Community Building and Journalism in the Context of AI and Big Tech in the Philippines

Wednesday, 26 February 2025 | 10:30 to 12:30 EST | Room 280A, Second Floor, York Lanes,  Keele Campus, York University & virtually via Zoom

With Pia Ranada, The 2024 Philippines Marshall McLuhan Fellow and head of Community for Rappler

The incumbent Marshall McLuhan Fellow is Pia Ranada, head of community for Rappler. Previously, she was an investigative journalist and senior reporter for Rappler best known for her coverage of the Duterte administration when she was assigned to cover the presidential beat. As Community Lead, she is now responsible for linking journalism with communities for impact and action. 

Pia will discuss: “How building journalism around community can help it survive: With the rise of AI, the unreliability of big tech as platforms for news distribution, and increasing polarization, can a focus on community building help save journalism?” in which she will discuss efforts in her newsroom to bring the work of journalism to readers and citizens in new, impactful ways. From a membership program to AI-driven public consultations, to a social media platform run by journalists, these initiatives in the Philippines aim to build trust between journalists and the public they serve, while helping newsrooms sustain their operations and weather economic and political pressures.

The Embassy of Canada in the Philippines awarded her the Marshall McLuhan Fellowship in November for her “exceptional commitment to journalism, using the craft to build citizens with critical information that can impact societal change” and her commitment to inform, “to enable meaningful public engagement on issues in service of the public, and illustrate how investigations, facts and transparency can ensure meaningful democratic accountability.”

The Marshall McLuhan Fellowship is the Embassy of Canada's flagship public diplomacy initiative in the Philippines. Launched in 1997, it is part of the Embassy’s advocacy to encourage responsible journalism in the Philippines with the belief that a strong media is essential to a strong democratic society.

Virtual attendees can register at this link.

For more information: philippinestudiesgroup@yorku.ca.