EDITOR’SNOTE

PUBLISHED BY THE CENTER FOR MEDIAFREEDOM & RESPONSIBILITY

Melinda Quintos de JesusPublisher

Luis V. TeodoroEditor

Hector Bryant L. MacaleAssistant Editor

Don Gil K. CarreonJose Bimbo F. Santos

Melanie Y. PinlacKathryn Roja G. RaymundoKristine Joyce G. Magadia

Apple Jean C. MartinReporters

Arnel RivalArt Director

Lito OcampoPhotographer

Carol M. ParageleEditorial Secretary

Jose AbuevaJoaquin Bernas, SJ

Melinda Quintos de JesusFulgencio Factoran

Maribel OngpinTina Monzon Palma

Paulynn Paredes SicamLuis V. Teodoro

Vergel O. SantosBoard of Advisers

The PJR Reports(Philippine Journalism Review Reports)

is published by the Center for MediaFreedom and Responsibility. All mail

should be addressed to:

PJR ReportsCenter for Media Freedom

and Responsibility2/F Ateneo Professional Schools,

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PJR Reports welcomes feedback andcontributions on press and media

issues.

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTSAPRIL 20082

PRESSED FREEDOM By Manix Abrera

IT’S A cliché in these parts, the idea that crisis brings out thebest in people, but crisis can also, and does bring out, theworst in men and women. For every taxi driver who returns

a laptop a passenger has left in his cab, for example, there mustbe hundreds of other people who would not only grab anyopportunity to make a few dishonest pesos, but who wouldeven go out of their way to take something that doesn’t belongto them, often with the use of force or subterfuge.

One can say the same of the Philippine media, whichincidentally habitually play up every incident of people beingat their best and most honest because it’s so rare. The politicalcrisis that has haunted the Arroyo administration as well as thecountry as a whole has brought out the best in some of themedia. But it has also brought out the worst.

In 2007 among the results of that crisis, primarily because ofthe Arroyo regime’s efforts at media suppression, was a declinein the number of investigative reports, ironically in the contextof a spate of government scandals and a regime policy ofconcealment.

It was unfortunate but understandable. The media wereunprepared for the shift from the policy of transparency thathad been in place since the Aquino government to the policy ofopaqueness of the Arroyo regime primarily because it was notonly unannounced; it was also a creeping, gradual process thatsurprised the unwary.

The shift was in fact achieved through an accumulation ofvarious acts and policies that before anyone knew it had madegetting information and reporting it difficult as well as suspect.The truth-telling at the heart of the journalistic enterprise hadbecome twice more dangerous for journalists, who foundthemselves at risk of arrest and of being charged with libel andinciting to sedition, even as the killing of journalists in thecommunities continued, encouraged by government

Good news, bad newsindifference and the inherent weaknesses of the justice system.

If the boost in the number and depth of reports on the currentcrisis is any gauge (see “Political Controversies: First QuarterShows Coverage Boost”, pp. 12-16) , at least part of the media iswell on the way to recovery, and what’s more, many journalistsare quickly learning how to extract information, in behalf ofthe public that needs and wants it, from an officialdom dedicatedto concealing it. Official evasion, disinformation and even thearrest of journalists appear to have taught the media the signallesson that their adversarial relationship with government,particularly with this government, demands the firmestallegiance to getting at the truth that it seeks to conceal.

On the other hand, the problems low professional standardsin the context of a regime of self-regulation have remained,despite the existence of such mechanisms as the pressombudsman system and press councils (see “Tirol resigns asPDI Ombudsman,” p. 22 and “The right of reply: voluntarycompliance or legal sanction?,” pp. 18-19). In many cases thosewho believe themselves to have been abused by the media havehad no recourse except the courts, among other reasons becausethe decision makers in too many media organizations pay lipservice to self-regulation but are at heart hostile to it.

And yet self-regulation as well as continuingprofessionalization are the only alternatives to a regime ofexternal regulation and media failure to deliver the information,analyses, and context that the times demand. Such a failure willfurther encourage government efforts at intervention, anddeprive the people the information they need to understandand to transform the structures of political power that havebeen so crucial in the making of Philippine society as we knowit.

Luis V. Teodoro

Editor’s Note 2Speaking of Media 3Monitor 5Crisis 20Chronicle 22Obit 23

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5

IN THISISSUEPJR REPORTS APRIL 2008

SPEAKING OFMEDIA

THECOVER

REGULAR SECTIONS

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PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS APRIL 2008 3

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In Defense of Press FreedomKATHRYN ROJA G. RAYMUNDO AND KRISTINE JOYCE G. MAGADIA ................................. 6

LUIS V. TEODORO 10

The political crisis hashighlighted the basic pressresponsibility of providinginformation and analysis.

The writ of habeas data

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First Quarter Shows Coverage BoostHECTOR BRYANT L. MACALE AND APPLE JEAN C. MARTIN 12Political Controversies

For the country’s sake

“WE HAVE observed that in relation tothe national crisis and controversiesplaguing our country, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has not only evaded impeach-ment trials and charges of extrajudicialkillings, bribery, corruption, constitu-tional violations, etc.; she has also escapedresponsibility for highly controversialdeals and acts by refusing to face the na-tion in a live and free-wheeling pressconference that’s open to all local andforeign media and other representativesof the people.

“It seems that she has cowed the Phil-ippine media into not asking for such apress conference. The media have cho-sen to be so meek and silent and are notcomplaining at all about this. In fact, theyare just content with the lies of Ms.Arroyo’s official liars: PresidentialSpokesperson Ignacio Bunye, ExecutiveSecretary Eduardo Ermita, Cabinet Sec-retary Ricardo Saludo, Palace trouble-shooter Mike Defensor, etc.

“It is high time for the media to dareMs Arroyo to face the people and answerthe charges hurled against her so that thepeople can judge her by her facial expres-sions, demeanor, actions, answers andeven her famous temper, if she wants toshow it.

“In fact, the whole Arroyo family—to include First Gentleman Mike Arroyo,and Representatives Mikey and Dato,and Luli—should hold a similar live andfree-wheeling press conference withoutthreatening or buying the media.

“If Ms Arroyo is really untainted by‘Hello, Garci,’ ZTE, ‘Jose Pidal,’NorthRail, SouthRail, Diosdado Maca-pagal Boulevard, IMPSA, fertilizer scam,CyberEd, among others, the least that thepeople can ask of her is to come out ofher controlled press briefings.

“She has hidden from the public longenough. We think the time has come forher to stop hiding behind her Cabinetand sacrificial lambs.

“And to the Philippine media, pleaseget back your b—s, for the sake of ourcountry.”

reader Lourdes Cruz, Philippine DailyInquirer, March 7

“Why does the opposition keep re-sorting to press statements and partisanhearings? Is it afraid of impartial dueprocess?”

cabinet secretary Ricardo Saludo, challengingadministration critics to question the Spratlys

deal before the Supreme Court,http://www.gmanews.tv, March 7

“The image of a divided hierarchycould be a media creation. Four or five

bishops with a contrary opinion receivea lot of disproportionate media exposureand mileage. If one studies newspaperreports and interviews, their names ap-pear again and again. Yet bishops withthis contrary opinion constitute less than10% of the whole hierarchy.”

Cotabato Archbishop and former CatholicBishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)

president Orlando Quevedo, reacting to thealleged “media spin” of a divided CBCP

hierarchy after the bishops did not join calls forPresident Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s resignationor ouster, http://www.gmanews.tv, March 6

“What the Inquirer has done I considera total abuse of press freedom, an arro-gant display of undeserved self righteous-ness, and a complete and utter denial ofmy own rights as a private citizen. Con-sider being rudely surprised on a quietSunday morning with a totally false ac-count of yourself on the front page of amajor daily newspaper boasting a read-ership of millions of Filipinos both hereand abroad. If this is not a crime, itshould be, a crime necessitating the mostsevere type of legal action.”

former Philippine National Oil Companypresident Eduardo V. Mañalac, denying anInquirer report that he was appearing as awitness to the Senate’s investigation of the

national broadband network deal. Three daysafter the controversial report, the Inquirer

apologized, http://www.abs-cbnnews.com,March 10, 2008

“The hook-and-hold approach of newsprograms unduly buries hard news itemsof national significance as it uses easy-to-sensationalize spot news items and en-tertainment-related soft news pieces toattract and maintain audiences.”

excerpt from “Mulat or Manunuri ng Ulat:Viewers Reception and Evaluation of TelevisionNews Programs,” a study by the University of

the Philippines Communication ResearchDepartment, Inquirer, March 24

“First, the limit safeguards the publicfrom possible abuse by broadcast orga-nizations in shortening programs to ac-commodate more airtime for commer-cial loads. Sacrificing program content forprofit is doing a disservice to the public.

“Second, the cap prevents broadcaststations from flooding the market withexcessive commercials. Limiting thenumber of TV and radio spots lessen theadvertising clutter; thereby, making theads more effective.”

