A legend on its own

EXPANDING the frontiers of press freedom was a dangerous call for a newspaper first put out in a highly volatile era and with an incredibly indifferent public. But with the firm resolve of its founder, Danny Fajardo, Panay News fearlessly took the challenge.

It started like an eaglet struggling to fly. Now, on its 40th year, Panay News has proven its stability and strength, even during the COVID-19 global crisis. The only newspaper left standing in Western Visayas will continue its mission to serve the interest of the public through news and information whether on print or digital platform.

April 7, 1981 – Panay News was born. It started out as a weekly newspaper called “Panay News Today” and became known for its adversarial content which upheld press freedom and public interest. Jeremias “Jerry” Taclino served as its first Editor-in-Chief but after two issues, he resigned. Vicky Primero took over. The “Today” in the masthead was dropped. Primero was then succeeded on the last week of April by Herbert Vego.

1986 – The Eagle became the embodiment of Panay News. Fearless and strong, it perfectly represented the paper as a media entity overcoming tough challenges and remaining steadfast despite adversities.

1990 – Known for publishing fearless and balanced news and already the undisputed top player in the local print media industry, Panay News became semi-weekly, coming out Mondays and Thursdays.

1991 – The frequency of publication increased to three times in a week – Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays – meeting the growing demand of the reading public for fearless reportage.  

1995 – Asserting its dominance in the local print media industry, Panay News took a leap of faith and became a daily newspaper (with issues from Mondays to Sundays) while at the same time adopting the desktop publishing method using page layout software. It catered to the various needs of the public when it came to current news and information. It diversified its content and umped its credible reporting, affirming its reputation as the public’s reliable source of up-to-date news.

September 29, 2003 – Sister publication Hublas Nga Kamatuoran was born. It was then a pioneering (first and only) Hiligaynon newspaper in the country, captivating Ilonggo readers with its extensive reporting of crimes and entertaining Hiligaynon columns that tickled the masses.

2011–Panay News was awarded by the Publishers Association of the Philippines, Inc. as the best Regional Newspaper. Also on this year, a new paper administration dawned under the leadership of Daniel Fajardo II.

From Mandurriao, Iloilo City the editorial office and printing site transferred to Barangay Mali-ao, Pavia.

2012 – Recognizing the power of social media, Panay News joined Facebook and Twitter, where links from the paper’s website, and highlights, insights, photographs and infographics accompanying the top stories of the day were shared.

Further exploring ways to expand the reach of the paper’s online content, the paper released its quick response or QR code, an optical machine-readable label that allows mobile technology users to access the paper’s website using mobile devices with an application that can read such code.

January 17, 2014 – Panay News received recognition from the Federation of Provincial Press Clubs of the Philippines (FPPCP) – the Golden Horse Award as “Best Provincial Newspaper”.

That same year, the paper acquired computer-to-plate imaging and web-fed offset printing machines, the first in Western Visayas.

2015– Improved distribution in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental by hitting the newsstands as early as 4 a.m., earlier than national papers and the rest of the local papers there.

2017 – Deciding to give its digital presence more muscle, Panay News formed its social media team for its media content production.

2018 – Digital Marketing was introduced, doing for clients live event video coverage of product launchings, business/store openings, and produced video advertisements.

2019 – PN Exclusives, a video-magazine program that features personalities, achievers, organizations, and events, was launched.

2020 – The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic tested Panay News’ resolve. The paper persisted, proving its resilience despite the challenges in logistics and became the “last newspaper standing” during months-long and massive lockdowns in Western Visayas.

PN Wrap-up was launched. It was a weekly digital news program that eventually evolved into the Monday-to-Friday PN Tonight./PN