Renowned for its unyielding credibility and firmness in releasing socially-inclined articles pushing for institutional reforms, the campus press has not steered away from expressing the viewpoints of the afflicted student body and the masses it serves. As this is the case, student publications have also helped the youth develop a stronger sense of social responsibility—eventually resulting in active student involvement in pressing national issues.
Enacted by Republic Act No. 11440 in 2019, National Campus Press Freedom Day is observed annually on July 25—formalizing students’ constitutional right to autonomously publish, express, and report through the campus press. Yet, susceptibility to issues of school defunding, institutional dissolution, administrative intervention, and censorship—alongside the extramural threat of terror tagging, surveillance, and state-sponsored violence—has long been an enduring bane among student publications that are committed to carrying out liberating coverage of the issues that beset our universities and the nation at large.
A law long rendered toothless
Campus journalism has been the cornerstone of press freedom within academic institutions long before the martial law. When media organizations were forced to close down after the proclamation, the newsroom lights continued to flicker, releasing pieces critical to the regime. Atenews was one of those that stood at the forefront during the height of the dictatorship, when at that time seeking the truth could get them killed. Campus press have long been the nursery ground for the culture of civic duty through student activism, flourishing even after the regime had long passed.
Coinciding with the ousting of the Marcos Sr. regime in 1986, Corazon Aquino’s administration ratified Republic Act No. 7079, also known as the Campus Journalism Act (CJA) of 1991. This implements growth initiatives and supports campus journalism nationwide, noting the crucial function that the press plays in sparking large-scale movements against the oppressive rule of the dictator.
Theoretically, this law aims to uphold campus press “as a means of strengthening ethical values and encouraging critical and creative thinking.” At that, the law was revised during the 10th and 11th Congresses. Yet time and time again, its enactment only revealed its futility—from the absence of any mandate for the collection of publication fees, the lack of a requirement for the establishment of student publications, absence of mechanisms to revive defunct publications, to a blatant show of transgressions from the school administrators and government themselves—CJA has proven to be nothing but a piece of paper.
There is no real remedy to these violations and no consequences for those who impose them. The CJA itself provides no clear procedure for redress when editorial independence is breached. There is no clause that compels institutions to draw the line where supervision ends and interference begins. And so, that line is redrawn again and again by school administrations—inching ever closer toward total control over the student press.
In stark contrast to the ineffective regulations of the CJA, Bayan Muna Partylist Representative Teddy Casiño and Kabataan Partylist Raymond Palatino have authorized House Bill No. 4287 in the 15th Congress—also referred to as the Campus Press Freedom Act—to wage an all-out war against the oppression of the campus press. This addresses the flaws of its predecessor by securing funds, enforcing autonomy, and penalizing infringements on the student journalists’ rights and welfare. Thus far, in the past 14 years, the bill has been stuck in committee and has shown no signs of seeing the light of day anytime soon.
When free speech is under siege
Just last January 2025, Today’s Carolinian, the official student publication of the University of San Carlos, lost its office when admins repurposed it for alumni relations without prior notice. In 2019, the same paper was defunded following their critical reportage of the university’s tuition and other fee increase (TOFI). A month later, Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges’ The SPARK came under pressure for publishing a student pre-election survey that placed gubernatorial candidate L-Ray Villafuerte—whose family holds connections over the school’s board of trustees—behind in student preference. The post was denounced by Villafuerte’s camp as “fake news,” and student editors were summoned and asked to take it down under threats of legal action.
Atenews is also no stranger to repression. We have long been subject to red-tagging, surveillance, and intimidation—with state forces monitoring our external coverages under the pretence of security. But their presence rather serves as a warning. Since releasing a joint statement in March 2024 with other Ateneo student publications in support of the ICC arrest warrant against Rodrigo Duterte, the red-tagging has only intensified. Posts that touch on national or local politics are often flooded with coordinated attacks—labelling us as enemies or violent extremists.
Without concrete definitions of what constitutes a violation of press freedom, those in power are free to interpret the law in ways that serve their institutional convenience. In many others, journalism is welcomed only when it behaves—invited to write feature stories celebrating school achievements or profiling star faculty and students. But that is as far as journalism is allowed to go. Over time, these publications become glorified “documentation teams” and are entirely reframed as student-led PR units.
Reaffirming resistance
What happens on campuses is not separate from what happens in the nation. The same tools used to silence student journalists—arbitrary defunding, bureaucratic control, intimidation—are the very tools wielded by the state to suppress public dissent. With declining trust and discontent from the masses who are informed by their punctuated struggle, the state will only intensify its fraudulent measures in the name of luring the populace and stifling their frustration.
These very patterns make the student press a mere rehearsal ground for larger political control—limiting critique while it is still young and still learning. And as student voices falter, so do movements, and institutions start turning away from critical thought and toward compliance. And when student journalists are silenced, the loss is not only theirs. It is a loss for the entire academic community—a campus emptied of its conscience.
On that account, the necessity for student journalists to reaffirm their participation in the student movement is heightened amidst the entire machinery of oppression. These shared efforts could take the shape of increasing coverage of the youth’s predicament, reinforcing the demands they make by evaluating the situations they report more critically, and solidifying connections with the youth and other basic sectors to increase the pressure that will oust the ruling class’s imposed measures.
When our deeply held principles are under siege, we have no excuse to stand by and do nothing. Without fear of retaliation, we have the freedom to stand together in defense against the powers that perpetuate subjugation.