ABS-CBN 2 Corporate Communications headBong Osorio, explaining his network’s support

for the Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ngPilipinas’ (KBP) call for broadcast networks to

follow the KBP rule limiting the commercialload of programs to a maximum of 18 minutes

per hour, http://www.abs-cbnnews.com,March 15

A Two-Way Street

COMMENTARY

LUIS V. TEODORO 16Much Ado about Nothing—Almost.........................................................................................................

Voluntary Compliance or Legal Sanction? .................................................................................................... 18

The right of reply

DON GIL K. CARREON

Reporting Bar Examsand Earth-Shaking Decisions

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The justice beat

MARIETON PACHECO

MELINDA QUINTOS DE JESUS 8What is Journalism For?........................................................................................

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PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTSAPRIL 20084

Disappointed

Dear PJR Reports,

AS YOU well know, the UP Jour-nalism Department encouragesits students to read the PJR Re-

ports, which we believe is a very usefulinstrument for a more lively discussionon media issues and ethics. Kudos, es-pecially for the Monitor, which providesa very good assessment on the news cov-erages.

However, it saddened us to see anarticle in the February 2008 issue thatwe found contrary to what we teach ourstudents in J102 or Newswriting. Spe-cifically, we refer to the article, “Whereto get stories on those dry days,” whichshows a rather amateurish understand-ing of daily reporting and also lists so-lutions appropriate only to a lazy re-porter.

I enumerate our comments here:First, a good reporter never “goes

out of (his) mind waiting for a story.” Agood reporter goes after the story andnever “waits” for it. He calls up hissources, makes the rounds of his beatand follows up leads. On the other hand,a lazy reporter can be found “waiting”in the press office for a press release orcall for a press conference.

Second, a good reporter may have a“slow day” but never a “dry day.” Slowdays do not result from a lack of a break-ing story as implied by the article. Inmany beats, such as health, environmentand education, breaking news are fewand far between. Slow days result fromnatural occurrences like a public holi-day for a bank reporter or a sessionbreak for a Congress reporter.

Good reporters never have “drydays” because they always have“banked” stories, i.e. evergreen, exclu-sive data related to their beat that theyhad set aside for slow days. Also, theirbest source of news is their handy “littleblack book” that has the names and con-tact numbers of various sources whomthey can call when in need of a story.

Third, a reporter is normally as-signed to a beat so that he writes storiesrelated to the beat. When a slow daycomes, would an editor accept a reporton the “weather”, “parks” or “pets” fromhis Senate or Justice reporters as the ar-ticle implies?

Also some of the suggested sourcesin the article are worrisome:

• Other newspapers—if they becomesources of news, it implies that one’sown newspaper has been scooped;

• Obituaries—if they are lesser-known persons then “digging fortheir backgrounds” are at best awaste of time, at worse an invasionof privacy; Lesser known peoplewho are newsworthy, would havebeen written about long before the

LETTERS TO THE EDITORobituary is printed (case in point,murdered Assistant Solicitor Gen-eral Nestor J. Ballacillo, who washandling vital OSG cases)

• PR persons—always have an ulte-rior motive when talking to jour-nalists and “talking to him moreoften” to get “juicier information”means allowing one’s self to beused by them;

• And perhaps, more research shouldhave been done for examples thatillustrate the suggestions, becausethe story on Malu Fernandez wasnot written by an Inquirer reporterwho was feeling “dry”. In fact, thearticle was written by Rodel Rodis,a US-based columnist ofInquirer.net, who is very much intune with the OFW blogosphere.

These are the important points withregards that article which we felt shouldbe raised.

Yours truly,Rachel KhanChairJournalism DepartmentUP Diliman

these aren’t worth very much unless theycontribute to or can be linked to some-thing recent—or, to put it more techni-cally, unless there’s a news peg the re-porter can hang it on to. There’s also thequestion of their being “exclusive.” Howmuch data gathered from the beat is ex-clusive, and how long can one keep itthat way?

In any case, the Carreon article wasabout those days when the beat reporterhas run out of whatever it is he or shehas “banked”. The same is true of hislist of sources: the article is talking aboutwhat to do when even your usual sourceshave dried up. Otherwise the articlewouldn’t have been written at all, wouldit?

And where did Carreon say or evenimply that a reporter could talk aboutthe weather or pets or some other topicof equal irrelevance rather than issues orevents on the beat should he or she lookelsewhere for stories? Creating a strawfigure so it can be more easily attackedis an eminently unoriginal propagandatactic and one would have expected moreof those who claim to be concerned withimproving the skills and knowledge ofthe next generation of journalists.

The rest of Ms. Khan et.al’s letter isas misleading, however. What newspa-per has never been scooped? It does hap-pen, and for a number of reasons. But arival newspaper’s exclusive could under-score the weaknesses and strengths inone’s own coverage, and even suggeststory leads, just as an obituary, or a PRperson can, and without compromisingeither ethical or professional standards.

But please note the context in whichPR persons are mentioned: Carreon saysone may be consulted because “he or shemay agree to lead you to more interest-ing stories,” and that’s all. Is it neces-sary to say that the usual standards ap-ply? The article doesn’t say abandon pro-fessional and ethical standards; it shouldbe obvious that it doesn’t mean what itdoesn’t say.

Neither does the article say that theMalu Fernandez story was written by“an Inquirer reporter who was feeling(sic) ‘dry’”, only that “the mainstreammedia picked it up after active discus-sion of the issue in the blogosphere.”Nowhere is the Inquirer even mentionedin this part of the article, but Ms. Khanattributes to it a claim it never made.

As for doing research, PJR Reports didresearch on the Malu Fernandez flap asit does on every issue it addresses, whichit has been doing since PJR was first pub-lished 18 years ago, and in fact had anarticle on it in its September 2007 issue(“What’s perfume to a columnist is lechonsauce to her readers: A column thatbombed”). Everyone is welcome to readit. The claim that PJR Reports didn’t doits research on the Fernandez column isas false as the claim that the article as awhole favors the lazy and advocates badpractice. n

since 1995, I still have difficulties under-standing and adjusting to print media jour-nalism as practiced in this island nation(my family has no TV). In 1989 I marrieda Filipina in Ormoc, Leyte. We went (back)to Sweden, my home country, for fouryears. Then we/I said: I shall return. Wehave 4 children: 2 girls 17 and 12, 2 boys16 and 14. My family.

I have a column in the Eastern VisayasMail; my column is called “The ForeignEye”. (Before I elaborate a little on themedia excluding TV, I want to thank youfor sending copies of PJR Reports to EVMail, which is a weekly.)

Reading PJR Reports gives me pain aswell as pleasure, and above all guidelinesfor journalists, columnists, and other me-dia practitioners. Your remarks onadvertorials, e.g., were instructive.

In the Feb. 2008 issue of the PJR Re-ports, on page 14, Jerrie M. Abella had anarticle: “Beyond and Drama: The Limitsof Media Reportage”. The first sentence:“DRAMA. LIKE violence, sells.” Howtrue. I would like to add that drama andviolence kill yes, kill common sense, dis-turb sound judgment, and often lead hot-headed youths to ill-advised conclusionsand actions—sometimes.

To me, 69 years of age, every day is adrama, sometimes sensational, some-times, I admit, boring or just ordinary.

Now a “hidden drama”. In the Phil-ippine Daily Inquirer (March 11, p. A15)Frinston Lim’s article is deep and highdrama. The title is hardly exciting. “Ba-nana ‘pole-vaulting’ workers in DavaoNorte”. From the article I learned whatpole-vaulting is, I could detect prob-lems from “the opening of the Chinesemarket.” The deep and high drama iseveryday drama for the 50,000 people/actors who stand/work on the stagebehind the scenes. So—the article is ashort, simple example of good journal-ism. It deserves Cheers. Right? But miss-ing was more information regardingmore than one named company, SFC.The photo caption: “… washes the fruitsbefore packing” stimulated my wildassociation to read in irony, a well hid-den kind.

Kindest regards,Jan Collander

P.S. If you are willing we could have aseminar in Ormoc on journalism in whichsome PJRs would be studied.

If you are interested, just tell me. Wecan consider the journalists ‘ code of eth-ics also.

PJR Reports is considering Mr. Collander’ssuggestion.

THE EDITOR REPLIES

EVEN A cursory reading of the ar-ticle in question should revealthat it says the exact opposite of

what Ms. Khan saw in it: the reportershould not wait for a story but shouldseek it out. Ms. Khan et.al. also saythey’re “saddened” (sic) by it. “Sad-dened” is not the right word. “Disap-pointed” is, and that’s what I am by thismisreading of the article.

Both “a slow day” and “a dry day”are metaphors, meaning each phrasestands for something else. We can ar-gue their respective merits until itsnows in the Philippines in May with-out really resolving anything. The ar-ticle did use “slow days” and “dry days”interchangeably. But the phrase “dryday” was used in the head instead of“slow day” because it does seem moreapt: i.e., the well of news on the beathaving been plumbed, it can turn out tobe dry, in which case the reporter has tolook elsewhere.

