Make no mistake. Neutrality is different from impartiality. Impartiality allows truth to be told and justice to prevail. It gives chance for the disenfranchised. It gives voice for those who are silenced. It empowers the public. No matter how powerful, the impartial will hit those who have done wrong hard and relentlessly. No matter the cost, the impartial will voice the truth out and will not let even the mightiest opponents to run scot-free – be it be their own government.

Neutrality, on the other hand, only lets those who control the power get away with everything. The neutral will neither hold nor express any opinion on what the issues really are and what must be done even when the truth is staring them right in the face. It hides behind the vacuity of balance, ignoring the ineludable fact that in this society only a few enjoys the liberty to speak while the majority are silenced and deprived of their right to express themselves. It poses itself as being fair when in truth all it does is repeat by rote what those in power say – helping them entrench themselves even deeper to power while turning a blind eye towards those who have no means to exercise their rights.

Let it be made clear: the foundational principle of journalism is impartiality, never neutrality.

Across nations and across time, journalists have always found themselves at a forked path. To remain without any stand and still be a journalist is a grand myth. Either you will speak for those who cannot or you will let lies dominate over truth and justice. Any nation with a semblance of democracy have always had journalists who stood and fought valiantly for truth – and in turn for the common good. There is no shortage of examples to choose from: the 1972 Watergate Scandal of the Nixon administration unraveled by prominent American media outfits, the Filipino newspaper WE Forum’s bold exposé on Marcos Sr.’s fake war medals in 1982 even amidst Martial law and threats of closure, the Israel nuclear weapons program revealed by the British press in 1986, Edward Snowden’s accounts on the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance’s controversial global surveillance programs that the press boldly published in 2013 and so on.

Do not be fooled by this fascist government’s twisted persecution of your profession. To speak for what is just, to advocate the people’s interests, to not remain silent while the common good is trampled on even if it means speaking against your government, is never a crime. It is precisely what genuine journalism is. Working hard to uncover the truth no matter who it offends. If by being neutral you are driven to echo only what the government wants the public to hear even if it goes against their interests and liberties then you reduce yourselves to nothing but parrots. Not journalists. If you do not use your chance to seek, investigate, write and publish stories and sentiments of the people on the ground then you are nothing but mouthpieces paid to read government propaganda.

This nation needs you to be true to your profession. The people need you to practice journalism with the utmost loyalty and courage. Yes, to choose the masses’ side, the truth and justice is often difficult. Those who are in power will always want to distort the truth and fool the public with their false promises and empty words. They will never shy away from violence. As we have seen in the past, it had costed some of your fellow journalists’ lives. But this is the very soul of journalism. It is a vocation for the brave and the bold. For those who dream of a genuinely just society. For those who care and love their nation and fellow men.

Be not afraid to stand and speak. You are the keepers of truth. You are the defenders of democracy. Choose to do what is right and never be satisfied with being neutral. A man who has nothing to die for is living a life not worth living.