Punto @14

 

FOURTEEN YEARS. That we have come to this point – where a number of contemporaries in the local print media failed to reach even but a third of the way – is more than enough cause for celebration. Especially more so given, most grievously, the still ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Indeed, at the onset of the Q protocols in the first quarter of 2020, Punto! nearly came to what its haters – yes, we have them too --  so ardently wished it would be: Puntod! 

Forced by the circumstances as we were to stop altogether our twice weekly  print issue, reduce our office staff to the barest essential, limit our online coverage.

It is to the credit of our correspondents – the human infrastructure without which Punto! could not stand, much less excel; to their total commitment to the journalism profession fostering that unwavering sense of sacrifice that we have survived: All the salaries/allowances/fees from the GM, the office staff, the editor, columnists, correspondents, down to the last contributor were slashed by a whopping 50 percent.

It was hard, it was painful, but it was the only way we could keep Punto! afloat, as it did, indeed.  

We owe it too to our advertisers, corporate and in government, for keeping their accounts as much as their trust in us, the economic crunch they too suffer, notwithstanding.

It is that trust – shared by our thousands of readers and followers – painstakingly built in the past 14 years with fairness in our news, fearlessness in our opinions, strict adherence to facts, in the service of the malayang Pilipino that we shall ever endeavor to keep unshaken in the coming years.

Guided as we are by what Joseph Pulitzer long ago articulated which at Punto! has come to be the very article of faith of a truly free and unfettered press:

…[F]ight for progress and reform,

never tolerate injustice or corruption,

always fight demagogues of all parties,

never belong to any party,

always oppose privileged classes and public plunderers,

never lack sympathy with the poor,

always remain devoted to the public welfare,

never be satisfied with merely printing news,

always be drastically independent,

never be afraid to attack wrong,

whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty.

Pointed, yes. As only Punto! can.

 (Editorial, Oct. 27, 2021)