Investigative reporters and evenopinion writers do “bank” (anothermetaphor) stories—which are differentfrom the “evergreen, exclusive data” Ms.Khan’s letter refers to. Data are data, notstories. But is Ms. Khan saying that beatreporters—who have to find fresh, hardnews everyday—bank “stories” that inher peculiar universe are equivalent to“data”?

If in her mind she’s referring to sto-ries, how can these be “evergreen,” con-sidering the demands of timeliness? Ifon the other hand she’s referring to data,

MFrom a colleague

Highly respected PJR Reports;

AY I call you colleagues?Even though I have been

permanently in the Philippines

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS APRIL 2008 5

JEERSCHEERS

The newspaper asbusiness tool

JEERS TO the Manila Bulletin for dem-onstrating so well how a newspa-

per can be used as a business tool. On itsMarch 1 front page and along side its leadstory about the large anti-Arroyo rally inMakati the previous day, the Bulletin re-ported the joint birthday celebration offormer President Fidel Ramos and hiswife Amelita “Ming” Ramos at the Ma-nila Hotel (“Ramoses celebrate their birth-days jointly at Manila Hotel”).

Ignoring other issues that deservefront-page treatment, the story had littlenews value, except for the fact that thecelebrants were former Malacañang oc-cupants and that Manila Hotel is ownedby Bulletin publisher Emilio Yap.

What a gasCHEERS TO The Manila Times for dis-cussing the government’s efforts to

develop the biofuel industry in a series ofreports from March 2 to 4. The series tack-led the pros and cons in developing theindustry, including possible food short-ages, the lack of preparedness by oil com-panies to meet the requirements set bythe Biofuels Act, and a history of thebiofuels industry in the country.

The rest of the report discussed theword war between the two senators, thelatest in the continuing feud betweenMadrigal and Cayetano since the begin-ning of the 14th Congress.

What the Star did not provide was a back-ground on the Magna Carta for Women andwhy several women’s groups are pushingfor the passage of the Magna Carta. The pro-posed Magna Carta, which failed to getpassed in the 12th and 13th Congress, seeksto guarantee the basic rights of women andprovide them with necessary protectionagainst discrimination.

Pirating biologicalresources

CHEERS TO the Philippine Daily In-quirer for extensively tackling

biopiracy and its companion issues. TheInquirer’s “Talk of the Town” section dis-cussed the issues of access and/or controlover common biological resources, thepatenting of biodiversity and genetic re-sources, and the sharing of commercialproducts from extracted genetic resources(“Battle over biological resources,” Feb.24). The Inquirer supported the story witha sidebar which defined biopiracy as the“theft of biological resources.” It also pro-vided a discussion on cases happening indifferent countries, including the Philip-pines.

The Inquirer further discussed the in-cidents of biopiracy and its effect on thecountry in a March 2 report about how atribe in Mindanao and a farmers’ com-munity in Bohol are finding ways to pro-tect their remaining biological resourcesand traditional crops (“Tribe, farmersguard against biopiracy”).

Personal useJEERS TO BusinessWorld columnistBernardo Lopez for using his col-

umn in a clear case of conflict of interest.Lopez used his March 12 column to writeon his daughter’s academic problems atthe University of the Philippines (UP). De-fending allegations that his daughter, asumma cum laude candidate, cheated in anexam, he wrote that there is a “great di-vide” happening in the university. On oneside are students from private schools whohave better communication skills and abetter command of English, Lopez wrote,and on the other, those who do not. Allare bright and talented, he added, exceptthat since perhaps most of those who camefrom private schools always speak Englishand probably exude a certain kind of con-fidence, others hate them. “More so mydaughter Bernadette,” he wrote.

The column was all about hisdaughter’s problem. He also publishedexcerpts from his daughter’s letter to theuniversity president, the UP Diliman chan-cellor, and the college dean. Lopez alsoprovided readers with a link to hisdaughter’s blog site, which had the fullversion of the letter (“UP’s Great Divide”).

Prospero Nograles has hired. The Star re-ported March 4 that Nograles has hiredfour media handlers to replace formerjournalist Noel Albano, who headed thepublic relations and information depart-ment during the speakership of formerPalace ally Pangasinan Rep. Jose DeVenecia. “With them working for myteam, I am confident we will achieve agreat degree of success in our image-building campaign for the House of Rep-resentatives. I should expect positive re-sults in my first 100 days as Speaker,” theStar quoted Nograles as saying.

But the Star did not explain whyNograles had hired four media handlerswhen he could have hired just one as inDe Venecia’s term. Given the costs of hir-ing four people to do a job previouslydone by just one person, the Star couldhave also asked if funds for the salaries ofthe four image builders were availableand from what source. The report said thatNograles did not reveal the salaries of thefour media handlers, but that accordingto Star sources, the four would each begetting at least P50,000 a month. The Stardid not also check Albano’s salary as apossible indicator of the salaries the fourwould be getting (“Speaker hires 4 mediahandlers to improve House image, p. 8”).

False coverJEERS TO the Manila Bulletin forpublishing advertorials in a “false

cover” in its Feb. 26 issue. Using thepaper’s typical layout, the front page ranadvertorials about a detergent. In theirFeb. 14 issue, the Bulletin and anotherbroadsheet, The Philippine Star, had alsoprinted false covers about a shampoo anda toothpaste. Readers cannot be blamedfor thinking they were reading legitimatenews reports rather than ads, since thesewere not only laid out on the front page;they also used the same type and heads asregular news stories.

Biased reporting

JEERS TO the Manila Standard To-day for biased and incomplete re-

porting. A March 10 news report aboutthe violent dispersal of protesters fo-cused on the injured policemen, failingto note that there were also a numberof protesters who were badly hurt dur-ing the incident (“Cops nab unrulyrallyists”). It did not even try to get theside of the rallyists.

The report also lacked important facts.Merely referring to them as “rallyists”,the report did not mention that those dis-persed by the police were workers fromSouthern Tagalog who were staging aprotest march calling attention to the al-legedly intense trade union repression intheir region. n

‘Sexy’ vs. importantJEERS TO The Philippine Star for fo-cusing on what is “sexy” while for-

getting to include what is important in aMarch 11 news report. In its story, “Jambyvs Pia: Cat fight erupts anew at Sen-ate,” the Star reported the long-standingfeud between senators Ma. Ana Consuelo“Jamby” Madrigal and Pilar Juliana “Pia”Cayetano which had persisted till the pre-vious day as both “questioned their re-spective inabilities to perform their du-ties as lawmakers.”

According to the report, the feuderupted again when Cayetano wrote Mad-rigal, chair of the Senate committee onyouth, women and family relations, “in-quiring about the status of the bills on theMagna Carta for Women, of which(Cayetano) was one of the authors.”

Changes affect rice terracesCHEERS TO BusinessMirror for dis-cussing how changes in Ifugao cul-

ture are related to the current state of theRice Terraces. Reporting that “safeguard-ing the spectacular rice terraces of the Phil-ippines begins with preserving the cul-ture of those who created them,” it citeddiminishing efforts to revive the rice ter-races due to changes in Ifugao culture(“Tradition in Peril: Saving Ifugao Heri-tage and the dwindling ‘Mumbaki’ (Na-tive High Priests),” Feb. 19).

Four for oneJEERS TO The Philippine Star for fail-ing to ask the right questions on

the media handlers House Speaker

The Inquirer report discussed Mt. Kitangladand its rich biological resources.

WWW.BUKIDNON.GOV.PH

WWW.PARADISEPHILIPPINES.TV

LITO OCAMPO

LITO OCAMPO

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTSAPRIL 20086

Fast and complete,but…

CHEERS TO ANC forshowing that a breaking

news report can be fast and com-plete at the same time. In itsMarch 24 breaking story aboutformer President CorazonAquino’s colon cancer, the news-cast immediately providedbackground on the disease—alaudable departure from thecommon breaking news stories.

Further providing back-ground on the disease, ANCalso interviewed a cancer spe-cialist. But the questioning wasnot as commendable. Althoughthe doctor said he was unawareof the former president’s medi-cal history, not being her per-sonal physician, he was stillasked to speculate on such mat-ters as from which side of theformer president’s family thedisease could have come fromand what could have caused

WHEN GOVERNMENT officials are con-stantly attacking the media for do-ing their job and even describe jour-nalists as enemies of the state, arejournalists the last to know when it

comes to the legal remedies available?

Aquino to get the disease.

Once more, withfeeling

JEERS TO IBC ExpressBalita for engaging in

product advertising during anewscast—again.

Last March 4, it was multina-tional giant Nestlé which was atthe receiving end of ExpressBalita’s generosity as the newsprogram reported the launchingof the food company’s new greentea product. Discussed in thecommercial plug were theproduct’s medicinal propertiesand where it can be bought.

