The FilAm is now a print newsmagazine!

red line

Front cover:  Principal dancer Jeffrey Cirio of the American Ballet Theatre

Front cover: Principal dancer Jeffrey Cirio of the American Ballet Theatre

By Cristina DC Pastor &
Rene Pastor

On our 7th anniversary as an online magazine, The FilAm has decided to go into print.

There seems to be a dash of irony in this venture. Most publications are diving headlong into digital publication. We are heading in the opposite direction, while still keeping TheFilAm.net.

The reason is both romantic and prosaic.

In our community, at least, there is still a segment with a strong yearning for the printed word, the newspaper in your hand, the flipping of pages, the clipping of stories or advertisement. Publishing a monthly newsmagazine is a milestone for us because our roots are in newspapers. We are going back to where we started as journalists.

Our beginnings were shaped by the martial law regime of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. Our deepest beliefs lie in the vibrancy of independent and objective journalism and its contribution to the community.

Sometimes, it is easier to say what we will not do. We will seek to get it right and apologize when we get it wrong. We believe in a diversity of opinion, but have no patience for purveyors of spin.

Independence lies at the heart of that commitment along with a willingness to serve a community that is sprinkled across the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

That independence will govern the way we look at stories or issues confronting the community. We will not pretend to be the authority on any issue, but we will get both sides and strive to be fair in our storytelling.

There are stories in the Filipino American community that are worth telling.

Those stories reflect the lives we have lived in our adopted country – one of triumph as much as failure, the aspirations of our faith and dreams, the families that are at the center of our lives and keep us going.

In March 2011, when we created The FilAm, we knew we wanted it to be a different kind of publication. We wanted to write about regular folks and how they came to America, Filipinos on the margins, and not so much the community leaders and the fundraising galas which are already adequately covered by the more established newspapers.

Before we knew it, more than a year has passed, and we would win our first journalism award and get our first advertisement.

Our milestones:
• In 2013, we were interviewed by Voice of America for our coverage of the relief efforts for Typhoon Haiyan in NYC.
• In 2014, we were featured in an interactive exhibit at The Newseum, included in “100 of the most influential ethnic media in the U.S., from Colonial times to today.” The exhibit was curated by the Smithsonian Institution.
• We launched an investigative reporting project in 2014 that resulted in about eight long-form series of articles. The reporters received compensation for their articles.
• We had 2 interns who are journalism and media studies students.
• Three The FilAm publications in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. have joined our family.
• Our views continue to rise.

The FilAm belongs to the community of Filipinos in the United States. It is sometimes easy to forget that we are as much American as we are Filipino.

Independence does not mean we will not give voice to positions by Filipino Americans who passionately believe in the causes they espouse, no matter if those views are not shared by the publishers.

We will articulate our stand when the times call for it. That would mean we have certain values that we feel are inviolable. While journalists should strive for fairness, it does not mean we are neutered from expressing or criticizing officials and issues when the need calls for it.

Got a copy of The FilAm yet?

© The FilAm 2018

Back cover: Higaonon Pinay Sheena Ocot

Back cover: Higaonon Pinay Sheena Ocot



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