded the official launching of the DU30 application, a media platform where everyone can have access of information about the government’s programs and activities.

Andanar said DU30 App is the PCOO’s gift to the 62 million active mobile users who use internet to get information from the government.