Probe Media Foundation Inc. (PMFI) is a non-stock, non-profit organization established on September 9, 1999 by a group of media luminaries: Maria Ressa, Conrado de Quiros (+), Che Che Lazaro, Twink Macaraeg (+), Liwayway Vinzons-Chato, among others. They have been the same team behind its popular and multi-awarded precursor, the successful TV program “The Probe Team” that, in 1987, gave birth to, and inspired other, post-EDSA mainstream media documentaries. The show had its successful run on ABS-CBN Channel 2, GMA-7 and Channel 5 (then known as ABC-5) for 23 years or until 2010. Midway through its storied life, the show bred an offspring called Probe Media Foundation, Inc. (PMFI) and was officially registered with SEC 20 days after its formation, or on September 29, 1999, to perpetuate its noble objective of championing the cause of communication as a powerful tool of positive social change.
Probe Media Foundation Inc. accomplishes its objectives by developing and enhancing, through training and funding, media-related skills and production, providing opportunities for media practitioners and content creators to hone their crafts anchored on the tenets of ethical practice.
It has 3 core programs based on its target beneficiaries: (1) Media Professionals, (2) Aspiring Media and Content Creators, which are usually composed of students and younger enthusiasts, and, (3) Communication for Change referring to its collaborative works in producing high-value stories.
Although formalized in 1999, the Foundation started to operate only in 2001. In 2002, it kicked off the Kabataan News Network (KNN) where the young are trained and their resulting productions are subsequently shown in TV’s NBN 4, ABC5, ANC Channel, and IBC 13 starting in 2008 until both the training program and the TV show’s run expired in 2011.
In 2003, the Foundation started spreading its wings across Asia with the Imaging of “Our Mekong Media Fellowship Program” which went for ten cycles until 2013 covering media practitioners from China, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. This program resulted in an extensive documentary production about the intricacies, economics, politics, and social issues of “The Mekong River” (the longest river in Southeast Asia that streams through the water tributaries of China, Tibet, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam).
Aside from its local activities, the Foundation does collaborative works, through grants from international donors like the World Health Organization (on training about non-communicable disease reporting in Asia), and the ASEAN Media Forum (for reporting on the regional issues).