PJR Reports has previouslynoted Express Balita’s tendencyto cede news air time to adver-tisers. Among the items thathave been hawked in the gov-ernment-sequestered stationare condoms, pizzas, liquorproducts, and antiseptic mouth-wash. n

Providing contextCHEERS TO MindaNewsfor exploring an impor-

tant angle in the legality of theMineral Production SharingAgreement (MPSA) and the Fi-nancial Technical AssistanceAgreements (FTAA) under the1995 Philippine Mining Act(http://www.mindanews.com/index. php?option=c o m _ c o n t e n t & t a s k =view&id=3959&Itemid=160).Instead of merely reporting apicket protest as an event itself,the March 7 story “Residentspicket mining firm’s office inMati” provided supporting de-tails explaining why the currentenvironmental situation in

Barangay Macambol, Mati,Davao Oriental led the residentsinto filing community petitionsagainst the MPSA and FTAA. Itexplained the delicate ecologi-cal balance that surrounds themining site and the indigenouspeople’s claim to their ancestrallands. n

n By Kathryn Roja G. Raymundo and Kristine Joyce G. Magadia

The writ of habeas data

No news organization oreven any journalist has filed apetition for the writ of habeasdata. More than two months af-ter the Supreme Court promul-gated the writ, journalists appar-ently have yet to familiarizethemselves with this legal tool,much less appreciate its implica-tions on the practice of journal-ism.

To test its effectiveness for themedia, a media organization ora practitioner should act as thepetitioner in a case. Harry Roque,lawyer and a University of thePhilippines law professor, sug-gests that Dana Batnag of the Japa-nese wire service Jiji Press shouldfile such a suit.

Roque, who is also the coun-sel for the journalists and mediagroups that filed a class suitagainst government officials forthe arrest of journalists coveringthe Nov. 29 Manila Peninsulasiege, recalled that Batnag be-came the subject of news reportswhen the police alleged that theirinvestigation of the Manila Pen-insula incident last year showedthat one of the participants, Ma-rine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon, es-caped with the help of a female

OF PRESSFREEDOM

IN DEFENSE

journalist. The journalist was laterreported as Batnag. Faeldon, thenon trial for involvement in the2003 Oakwood mutiny, wasamong the protesters led byformer Navy lieutenant, nowSen. Antonio Trillanes IV and agroup of soldiers under trial forthe alleged mutiny.

Roque said Batnag could de-mand that the police release in-formation it has about her andher alleged involvement inFaeldon’s escape. The policecould have been tracking Batnagand/or observing her move-ments to locate Faeldon. In this

case, the police could have vio-lated her “right to privacy in life,liberty, and security”. Roque saidthat such a suit would be ideal intesting how the writ of habeasdata could be used by journalistsas a “shield against intrusions”into press freedom.

Habeas data definedThe Supreme Court describes

the writ of habeas data as “a judi-cial remedy available to any per-son whose right to privacy inlife, liberty, or security is violatedor threatened by an unlawful actor omission of a public officialor employee, or of a private in-dividual or entity engaged in thegathering, collecting, or storingof data or information regardingthe person, family, home, andcorrespondence of the aggrievedparty.”

The writ protects anindividual’s right to privacy byallowing him/her to find outwhat data or information is be-ing held about him/her and forwhat use and purpose it is beinggathered, collected or stored. Thepetitioner could demand “theupdating, rectification, suppres-sion or destruction of the data-base or information or files kept”by the respondent. The writ ismeant to establish the right totruth, and is especially relevantto those individuals, such as jour-nalists, about whom state agen-cies compile derogatory informa-

Batnag

The writ of habeas data can be used to defend press freedom, Roque said.

Macambol residents protest againstmining operations in their area.

KEITH BACONGCO

LITO OCAMPO

Photos by LITO OCAMPO

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS APRIL 2008 7

DOES THE promulgation of the writ of habeasdata preempt or otherwise weaken the pend-ing House and Senate bills on the right to infor-

mation?

EXTENDINGTHE RIGHTRIGHTRIGHTRIGHTRIGHT TOINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATION

.....................................................................................................................Lawyer Harry Roque said that

the writ does neither, but rathercomplements it. The writ ex-tends the right of citizens to in-formation since it gives fur-ther access to data gathered,collected, and stored about aperson by a government agencyor by any private individual orbusiness.

The legal basis of the right toinformation is in the 1987 Phil-ippine Constitution, as stipu-lated in Article II Section 28,which states that “the right ofthe people to information onmatters of public concern shallbe recognized” and Article IIISection 7, which declares that“...the State adopts and imple-ments a policy of full public dis-closure of all its transactionsinvolving public interest.”

The right to information isalso enshrined in Article 19 ofthe International Covenant onCivil and Political Rights, towhich the Philippines is a signa-tory. It states that “this right shallinclude freedom to seek, receiveand impart information andideas of all kinds, regardless offrontiers, either orally, in writingor in print, in the form of art, orthrough any other media of hischoice.”

This means that aside fromthe information that the writ ofhabeas data can obtain aboutthe victims of extrajudicial kill-ings and disappearances, offi-cial records and other data inthe public interest should bemade available by governmentas provided by the Constitution.Roque stressed that an enablinglaw “to give life to that” is notnecessary, the right to informa-tion being self-executory. Thewrit of habeas data thus expandsrelatives’ access to informationin behalf of the victims of extra-judicial killings and disappear-ances, as well as the right to thesame access of the subjects ofgovernment information-gather-ing.

The Freedom of InformationAct serves “as a practical plat-

form for the effective exercise ofthe citizen’s right to informa-tion.” The Access to InformationNetwork (ATIN) regards the bill ascrucial to improving the exerciseof the right to information in de-fining exceptions, providing aclear coverage of the right, andimposing sanctions on those whoviolate it.

Advocacy groups have beenpushing for a Philippine Free-dom of Information Act since1993. Reps. Lorenzo Tañada andDel de Guzman filed a similar billon Aug 14, 2007 during the 14th

Congress.Despite the fact that the Con-

stitution upholds the right to in-formation especially on mattersof public concern, lawyerNepomuceno Malaluan, co-convenor of ATIN, said that withthe current government policy ofconcealment, people still find ithard to access public data andofficial records. It is thereforeimportant to pass the bill since itwould provide the necessarysanctions to a government offi-cial or agency that would refuseto give out the information. Thebill, he said, will “connect thegaps” in the procedural problemsof obtaining data and “fleshingout the Constitutionalguarantee” of the right to infor-mation and the people’s right toknow. n

=88889005).”Roque does not share Rufo’s

reservations. The writ is meantto protect the rights of the indi-vidual against the state and ex-isting jurisprudence upholds pro-tecting the work of journalists inmatters of public interest. Headded that, in the first place, un-like state agencies like the policeand military intelligence, it is notthe function of journalists to storeor withhold information, thusdisqualifying them as possible re-spondents in a habeas data case.

The rules on the writ of ha-beas data also recognize the limi-tations of the information thatcould be demanded from a re-spondent. A provision of the writspecifies “lawful defenses(against the writ) such as nationalsecurity, state secrets, privilegedcommunication, confidentialityof the source of information ofmedia, and others (emphasis byPJR Reports).” The media aretherefore protected by existinglaws, among them the Shield Law(Republic Act 1477) which pro-tects the confidentiality of theirsources.

The role of journalists in in-formation dissemination is alsoenshrined in the Bill of Rights ofthe 1987 Philippine Constitution.Article III, Section 4 of the Con-stitution states “No law shall bepassed abridging the freedom ofspeech, of expression, or of thepress, or the right of the peoplepeaceably to assemble and peti-tion the government for redressof grievances (emphasis by PJRReports).”

The writ itself is thus not athreat to press freedom, but a toolfor exacting accountability. Asjournalists report on what thegovernment is doing, the govern-ment compiles information onjournalists, which may be accu-rate or otherwise. The journalist’sbest defense is to be ethical andprofessional, thus preemptingany use of the writ against his orher right to practice his or herprofession. n

tion because they are, rightly orwrongly, considered as securityrisks. Such information can beand has been used to includepeople in military “orders ofbattle” and to label them with-out giving them the chance toquestion the information and todefend themselves.

Together with the writ ofamparo and writ of habeas cor-pus, the High Court seesthe writ of habeasdata as a tool to ad-dress extrajudi-cial killings andenforced disap-pearances inthe country.Promulgatedlast Feb. 2, thewrit also en-titles the familiesof victims of suchkillings and disap-pearances to know the cir-cumstances behind the fate oftheir relatives. It compels gov-ernment agencies to release in-formation and allow access to of-ficial records otherwise closed tothe victims.

Habeas data is the youngestof the three writs. It originatedin the 1981 Council of Europe108th Convention on Data Protec-tion. The council aims to createdefenses for individual privacythrough the protection and regu-lation of personal data. SeveralLatin American countries likeBrazil and Colombia also use thewrit to protect individualsagainst human rights abuses.

