PCIJ WebAlert #29.2008

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W H A T ' S N E W @ www.pcij.org
21.August.2008


---------------[ Special Report )------

FIRST PERSON: AUGUST 21, 1983
A Million came for Ninoy as Reporters Battled with Censors
by Joel C. Paredes

TODAY the nation marks the 25th death anniversary of opposition leader
Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Various civil society groups will also launch a
year-long civics education campaign, "I Am Ninoy," for young
Filipinos.

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) hopes to
help inform the process with a package of stories and a folio of
photographs taken by our colleagues who covered the death and burial
of Ninoy for both the crony and the "mosquito" press. Those events
triggered possibly the biggest protest rallies in Philippine history,
even as standing up for press freedom and democracy at the time was
not without threat of reprisal.

To kick off the series, we have asked veteran journalist Joel C.
Paredes to write a "First Person" account of how journalists tried to
fight off Marcos's censors in Malacañang, as the streets of Metro
Manila swelled with protest rallies for Ninoy.

The story comes with a photo of Ninoy's death at the airport tarmac
taken by veteran photojournalist Recto Mercene. A soldier of the
Aviation Security Command was pointing a gun at Mercene while he let
his camera roll to capture this photo, one of 12-sequence shot frames.

Read on at pcij.org
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