(Credit: Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility, screenshot)

The U.S. Embassy in Manila and the Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility announced they will start a “seminar-workshop on news media ethics for blocktimers,” GMA News Online reported.

“Blocktimers” are identified as “common in Philippine broadcasting” and when “individuals or groups buy ‘blocks’ of airtime to produce programs independent of radio stations and television networks.”

The U.S. Department of State gave a grant for the two groups to work together to research and train, according to the Philippine Information Agency.

The plans are “to encourage radio stations and television networks to make training in ethics and professional standards part of their policy,” GMA News Online reported the Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility explained.