Using the writDue to the relative newness of

the writ, questions on its provi-sions and use have been many.PJR Reports interviewed severalnews media practitioners fromprint, TV, and online. While all theinterviewees were aware of thewrit of habeas data, most of themchose not to comment on the pro-visions of the writ and its effect onjournalistic practice because oftheir limited understanding of thewrit.

The writ of habeas data, as lit-erally translated from Latin,means “you should have thedata.” The information that couldbe retrieved using the writ is lim-ited to the protection of the rightto privacy, which is a personalright. Only the aggrieved person—or in cases of extrajudicial kill-ings and disappearances, mem-bers of the family—may file pe-titions for the writ.

Roque said that a journalistcan use the writ by cooperatingwith a person (or a family mem-ber of the victim) s/he is writingabout, since that person can com-pel the source to release informa-

tion. The per-son or rela-

tive could thenchoose to share

the informationwith the media.

In cases where jour-nalists would like to gather databeyond what the writ could pro-vide, they can file a petition for awrit of mandamus which is con-sidered a general remedy for ac-cess to information, said Roque.

A threat to press freedom?As investigations surround-

ing impunity, increasing humanrights violations, and exactingaccountability from governmentauthorities begin to catch thepublic’s attention, concernedgroups see the writ of habeas dataas another welcome developmentin the effort to bring these prob-lems to a close.

Mass media in particular areaffected by this newest remedyoffered by the High Court tothe burgeoning human rightsproblem.

Last Feb. 4, however, one re-port claimed that the writ of ha-beas data could work against theinterests of journalists. The writcould hinder the daily tasks ofjournalists to search for or gatherdata, tap official and unofficialsources for information, and in-vestigate the misdeeds of gov-ernment officials, said journalistAries Rufo.

In “Can Writ of Habeas DataStifle Media?,” the Newsbreak re-porter wrote that “While the writof habeas data does not preventthe gathering of information perse and covers only the collectionand dissemination of ‘erroneous’data, the possibility exists that itcan be abused, especially by gov-ernment officials, to prevent jour-nalists from conducting lifestylechecks or investigations on cor-rupt practices (http://www.n e w s b r e a k . c o m . p h /i n d e x . p h p ? o p t i o n =c o m _ c o n t e n t & t a s k =v i e w & i d = 4 1 3 9 & I t e m i d

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTSAPRIL 20088

But as has been pointed outby many critics of PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo, it isnot only the public officials cur-rently in power who are failing.The entire political system, cul-ture, and conduct of the rulingclass are all in need of reform.Because weaknesses seem em-bedded in the system, the publicseems at a loss about how best toresolve the crisis.

The public has not been ableto unite on a strategy. The con-tinuing challenge to the presidenthas weakened the authority ofgovernment and the state, alongwith its agencies and instrumen-talities. The profound polariza-tion has eroded public support forgovernment itself as leaders re-sort to a tactical approach to in-sure the president’s political sur-vival.

The press community itself isdivided. News reports and com-mentary reflect the opposingviews of the factions among po-litical groups and organizations,as well as those of civil society.

Basic principlesA review of basic principles

may help clarify the role of thepress during the present crisis.What is journalism for? What isits function and purpose in soci-ety? What are its obligations andresponsibilities?

The revolutionary advance ofcommunication technology andthe explosion of news and othermedia formats, the rise ofblogging and the emergence ofcitizen reporters and commenta-tors have all created radicalchanges in how we think of me-dia and news. Precisely becauseof the blurring of activity linesand the resulting confusion aboutwhat makes journalism, journal-ists need to establish a commonor shared understanding of whatthey do as journalists. Onlywhen we clarify this under-standing can we take the neces-sary step of accepting the obli-gations and responsibilities in-corporated in this activity.

WHAT IS............................................................................................................................................................................................

Journalism as a process in-volves editing, the review andrevision of reports, analysis andcommentary. While eyewitnessreports in the blogs may behighly valuable in terms of find-ing out about events and relatedinformation, such on-line reportsare not always reviewed for au-thentication or verification.

Controlled or freeWe often think of the differ-

ent purposes assigned to journal-ism in different political systems.But there is a common ground.

Whether in a free or controlledsystem, the press can provide so-ciety a common fund of sharedknowledge and understandingabout itself, reflecting sharedideals and aspirations as well asthe consensus on how these goalsare to be achieved. That has al-ways been one of the purposesassigned to journalism—that itprovide people the means for car-rying on a conversation. TheAmerican scholar James Careyhas described journalism as pri-marily a medium for the conver-sation of a community.

Where is the difference in theway the two systems produce thisconversation? In principle,though perhaps not always inpractice, the free press opens theconversation to all. The purposeof a free press is to provide thekind of news and informationthat will help members of soci-ety to become free citizens whowill engage one another in dis-cussion and debate about publicissues, and who can express theirpreferences on policy choices andtheir ideas about the laws andregulations that govern theirlives.

In a controlled regime, gov-ernment sets limits on the scopeof the conversation and selectsthe participants in the public fo-rum. The controlled system seesthe press as the government’scommunication arm. It is ahandmaid to government, whichhas paramount authority overpolicies and the implementation

n By Melinda Quintos de Jesus

A crisis of leadership

THE POLITICAL crisis in the Philippines is acrisis of leadership, provoked initially by theinitial controversy over the president’s inter-ference to manipulate election results in 2004.The crisis has been heightened by serial

charges of corruption with a resulting loss of public trustand confidence in her leadership and her capacity toput public interest as the central value of her govern-ment. While these have all failed, the number of impeach-ment complaints (13) and attempts (three) filed in Con-gress— a strong indication of the depth of the crisis—are unprecedented in Philippine history.

The following were presented during the Center forMedia Freedom and Responsibility forum on “Thecoverage of the political crisis” last March 25, 2008.

JOURNALISMFOR?

TWO VIEWS ON THE PRESSAND THE POLITICAL CRISIS

KATHRYN ROJA G. RAYMUNDO

APRIL 2008 9PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS

of laws, policies, and programs.It is the government’s view of thecitizens’ needs that becomes para-mount.

Singapore’s national develop-ment, for example, has seen pro-found changes in the guidelinesgiven to the press according togovernment’s view of society’scurrent needs.

Mega mediaThe mega-media companies

operating in the global free mar-ket system today have also radi-cally changed our thinking aboutnews and its purpose. These com-panies are involved in producinga commodity, a product thatneeds to be packaged, perhapsbuffed and shined a bit so it cancompete for a larger share of themarket.

News then becomes all of theabove, but as defined by two lead-ing American journalists, BillKovach and Bob Rosenstiel, “theprimary purpose of journalism isto provide citizens with the in-formation they need to be freeand self-governing.” (Kovachand Rosenstiel, 2007). This defi-nition was articulated only afterone of the broadest efforts con-ducted by the American press todefine for its members the func-tion of the press in American so-ciety.

The group project was orga-nized by what would be latercalled the Committee of Con-cerned Journalists. Using variousmethods, including contentanalysis of news, as well as pub-lic forums, conferences, inter-views, and surveys, the projectdescribes the theory and the cul-ture of American journalism.From that description, the au-thors assert the purpose of jour-nalism and enumerate its obliga-tions and its responsibilities. Theoutput is documented in a book,The Elements of Journalism, that hasalready gone into a third edition.

We turn to this American ef-fort and its findings because thePhilippine press is modeled onthe American press system. Ourconstitution provides for free-dom of speech and the press inalmost exactly the same terms,the most libertarian to be foundin the world: “No law shall bepassed that shall abridge the free-dom of speech and the freedomof the press...”

Despite alarming signs to thecontrary, we have not yet movedaway from this model. In fact, theleadership provided by Chief Jus-tice Reynato Puno has signifi-cantly asserted and highlightedthe value of freedom of speechand press to our way of life, thevalues for observance by govern-ment, and the people.

The journalistic communitytypically avoids this kind of dis-cussion and most members of thepress think neither of the theorynor purpose of what they do.Journalism is work and a job. Andthe conventions have been laidout for so long that they ceasedto worry about the problems thatarise in the course of the practice.Most journalists do not think ofthe information they provide ashaving such an enlarged purpose.They think simply of providingsomething that the public wantsand will buy; they are givingthem a category of informationor knowledge that has been called“news.”

Older generations of journal-ists have proudly said there is noneed to define the news, we knowit when we see it. Today, whenthe ordinary man in the street hasthe means to report the news,perhaps ahead of the radio or TVnews teams trawling the streets,the credentialed press has be-come more curious about whatsets them apart as a communityof journalists.

Because of the current cri-sis, however, more and moregroups and organizations havelearned the virtues of self-ex-amination and evaluation. Itseems appropriate for membersof the press to do the same: toexamine the practice and under-stand the demands of the roleassigned to them, as well as thestandards of conduct of journal-ism.

Increasingly, however, themedia are being seen as part ofthe problem. It is important thatthey see themselves as also partof the solution.

