Karmina Constantino to speak in Toronto May 14

Karmina Constantino to speak in Toronto May 14

The 2022 Marshall McLuhan Fellow – Philippines

Veteran ABS-CBN news anchor and broadcast talk show host Karmina Constantino will speak in Toronto on May 14, 2023 (5 p.m.) in an event organized by Filipino Canadian Writers and Journalists Network (FC-WJNet) and Malaya Canada in a venue to be announced soon.

Constantino is the 2022 Marshall McLuhan Fellow and will be on a 2-week speaking and familiarization tour of Canada. Last November, 2021 McLuhan Fellow Christian Esguerra spoke in Toronto in an event put together by FC-WJNet with other organizations, among others,  Filipino Network-United Church of Canada, UP Alumni Association of Toronto, Malaya Canada, Anakbayan Toronto, National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, NUJP-North America, Canada Philippines Solidarity Organization and Migrant Resource Centre Canada.

Previous McLuhan Fellows who spoke in FC-WJNet events in the past years are Jeff Canoy, Manny Mogato, Patricia Evangelista and Christian Esguerra.

For the announcement on the venue, check the Facebook page of FC-WJNet, email fcwjnet@gmail.com or call 416-461-8860.

Following is the information released by the Canadian Embassy in Manila, Marshall McLuhan Fellowship program:

The incumbent Marshall McLuhan Fellow is Karmina Constantino, broadcast journalist, and TV and radio news anchor.  She has been a journalist for ABS-CBN and its subsidiaries for more than 25 years.  Currently, she anchors Dateline Philippines, the flagship midday newscast of the ABS CBN News Channel and co-hosts ‘On the Spot,’ a daily radio talk show on ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo platform. 

The Embassy of Canada in the Philippines awarded her the Marshall McLuhan Fellowship in 2022 for her “unflinching commitment to speak truth to power, an admirable consistency in ferreting out the most complicated issues of the day, and a stirring courage to ask the toughest questions.”

For her presentation in Canada, she has chosen the topic: “Revisiting the basics:  The role of the journalist in critical public discourse and in seeking accountability in a post-truth era” in which she explains the need to relentlessly inform the public of the journalist’s role in a democracy and why journalists should ask critically.  Her presentation would describe how the public misunderstands media’s role and the need to clarify the watchdog role of the press.

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

Every year, the Manila-based Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) assists the Embassy in choosing a Filipino journalist whose work has contributed to positive changes in the social arena or at least has raised the level of public discourse in a relevant issue usually concerning governance and human rights.

The program provides the winner with a two-week speaking and familiarization tour of Canada. This will be an opportunity for the Fellow to interact with media counterparts, and to discuss significant current issues on governance with Canadian government officials, academic interlocutors and members of civil society.  The Fellow will also have the chance to speak at the McLuhan Salons in the University of Toronto. Upon returning to the Philippines, a series of forums is organized by the Embassy to be held in five key cities around the country to enable the journalist to share experiences in Canada with students of communication and members of the local and community media.

Aside from contributing to good governance by raising transparency in the public arena, the McLuhan Fellowship also aims to create in the long-term a critical group of influential media personalities with good knowledge and interest in Canadian issues or at least the values Canada stands for:  democracy, good governance, and human rights.