MANILA, Philippines—On May 5, 2020, the unprecedented shutdown of broadcasting giant ABS-CBN in the middle of a public health crisis sent shockwaves across Philippine media, which even then were already under immense pressure to deliver the news amid declining revenues, increasing attacks and threats and the risks brought by the pandemic.
The year 2020 continued to be a “source of grief” for the Lopez-owned broadcast firm which was first shut down by the Marcos dictatorship, according to ABS-CBN news chief Gina Reyes.
In the past 12 months, the network had to lay off a third of its news and current affairs workforce, lost billions of pesos in ad revenue and shut down many of its …
Keep on reading: ABS-CBN’s ordeal and its ‘chilling effect’ on media