Perhaps we can add to themedia’s list of needs that of evalu-ating the various styles of jour-nalistic conduct. We need to ac-knowledge that circumstancescan affect the manner by whichthey gather and report the news.Like the American press, the Phil-ippine stance is adversarial to-ward government.

This submits to modificationwhen the country is at war or isunder attack. But the shift hasbeen harshly critiqued as theAmerican press failed to morecritically look at the Americanmilitary engagement in Iraq, thedetention of suspects inGuantanamo, or even the scan-dals which rocked American cor-porations. It would seem thenthat the adversarial style is notas important as the vigilant cov-erage of all public issues as thesearise. Adversarial reporting neednot be seen as a hostile challenge,but as the performance of an in-stitutional check on the exerciseof power.

PolarizationIn a divided society, different

groups will compete to use thepress to publicize their side ortheir view so as to gain publicsupport. Getting the press onone’s side has also involved thepractice of paying off its mem-bers to assure favorable coverage.The press can also be won overby selectively consulting onlythose sources that can tell the de-sired story. Journalism’s purpose(of providing news and informa-tion for citizens) is more difficultto fulfill when conflicting andopposing views all claim to havethe truth on their side.

Kovach and Rosenstiel makethree points that are relevant tothis discussion.

First, “The essence of journal-ism is (that it is a) discipline ofverification.” Among the manyforms of mass communication,journalism alone focuses on get-ting right the relevant facts ofwhat happened.

In a situation where as manyversions of what happened canbe heard or reported, the journal-ist must commit to investigateand detect the lies, expose them,and assert the facts and the truth-ful conclusions that may bedrawn from them.

Unfortunately, the conven-tional news report that recordssimply what the different propo-nents are saying has become aninadequate format for this pur-pose. The press must employmore means than simply record-ing the statements made in anofficial investigation. The pressmust sift the verified and cor-roborated facts from the gossipand the propaganda.

When it fails to do this, itholds back the public’s ability tomake a judgment about where thetruth lies in a scandal and contro-versy. Rather than making thingsclear, press reports that are lim-ited to “he said, she said” accountscan only lead to greater confu-sion. Without background andcontext, such reports are almostwithout meaning.

Second, journalistic objectiv-ity is not the absence of opinion.Journalists are like everyone elsewho have personal backgroundsand histories which necessarilygive them an outlook and a per-spective. Are they not allowedthese views and opinions as jour-nalists?

Obviously, journalistic re-porting deals with the one’sviews and opinions in a differentway than those assigned to writecommentary and opinion pieces.But journalists on any page of thenewspaper must commit to themethod of verification.

Kovach and Rosenstiel re-

mind us that the concept of ob-jectivity has been misunderstoodas an aim or a purpose. A jour-nalist has to be objective. The ear-liest forms of the press in the USand in the Philippines were pro-duced for a cause. Objectivity,they point out, is not an aim, buta method employed in produc-ing journalism. It includes col-lecting data and validating theevidence; and from these, formu-lating a perspective or truthfulconclusion based on verifiedfacts.

Often, claiming editorial bal-ance and objectivity, reporterswill limit their work to the cita-tion of statements made. Kovachand Rosenstiel call the result a“journalism of assertion,” as thequoted statements are not veri-fied. Given the neutral narrativevoice, the reports cover up whatthe journalist has failed to do.

It is true however, that culturalblinders will keep even a trainedreporter to see only what he orshe can or wants to see. WalterLippman has prescribed the de-velopment of the “scientificspirit” as a remedy to such hu-man tendencies. The “scientificspirit” involves a method thatincludes, the citation of as manysources as necessary, the carefulobservation of the reality re-ported, and reference to docu-mentary evidence.

In times of crisis, this “scien-tific spirit” requires also that jour-nalists do what scholars and aca-demics practice, which is to de-scribe the method and manner bywhich the reporter or commen-tator found out about the factsand the measures taken to checkthe accuracy of these facts. Theymust force themselves to tell thepublic how they came to knowwhat they know. This transpar-ency exposes the processthrough which a newsroomdetermines the reliability of

the “truths” that it reports.When the public is so ad-

vised, it learns more about theprocess and develops a stron-ger public ability to sense mis-or disinformation. Newsroomsshould use a general checklistfor accuracy culled from thedifferent institutes that havestudied the journalistic processin seeking to improve it and tomake it rise to the challenge ofcomplex stories.

Objectivity, neutrality andimpartiality are all part of thesame cloth of practice andmethod. The finding of truthshows a bias for truth as a value,reflecting on the natural advocacythat journalism must carry. The“news” that provides more truthabout an official transaction maybe seen as biased against one sideas it exposes the claims of one oranother as lies. Some may seethe effort to expose lies and de-ception as partisan journalism. Intimes of political crisis, it is im-portant that the press take thisrole, or it shall be party to thedeception.

Third, in confronting the mul-tiple factions that claim their re-spective truths, the journalistsmust make sure of their “inde-pendence from those they cover.”It is natural for journalists as-signed to beats to develop aworking relationship with thesubjects of their news reports. Themutual need can sometimes drivejournalists into a relationship ofdependency on sources, or to losethe detachment that is necessaryto verify what these sources re-veal to them.

In producing commentary, ininterpreting the meaning ofevents, a journalist who writesopinion columns has more free-dom to develop his or her voiceand his or her point of view. Butthese journalists are still boundby the principles of accuracy andtruthfulness as their opinions stillneed to be based on verified facts.

In a time of political crisis, canwe expect journalists to keepthemselves disinterested in po-litical outcomes and to stay clearof the currents of political tur-moil?

Press practice in behalf of pub-lic interest involves a level ofcommitment to country and so-ciety. Kovach and Rosenstiel ar-gue that the model is “not disin-terested. It is not cynical. It is notdisengaged.”

Rather, they see the“journalist’s role as predicatedon a special kind of engage-ment—being dedicated to in-forming the public, but notplaying a direct role as an ac-tivist. It might be called ‘en-gaged independence.’” n

................................................................

The journalistmust commit toinvestigate anddetect the lies,expose them,and assert thefacts and thetruthfulconclusionsthat may bedrawn fromthem.

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Lately the crisis has taken theform of a confrontation between,on the one hand, a presidentmore than a majority of the popu-lace believes was not legitimatelyelected, and, on the other, a broadspectrum of forces that wants hergovernment to at least accountfor, or to at most resign over, thevast network of corruption thathas metastasized in it. Late lastyear, however, the country wasalso treated to a crisis which waserroneously reported as a coupattempt, the main component ofwhich seemed to be a press con-ference in which the same puta-tive president was asked to re-sign.

We have thus witnessed onepolitical crisis after another, eachof varying intensity, but each onebeing, by common consent, aturning point in the way the coun-try is being governed. And that’swhat a political crisis is—a mo-ment in the life of a country inwhich issues of power and gov-ernance come to the surface toshatter the illusion of stabilitythat every government this coun-try has ever had since 1946 hastaken pains to cultivate.

The mother crisisThe political crises we have

witnessed are, however, rootedin a mother crisis that unless ad-dressed will continue to create theinstability governments like thepresent one hate, but about whichthey have been unwilling to re-ally do anything beyond the con-veniences of repression. Thatmother crisis is that fueled by thecontradiction between the de-mand for competent, honest andvisionary governance that hasbeen at the heart of Filipino hopesfor over a hundred years, and itsobvious absence.

The Philippine political crisisis driven by the people’s hopeson the one hand, and by the po-litical class’ corruption and in-competence on the other. For aslong as that contradiction re-mains, little child-crises of vary-ing intensity will continue to af-flict this country, which meansthat journalists will be constantlycalled upon to report and com-ment on developments that arenot only crucial to the country’spresent and future, and whichthus impose certain demands onthe press.

Most of those demands we areall familiar with. Like any otherissue or beat, the coverage of po-litical crises is governed by theprofessional and ethical stan-dards of journalism. These stan-dards are linked to each other, theprinciples of ethical conduct be-ing reflected in the practical per-formance of the journalist’s job.

In that sense ethical journalismis competent journalism, and viceversa.

In practice, truth telling as afundamental ethical principle injournalism finds expression infactual accuracy, which in turn ispremised not only on getting thestatements of sources correctly,but also on checking one’s facts,consulting a number of sources,and providing context, back-ground and/or history.

Although truth-telling is abasic responsibility, it is, how-ever, in turn governed by theprinciples of independence andjustice as equally vital ethicalcommitments. These are realizedin practice not only through thejournalist’s non-involvement inany interest that would compro-mise his or her autonomy, buteven more intensely, also in hisor her capacity to transcend infavor of the facts his or her ownadvocacies, personal preferences,or even bias when reporting orcommenting on issues of publicconcern.

