News agencies
The official newswire service of the Philippine government is the Philippine News Agency (PNA), which is under the supervision of the Presidential Communications Office. The PNA was established in 1973 under the regime of dictator Ferdinand Marcos as a means to ‘control all sources of information’ (Inquirer Research, 2018). It has been tapped mostly for coverage of presidential activities and world events in the Philippines, such as the conferences of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Asia Pacifc Economic Cooperation. It also has a ‘long-standing working relationship’ with the news agencies of ASEAN member states and the Asianet, an Australia-based consortium of newswire agencies. (Philippine News Agency, 2017). In its website, the PNA declared that it is now trying to modernize its operations through additional funding to purchase equipment that it used to lack, such as new laptops, desktops and fiber connection.
News firms in the country also source some of their stories from global newswire agencies, largely from Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. These stories are mostly about foreign affairs, which is not surprising given that news organisations are rationalizing resources and cannot (or opt not to) send correspondents abroad.