To be able to cover the Malacañang beat, a blogger may need high engagement and more than 20,000 followers to be accredited, as the incoming Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration reviews the policies set by the Duterte government.
Trixie Cruz-Angeles, the incoming head of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, said Thursday they are
currently reviewing the Palace’s blogger accreditation policy.
The main focus of their policy review, Angeles said, is checking whether or not to allow vloggers to attend regular Palace briefings, a practice put in place under the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Access to Malacañang coverage or Palace events was traditionally limited to journalists from TV and radio networks, online news outfits, and newspapers.
But PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar in 2017 allowed the accreditation of select social media users through a department order.
“Under the old policy, a blogger needs to have a minimum of 20,000 followers to be accredited. Right now, we are also looking at engagements, because engagements really mean that people are responding to what you have written or shown, in the case of vloggers, and they’re interested in what you say,” the PCOO chief, a vlogger herself, said.
“So now we are considering both (a blogger’s) following and engagements because they’re different. We don’t know if it’s the right time. What is their level of inclusion? What will they be regulars like, (will they be) similar to the Malacanang Press Corps, or will they just be able to cover events, do we create events for them?” she said.
Acting Palace spokesperson Andanar told reporters they are leaving the accreditation of bloggers to the incoming administration.
“Any reaction or queries on the matter should therefore be best answered by the next Administration’s Press Secretary-designate,” he said.
Bloggers played a huge role during Marcos Jr.’s presidential campaign, with some given priority access during UniTeam sorties.
