ALMOST half of Filipinos believe that publishing or broadcasting anything critical of the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. is dangerous, according to a latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.
The survey, conducted from Dec. 10 to 14 last year, showed that 47% of adult Filipinos agree that it is dangerous to print or broadcast anything critical of the government even if it is the truth — 19% of them “strongly agree,” while 28% “somewhat agree.”
SWS said 26% disagree, while 27% were undecided.
“The resulting net agreement score of +20, classified by SWS as moderate, is 4 points below the moderate +24 in December 2021,” SWS said.
Most of the respondents who agreed that it was dangerous to publish content critical of the government came from Metro Manila, followed by the Visayas, Balance Luzon, and Mindanao.
But the number of people who said it was dangerous to publish critical things about the government fell in Metro Manila to +28 from +41 in December 2021 and in Visayas to +23 from +36.
The pollster interviewed 1,200 adults nationwide for the non-commissioned survey.
It said the survey was aimed “to assess respondents’ opinions on the state of press freedom in the country.”
Earlier this month, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said human rights violations against media practitioners continue under the Marcos administration.
The group had recorded 75 cases of violations against media workers since Mr. Marcos Jr. took office on June 30, 2022.
The latest World Press Freedom index by Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said the Philippines remained a “difficult” country for journalists despite the improvement in its 2023 scores. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
