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MANILA - The country's print media is "struggling" due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced newspapers to downsize and migrate online, the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) said Thursday.

At least 12 community newspapers have "closed shop" and shifted to online, according to PPI executive director Ariel Sebellino.

Sebellino emphasized the importance of independent and vetted news as the "public has to understand where the narratives are coming from."

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"Critical journalism, the public should understand, should be challenging status quo and pronouncements from government. We know any official statement coming from any government agency has to be challenged for misinformation…they have to be fact-checked," he said.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer's downsizing by offering its staff early retirement sends a "chilling effect" to news outlets that the pandemic is affecting even media giants, according to Sebellino.

"For a big paper like Inquirer to just do that I think it gives a strong signal to other news outfits…it has a chilling affect on any other news outfit in this country...For Inquirer to do that, it’s happening across the archipelago," he said.

"It probably gives the public, their patrons, their readers, a sense the pandemic is so huge that it hampers the normalcy of operations for a big paper like the Philippine Daily Inquirer."

Sebellino said news organizations must think "of creative ways to sustain operations because things will never be the same again."

"I think there must be other opportunities to reinforce the print platform. That means print and online edition will have to go hand in hand."

"Big papers in the urban centers can probably help the little ones outside of the urban centers and we think about community engagement. We’re seeing dynamism in the economy that should start first locally."