In line with his vision to turn government channel PTV 4 into an independent media network, Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar on Thursday said teams from the Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) and the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) might be visiting the country soon.

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“I’ve spoken to the Australian Embassy and the British Embassy. They’re willing to, in fact they are already talking to our counterpart state media, in ABC and BBC and they should be sending [a] team to help us out,” Andanar said during a meet and greet with the Inquirer editors and reporters.

Andanar, who earlier mentioned his plan to revamp PTV 4 and pattern it after the BBC, said that he wants to streamline and maximize the government’s media assets, which include the PTV 4, Radyo ng Bayan and 37 other radio stations.

He said he’s focusing on the the charter of the PTV 4.

Andanar said that during the first Cabinet meeting, President Rodrigo Duterte himself suggested changing the PTV 4 charter and “marrying” the BBC aspect “in order for the network to have editorial independence.”

“That’s what he said clearly. And he said to the Cabinet you guys don’t have to be afraid of anything as long as you do your jobs right,” the secretary said. “Then your government channel will report what is right. If you do something wrong then the government channel will report what you did.”

BBC is a public service broadcaster and “statutory corporation” in the United Kingdom that is independent from state control.

Andanar acknowledged that there will be “rough sailing ahead” but he said even BBC and ABC continue to experience the same problems.

“But we have a wealth of case studies to look at on how to deal with these problems, especially the editorial independence of the TV network,” he said.

Asked how the PTV 4 will become financially independent like the BBC, Andanar said that they have yet to decide.

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“We haven’t gone to that but my colleagues are already drafting, learning both charters.

“The most important is editorial independence,” he said.

He explained that PTV 4 does not receive money from the government since it is already a government-owned and -controlled corporation.

However, he said, “We have to be realistic. Because in order for us to build this network we should be able to receive funds from Congress. At the same time, we should be able to marry the BBC aspect of it where we can also generate our own funds through advertising.”

Andanar said he is also looking into establishing a “broadcasting hub” in Mindanao.

“The reason why in Davao is because it’s typhoon free, relatively compared to Manila and Cebu. So whatever happens, there’s a typhoon we can still broadcast for the nation,” he said. RAM

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