In addition, the principle ofhumaneness mitigates the harmtruth-telling can inflict on newssubjects, especially those accusedof wrongdoing who are pre-sumed to be innocent, as well asthose sectors of society that aremost vulnerable to harm throughpublicity. In practice, this prin-ciple is realized through specify-ing that suspects are only sus-pects, for example, or in with-holding the names of women andchildren involved in crimeswhether as victims or suspectedperpetrators.

IndispensableThese ethical and professional

principles are indispensable tothe basic journalistic responsibil-ity of providing information toa public that has a right to it. Asprinciples to which observance isvoluntary, they are necessary ina regime of press freedom, inwhich the presumption is thatjournalistic responsibility can beachieved only through self-regu-lation.

The absence of governmentregulation is the fundamentalcondition for press freedom as aconstitutionally protected rightin the Philippines. The Constitu-tion in fact emphasizes that nolaw may be passed abridgingpress freedom and free expres-sion. But as experience hasshown, this alone is no guaran-tee that press freedom cannot becurtailed.

The events of Nov. 29 are onlyone such indication during theArroyo watch. The raid on a news-paper office in 2006, the threatsthat inciting to sedition charges

A TWO-WAYSTREET

n By Luis V. Teodoro

POLITICAL crises take many forms. In thiscountry—and for the generations representedhere today—these forms have ranged fromsuch critical events as the bombing of apolitical rally and the subsequent suspension

of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, the decla-ration of martial rule, the killing of the late SenatorBenigno Aquino Jr., military-civilian mutinies that haveunseated presidents, several coup attempts, and a dec-laration of a state of emergency which itself became anemergency for many groups and individuals as well asfor the Bill of Rights.

LITO OCAMPO

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will be filed against certain me-dia organizations, the spate of li-bel suits and advisories thatpromise legal retaliation shouldjournalists refuse to heed policeorders—all are indications thatthe Constitutional guarantee isnot enough.

They also show that what isneeded is government good faithas well as commitment to pressfreedom, based on the recogni-tion, as Chief Justice ReynatoPuno has pointed out, that pressfreedom is a primary right andthat it may not be curtailed un-less there is a clear and presentdanger to the state which report-ing or commentary may aggra-vate. Pledged to protect and de-fend the constitution, govern-ments are charged with the re-sponsibility of upholding pressfreedom, not for its own sake, butto enable the news media to dis-charge their mandate of provid-ing the citizenry the informationit needs on matters of public in-terest. If the press has the profes-sional and ethical responsibilityof being accurate, independent,fair, and compassionate, a re-sponsible, lawful government hasthe even more urgent responsi-bility to protect press freedom asa Constitutional mandate.

Rather than recognize this re-sponsibility, however, the Ar-royo government has made it apolicy to undermine the Consti-tutional protection to which pressfreedom is specifically entitled.The soured and souring relationsbetween the media and the Ar-royo government are in factbased on the latter’s insistence onprioritizing its political interestsover press freedom, and, in ef-fect, over the right of the citizenryto information as an indispens-able condition for democratic dis-course.

Media’s mandatePolitical crises being of pub-

lic concern and interest, it needhardly be said that the media areprofessionally and ethicallymandated to cover them. It is notas if this is the media’s choice, buta responsibility thrust uponthem by the very nature of themedia’s role in providing thepublic information in a societythat claims to be a democracy.Covering the events of Nov. 29was therefore a responsibility themedia could not have shirked; nodoubt, should something similarto EDSAs 1 and 2 come to pass,the media would be remiss intheir duty if they failed to coverit.

This basic responsibility iseither unappreciated or despisedby those who fear the popularempowerment that information

brings, and they have raised vari-ous issues to cloak their bottomline wish, which is no coverageat all, or, at least, coverage that’sto their liking.

When the police and othergovernment agencies and offi-cials raised these issues some jour-nalists were understandably con-cerned. The community is afterall committed to the standards ofthe profession, and if journalistsoverstepped their bounds, it wasonly correct for them to reexam-ine themselves and their actions.The press and the media shouldbe thankful for every opportu-nity for self-assessment, espe-cially when it involves the cov-erage of the political crises thatwe can expect to be with us forsome time to come.

Obstruction of justice was ofcourse the first issue raised,occasioning not only justifica-tions for the arrest of journalistsnot only last Nov. 29, but also forfuture arrests in future crises.

No journalist would norshould argue in favor of obstruct-ing justice as a principle, in thesense of, at its most basic, pre-venting the police from doingtheir work (if that indeed is whatthey’re doing rather than usingpolice operations as a cover forplanned misdeeds), or, at itsmore complex level, denyingthemselves or others the penal-ties or rewards that they deserve.In the Nov. 29 case, however,whether there was indeed ob-struction of justice is at issue, andI might point out that during ahearing before a branch of theMakati RTC last February, thejudge was visibly taken abackwhen it was pointed out that thejournalists were arrested after theso-called military rebels were

already in custody, which wouldpreclude their obstructing policeefforts, given the latter’s successin doing their jobs.

The government’s raising thisissue as superior to the rights ofthe press and the public obscuresthe basic fact that journalists areindispensable to the public needfor information, and that the ba-sic responsibility of a govern-ment committed to democraticgovernance is to protect pressfreedom.

To provide the public’s needfor information the news mediahave to be onsite, and a newsevent does not end with policedeadlines; it isn’t something any-one can declare to be over. Toassume so is to assume that asKing Canute thought, oceanwaves can be stopped at the sayso of so-called authorities. Me-dia organizations do have theoption to either leave or stay,depending on their assessment ofthe gains and losses that may beincurred either way, and a policedeadline imposed on the pro-tagonists in a news event does notequally apply to the media.Force, or the threat of its use, isof course something else, andbefore police guns or truncheons

journalists have little hope ofprevailing.

The basic responsibility ofjournalists is to provide factu-ally accurate information aswell as context and analysis sothe public may judge events forthemselves. Journalists can’t dothis if all sorts of obstacles in-cluding threats and arrests arethrown in their paths. But jour-nalists also need to be fullyaware of the conditions inwhich those responsibilitiescan be best discharged as wellas those that have to do withthe consequences of their re-porting. They need only to beloyal to the facts, and, no mat-ter how difficult it may be,given the passions that politicsarouses, they also need to tran-scend their own views in favorof the facts and what they verylikely mean.

Like most thinking people,journalists have their own con-victions and even advocacies.They don’t leave their citi-zenships at the door when theyjoin the media. But the ethicalnorm in journalism is not to al-low those convictions to interferein the basic responsibility of re-porting the truth.

Slippery slopePersonal involvements are

specially tricky, a slippery slopeon which journalists would dobest not to be caught. In such in-stances the accepted protocol, astough as it may be to follow, is toinhibit one’s self from reportingon the sources with whom one isinvolved, given the difficulty ofretaining one’s neutrality whenreporting on those sources.

Most journalists are aware ofand understand the ethics of re-porting on sources with whomthey may have developed closeties. Journalism ethics does notdemand that journalists abandontheir advocacies, or forbid theiracting on them. But acting onthose advocacies does have con-sequences, among which beinghauled off to court and even toprison are, or should be, acceptedrisks.

These risks are specially pro-nounced in covering political cri-ses, because those forces involvedin such crises often look at themedia as hostile entities that ei-ther need to be contained, or sup-pressed. In the present circum-stances, covering political criseswill always involve such risks.This is not to say that being ar-rested onsite is lawful, only that agovernment to which legality isoften the last concern cannot beunderestimated. The responsiblecoverage of political crises may bea two- way street in which boththe media and the governmenthave their respective responsibili-ties, but no one should count onthe latter’s being true to them.

Which brings me to a crucialpoint. Journalists need to armthemselves with an evaluationand understanding of the policies,tendencies and proclivities of thepresent regime and such of itsmajor actors as Mrs. Arroyo andother Palace denizens, the police,and the departments of the inte-rior, justice and defense. The un-derstanding that it is regimepolicy to conceal rather than re-veal, to be opaque rather thantransparent, should provide jour-nalists the basic guide in cover-ing political crises: it is that theyhave to exert extra effort to getinformation and to convey andinterpret it to a public that wantsand needs it. In many instancesthat has required the firmest in-sistence on upholding thejournalist’s right to report eventsas he or she sees fit, guided onlyby the ethics and standards of theprofession. Covering politicalcrisis during the watch of a gov-ernment that is itself the prob-lem rather than the solution de-mands that the journalist keep hisor her sights on that most basicresponsibility of all. n

................................................................

Journalistscoveringpolitical crisesare at riskbecause theforces involvedlook at thepress as ahostile entitythat needs tobe contained orsuppressed.

LITO OCAMPO

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REAPRIL 200812

RELENTLESS PRESS coverage has sustained pub-lic scrutiny of the Arroyo administration as po-litical controversies continued to hound itthrough the first quarter of the year.

