DANILO ARAÑA ARAO is an associate professor at the Department of Journalism, College of Mass Communication, University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman. He is also a faculty affiliate of the Center for International Studies (CIS) at UP Diliman and a special lecturer of the Department of Journalism, College of Communication at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Sta. Mesa. He is the editor of Media Asia, a peer-reviewed journal published by the Asian Media Information and Communication (AMIC) Centre and Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

As regards his work as a journalist, he writes a weekly column in Filipino (“Konteksto”) for Pinoy Weekly (a print and online publication). His weekly column is cross-posted in Bulatlat Multimedia (an online news magazine) where he also serves as associate editor. He is also board secretary of Kodao Productions (a multimedia group) and board chair of Alipato Media Center (publisher of Bulatlat Multimedia).

He was associate dean of his college from July 2013 to May 2015. From February 10, 2011 to October 31, 2012, he worked as assistant vice-president for public affairs and director, System Information Office (SIO) of UP. From March 2009 to February 2010, he was on special detail as a visiting professor at Hannam University’s Linton Global College in Daejeon, South Korea.
Prior to teaching full-time at UP Diliman, he was editor-in-chief (1994-1999) and head of research (2000-2001) of IBON Foundation, an independent research think-tank. He also taught Political Science part-time at the De La Salle University (DLSU)-Manila from 1993 to 1995.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Communication (Journalism), cum laude and Most Outstanding Journalism Student, at UP Diliman in 1991; and a Master of Arts (MA) degree in Philippine Studies, with High Distinction, at the De La Salle University-Manila in 2002. He is currently writing a dissertation to fulfill a requirement for the degree of Doctor philosophiae (Dr. phil.) at Ilmenau University of Technology (Germany).