Manila daily becomes partner of The Korea Times

By Ko Dong-hwan

At the bottom of the front page of the Tuesday edition of the Manila Bulletin is a story on the media outlet forming a partnership with The Korea Times. Courtesy of Manila Bulletin

The recent signing of a partnership between The Korea Times and the Manila Bulletin, the largest English language broadsheet newspaper by circulation in the Philippines, was prominently reported in the Southeast Asian country.

Headlined “MB, The Korea Times sign MOU on mutual cooperation,” the article appeared on the front page of the Tuesday edition of the Manila Bulletin and highlighted the newly minted partnership between the two media companies. The two newspapers signed a memorandum of understanding during an online ceremony on May 11.

The article showed a screenshot image of the MOU signatories including The Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin and Manila Bulletin Publisher Herminio “Sonny” Coloma. Witnesses to the signing, Philippine Ambassador to Korea Maria Theresa B. Dizon-De Vega and the Manila Bulletin's Executive Editor Pinky Colmenares, were also shown.

The MB report said the heads of the two newspapers had high ambitions for the agreement. Oh said the MOU is “just one part of our partnership as we are going to do a lot of things together.” His Filipino counterpart said he “envisions this partnership to flourish for a long, long time.”

The MOU came after Ambassador Dizon-De Vega helped bridge the two newspapers and promote information exchanges, share knowledge on business and help the two countries bolster their diplomatic ties that have been maintained for the past 75 years. The ambassador said the MOU will “further invigorate our already robust engagement.”

Further exchanges of information and ideas between the two dailies, Coloma said, will push forward the frontiers of media communications in this era fraught with disinformation and fake news. He added the signing also promotes practices of ethical journalism.