MANILA - Corporate support for the mass media makes good business sense, because doing so ultimately benefits the community, Walter Panganiban, director for media affairs of The Coca-Cola Export Corporation, said yesterday.

Panganiban, speaking on the second and final day of the 16th National Press Forum of the Philippine Press Institute here, said it is not only the public that has a stake in a free and responsible media, but corporate entities as well.

By undertaking programs that are supportive of the media, such as those dealing with press freedom, the fourth estate can help empower the citizens. This in turn helps contribute to a progressive community, he said.

He added that Coca-Coca understands the “business rationale” of supporting the media, he added. The soft drinks maker has been a strategic corporate partner of the PPI since 2002.

Panganiban, who titled his talk, “Our Press, Our Responsibility,” cited data compiled by AC Nielsen, and which was also included in the newly released book The Asian Media Barometer, indicating that the business sector spent a whopping 190.02 billion ($4.41B) for advertisements in 2011.

“Advertisers provide the resources that fuel the media,” he said. “But how much do they shell out to support media development programs.?”

“If we have a press that is truly free and responsible, then the community can become progressive or sustain itself,” he said. “If the community is progressive, they can buy more Coke,” he said.*CPG

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