A Better Way to Report Vulnerabilities? Conflict-Sensitive Journalism in Davao City, Philippines

The Philippines holds one of the longest-standing democracies in Asia but it remains to be one of the least stable in the Global South due to the pervasive conflicts that exist between and among the ruling elites and the oppressed. I argue that viewing issues from the lens of traditional journalism is inefficient especially when the context is systemic, and the information cannot be relegated to the conventional objectivity framing. Due to the insufficiency of traditional journalism to effectively report social inequalities the emergence of Conflict-Sensitive Journalism (CSJ) became a palatable alternative. CSJ emphasizes the elements of conventional reporting and introduces conflict analysis to equip journalists of their capacity to contribute to conflict resolution without sacrificing the standards of journalistic professionalism. In Mindanao, CSJ education has been streamlined to better equip student-journalists with the tools needed to effectively report conflict. But are they able to apply this in the ‘real world’ after graduating? Thus, I ask: How is CSJ practiced by journalists in Davao City? And in doing so, what challenges do they face? Guided by Shoemaker and Reese's (1996) hierarchy of influences model, specifically the ‘routine’ level of analysis, I employ in-depth semi-structured interviews among professional journalists in Davao City, Southern Philippines who have graduated from schools offering CSJ courses in their academic curriculum to understand how their journalistic practices are imagined, perceived, and embodied. This study contributes to the existing literature on the growing field of the nexus between sociology and journalism studies. Further, the study seeks to serve as a starting point for aspiring (and current) practitioners in navigating their own journalistic roles especially at a time where democracies are threatened and disinformation is prevalent in the Global South.