Bluntly put, press freedom in the Philippines today is deeply wounded but off life support.
The Philippines ranks No. 116 out of 180 countries on the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, from the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders. The score bumps the Philippines up 18 spots from 134 in 2024, and it is the nation’s highest in 21 years.
This is an improvement, but it is a miserable score for a nation whose press is said to be “the freest in Asia” — a nation with a vibrant, pluralistic democracy and a constitutional Bill of Rights guaranteeing freedom of speech.
Top scores went to Norway, Estonia, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland. The lowest went to Eritrea, North Korea, China, Syria and Iran.
Scores are based on five indicators — political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context and safety. In general, Europe dominates the top ranks year on year.
To be clear, the nation has superb news organizations and top flight journalists, notably the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa of Rappler fame. The problem lies with government policies, not bad journalism.
Major concerns of outside observers have been violence against journalists, concentrated media ownership and political cronyism.
Estimates vary, but about 200 journalists have been murdered in the Philippines since 1986, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines. This places the nation among the worst worldwide — in a class with Iraq, where 285 journalists were murdered in that period; Mexico, with 150 dead; and Gaza, with 250.
So, the outside world’s assessment of press freedom in the Philippines is basically a reflection of the nation’s turbulent past, beginning with the Martial Law period — Sept. 21, 1972, to Jan. 17, 1981 — when President Ferdinand Marcos shut down all independent media outlets, arresting journalists and allowing only friendly publications like the Philippine Daily Express to operate. At least 400 journalists were immediately thrown into jail and dozens were murdered.
The venerated National Press Club reports that 34 journalists were killed during Marcos’ tenure as president — including Liliosa Hilao, a student journalist at the University of the City of Manila who was arrested in 1973 and then brutally tortured and killed by jailers.
The World Press Freedom Index began in 1986, the year Marcos fled in utter disgrace to Hawaii, so it did not exist in the Martial Law period.
By the mid-1980s, as the Marcos regime weakened, there emerged opposition newspapers like Ang Pahayagang Malaya — “The Free Newspaper” in English — and the situation eased. However, matters abruptly shifted into reverse on Nov. 23, 2009, when 32 journalists were slaughtered during a political event in Ampatuan, Maguindanao. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, then president, declared a state of emergency in Central Mindanao the following day.
From 2016 to 2022, more than 20 journalists were murdered when Rodrigo Duterte was president, a fact noted in court documents filed at the International Criminal Court prior to Duterte’s arrest in March for crimes against humanity.
Like Marcos, Duterte also harassed media organizations. On May 5, 2020, under pressure from Duterte, ABS-CBN was forced to abandon its broadcasting operations following a cease-and-desist order from the National Telecommunications Commission when its franchise expired. This led to the closure of 53 regional stations and significant layoffs, impacting over 11,000 employees, according to The Washington Post and other sources.
Consequently, the nation’s rankings on the press freedom index plummeted during Duterte’s time, hitting a low of 147 in 2022.
Under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took office later that year, overt aggression against journalists eased with only two killings in 2023 and none in 2024 — a rare milestone — but incidents like the murder earlier this year of Juan “Johnny” Dayang amplify ongoing risks.
Dayang, a veteran journalist and former president of the Publishers Association of the Philippines, was shot three times in the head and chest through his living room window while watching television in his home in Kalibo, Aklan Province, on April 29.
Regarding potential conflicts of interest, ownership of big media in the Philippines is highly concentrated among elite families with political ties. Prime Media, for example, with radio and TV channels, is linked to President Marcos’s cousin Martin Romualdez, speaker of the House of Representatives, who controls a significant number of shares in the company.
Also, the Villar Group is led by Manny Villar, former president of the Senate, allegedly a friend and ally of Duterte who is said to be the richest man in the Philippines. The group owns ABMS, Advanced Media Broadcasting System, which took over the broadcast frequencies previously held by ABS-CBN. It also launched a free TV channel called All TV.
There are more examples.
Estimates vary because there is no centralized registration process, but the print sector today has about 40 national dailies. Leaders include broadsheets like the Philippine Daily Inquirer, circulation of about 200,000, and tabloids such as Abante, which claims to have a circulation exceeding 300,000. Big regional dailies include the Visayan Daily Star and Mindanao Times.
It should be noted that publishers have been known to exaggerate circulation and readership numbers in order to increase advertising rates.
Weekly newspapers today number around 20 to 30. These are mostly community-focused publications like Northern Dispatch Weekly and Pinoy Weekly. The figure has remained relatively stable since 2019, though digital hybrids are common, with many print titles maintaining online versions.
Online publications and social media cut deep into print media circulation. Recently, print circulation has declined sharply, with only 18 percent of Filipinos relying on newspapers for news in 2024, down from 22 percent in 2020. Approximately 61 percent of Filipinos get their news from Facebook, according to Publicus Asia, a Manila-based lobbying group.
As for the size of the journalistic workforce, there are from 3,000 to 5,000 full-time journalists in the country, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.
Journalists’ salaries are low, averaging ₱29,805 per month, with entry-level positions ranging from ₱15,000 to ₱25,000. Broadcast journalists earn more, around ₱55,000 monthly with experience.
Regarding training for journalists, a bachelor’s degree in journalism is not a requirement to enter the profession. Many journalists lack journalism degrees but hold degrees instead in liberal arts or political science. This is because editors want staff with expertise in specialized subjects — political science, sociology, and the natural sciences.
Some 18 universities offer journalism degrees. The nation’s premier journalism program is at the University of Santo Tomas, a private institution. Of public universities, the program at Polytechnic University of the Philippines also is highly rated.
Reporters Without Borders was founded in 1985 as an independent, non-profit organization with offices in 14 countries. It is the leading voice globally in the fight for free expression.
Other sources of information include the Philippines Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Press Institute, Freedom House, the Philippine Press Institute, the National Press Club and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.
Bryce McIntyre, PhD, resides in San Andres and holds a doctoral degree from Stanford University. A former newspaper editor and foreign correspondent, he taught journalism for 25 years in three different countries and published several books on journalism and communication.