JOURNALISM and communications scholar Crispin Maslog on Wednesday decried the prevailing “Martial Law amnesia,” saying the older generation had failed to educate the young on the lessons of the Marcos dictatorship and the “People Power” uprising that overthrew it.
“[T]here should be textbooks, there should be [topics about Martial Law] both printed and audiovisuals. There is martial law amnesia and everybody is at fault,” said Crispin Maslog, founder of the Silliman University journalism school and a former journalist with Agence France-Presse, in a forum at the Albertus Magnus auditorium last Feb. 21.
“[T]he older generation were so excited about People Power and we thought [Martial Law] would just be remembered and handed down from generation to generation. But we were wrong,” Maslog said.
“We should have organized and taught [about] this in a proper manner,” he added.
He said news about the EDSA 1 anniversary could be used as a starting point to keep the discourse on Martial Law alive.
“There’s a historical event that you can use as the starting point [of] your discussion. We should not forget that, we should always [talk about] it. [P]eople will have the tendency to forget kapag di pinag-uusapan e. Just being conscious and keeping the issue alive is already something,” Maslog said in an interview with the Varsitarian.
People should not let the attacks on the press “go quietly,” adding campus journalists should report it first because they are the “first line of defense.”
“You speak up on press freedom. You should always fight for it. Because if you don’t fight for it, you will lose without knowing about it,” he said.
The forum, titled, “Talamitam: Community Empowerment through Journalism Education,” coincided with the launching of a community journalism network composed of journalism schools in Luzon.