In contrast to the dearth of investigative re-ports on last year’s political issues and controversies as notedby PJR Reports in its January 2008 issue was the increasednumber of investigative and in-depth reports during theperiod.

n By Hector Bryant L. Macale and Apple Jean C. Martin

Many of these reports focusedon the agreements on joint explo-ration among the Philippines,China, and Vietnam in the SouthChina Sea. But the press also in-vestigated issues involving offi-cial development assistance to thePhilippines, and the conversionof agricultural lands into biofuelplantations. As part of its contin-ued coverage of the nationalbroadband network (NBN) con-troversy, both print and broad-cast also issued a number of in-depth reports explaining variousaspects of the issue.

ConnectionsA number of investigative re-

ports looked into the link be-tween the joint marine seismicagreement the Philippines hadsigned with China and Vietnamcovering the disputed Spratly Is-lands in the South China Sea andthe avalanche of multimilliondollar Chinese loans to the coun-try. Some reports also discussedthe constitutional and legal rami-fications of the agreement, and itspossible repercussions on thecountry’s Spratlys claim as wellas on regional stability.VERA Files provided this infographic in its series on the Spratlys controversy.

Political controversiesPolitical controversies

APRIL 2008 13PORTS

out that while the conditions forChinese loans were less cumber-some compared to those requiredby other international lenders,most of the Chinese-funded projectswere tainted with corruption, theNBN-ZTE and North and South Railprojects, among others (“Kung ‘diukol, bubukol,” Feb. 19).

VERA Files, a newly establishedgroup of investigative journalists(see “New investigative journgroup formed,” p.22), introduceditself to readers with a two-part spe-cial on the country’s need for a newarchipelagic baseline and its reper-cussions on the Philippine claim tothe Spratlys. The first part detailedhow Mrs. Arroyo’s alleged neglectas well as infighting among gov-ernment officials over turf andmoney resulted in the absence of anew archipelagic baseline, possi-bly affecting the Spratlys claim(“Arroyo neglect, gov’t infightingjeopardize RP’s territorial claim,”h t t p : / / w w w . v e r a f i l e s . o r g /index.php/focus/34-top-story/46-

arroyo-neglect-government-in-fighting-jeopardize-rp-territorial-claim, March 24). The second partdiscussed the country’s belated ef-forts to beat the United Nationsdeadline on territorial claims (“RPin last minute scramble to beat UNdeadline on territorial claim VERAFiles, http://www.verafiles.org/index.php/focus/34-top-story/45-rp-in-last-minute-scramble-to-beat-un-deadline, March 25). The VERAFiles reports were also carried inseveral newspapers such as The DailyTribune, Malaya, The Philippine Star,and BusinessMirror and websitessuch as GMANews.TV.

VERA Files had earlier reportedthat six of the Spratly islands groupoccupied by the Philippines are in-cluded in the joint seismic agree-ments the country signed withChina and Vietnam (“6 Philippine-occupied islands covered in Spratlyagreements,” http://www.verafiles.org/index.php/fo-cus/34-top-story/47-six-rp-occu-pied-islands-covered-in-controver-

A Far Eastern Economic Review ar-ticle in its Jan.-Feb. 2008 issue, whichaccused the Arroyo administrationof selling out to China Philippine andregional interests in the South ChinaSea, had rekindled Philippine pressinterest on the Philippine claim tothe Spratlys and China’s huge finan-cial loans to the country (“Manila’sBungle in the South China Sea”).

ABS-CBN 2’s The Correspondentsreported that after President GloriaMacapagal Arroyo signed a jointseismic agreement with China tostudy possible oil and gas depositsin the disputed Spratlys in 2003,China’s official development assis-tance to the Philippines increased.

Of the 67 loans from China to thePhilippines during the Arroyo ad-ministration—the most in any ad-ministration since the Marcos re-gime—57 were approved after theagreement was signed. Among the57 loans was the Zhong Xing Tele-communication Equipment Com-pany Limited (ZTE) deal for the NBNproject. The Correspondents pointed

Photos by LITO OCAMPOArroyo’s photo by

REY BANIQUET/OPS-NIB

Whistleblower Rodolfo Lozada Jr.

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS14 APRIL 2008

sial-spratlys-deals, March 10).Newsbreak ran a three-part in-

vestigative report that showedthat “the Arroyo administrationhas committed a series of actsgeared toward compromisingPhilippine territorial interests infavor of China.” In exchange forthe joint marine agreement withChina (and later Vietnam) whichNewsbreak reported violated lo-cal and international laws, thecurrent administration got themost number of bilateral agree-ments with China in the past 30years (“A Policy of Betrayal,http://newsbreak.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content& t a s k - v i e w & i d = 4 2 9 6&Itemid=88889066, March 14). Italso pointed out that the agree-ment should have been coveredby a treaty, and not just by an ex-ecutive agreement (http://n e w s b r e a k . c o m . p h / i n d e x .php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4298&Itemid=88889066,March 17). Legal and territorialissues were also discussed in thethird part of the series (http://n e w s b r e a k . c o m . p h /index.php?option=com_content&t a s k = v i e w & i d = 4 2 9 9&Itemid=88889066, March 17).

Newsbreak also reported thatenergy officials had known asearly as 2004 that the agreementincluded an area that was “withinPhilippine waters and should nothave been covered” (“RP knewSpratlys exploration ‘too close’ toPalawan: But revised map showssurvey by China and Vietnam is stillwithin Philippine waters,” http://n e w s b r e a k . c o m . p h /

i n d e x . p h p ? o p t i o n = c o m _c o n t e n t & t a s k = v i e w & i d=4274&Itemid=88889051, March9). The Philippine Star and abs-cbnNEWS.com also published theNewsbreak series.

Newsbreak said that it hadlooked at the possible connec-tion between the Chinese loansand the joint marine agreementwith China with a special reporton Aug. 28, 2006 (“Exploring TheSpratlys,” http://www.news-break.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1572&Itemid=88889064)when allegations of overpricingand corruption in Chinese-funded projects arose over theNorth Rail project that year.With the agreement, Newsbreaksaid, Arroyo “could have effec-tively given up our territorialclaim on the Spratlys, and the actcould be a ground for her im-peachment.”

Exploring the flood of officialdevelopment assistance loans

into biofuel plantations amid thethreat of food shortages, VERAFiles reported, sugar barons maypossibly evade the Comprehen-sive Agrarian Reform Program(“Iggy Arroyo to use biofuelslaw to evade CARP?,” http://w w w . v e r a f i l e s . o r g /i n d e x . p h p ? o p t i o n = c o m _content&view=article&id=63:iggy-a r r o y o - t o - u s e - b i o f u e l s -law&catid=34:topstory&Itemid=53).

The second part of the seriesdetailed problems with thebiofuels law. It also reported thatthe law’s authors and their fami-lies, including presidentialbrother-in-law Rep. Ignacio“Iggy” Arroyo and Sen. JuanMiguel Zubiri, own agriculturallands that may be utilized forbiofuel production (“Ethicallapses mark passage of biofuelslaw,” http://www.verafiles.org/i n d e x . p h p ? o p t i o n=com_content&view=article&id=64:ethical-lapses-mark-passage-o f - b i o f u e l s & c a t i d = 3 4 : t o p -story&Itemid=53). Malaya, theStar, Times, and GMANews.TV,Sun.Star Network online also car-ried the series.

Special programs and reportsGiven the immense amount

of news and updates available oncontroversies such as the NBNproject and Spratlys agreement,the major media organizationstried to provide the backgroundand context readers and viewersneeded to better understandthem.

Last March 16, GMA-7 aired aspecial documentary that dis-cussed the connections among thepersonalities involved in theNBN-ZTE deal as well as otherissues. “Koneksyon: Anatomy of aPolitical Scandal” provided view-ers with background informationon the country’s economic agree-ments with China, including thecyber-education project and theNBN-ZTE project.

It also reported the relation-ships among the personalitiesinvolved in the issue and lookedinto the question of whether thecountry really needed the NBNproject. Koneksyon also tracedhow the project was awarded toZTE and provided the views ofthose involved, among themvarious government officials andexperts on political and economicissues.

“The special was more in-depth than anything GMA hadpreviously produced on our pub-lic affairs programs or newscastsabout NBN-ZTE and we wereproud of it,” Nessa Valdellon,GMA-7’s Vice-President for GMAPublic Affairs, told PJR Reports inan e-mail interview.

ABS-CBN 2 should also be

particularly from China, the Phil-ippine Center for InvestigativeJournalism (PCIJ) released athree-part investigative report(“The perils and pitfalls of aid,”Feb. 11-13) explaining how thegovernment has become lax inproject evaluation.

The first part discussed howthe evaluation process of the Na-tional Economic DevelopmentAuthority— the country’s suppos-edly independent economic de-velopment and planning agencytasked to evaluate proposedlarge-scale government pro-jects—has been undermined bypolitical and lobbying pressures(“Oda surge sparks scandals forArroyo, debt woes for RP,” http:// p c i j . o r g / s t o r i e s / 2 0 0 8 /oda.html).

The second explained the ab-sence of bids and other require-ments of lenders that ended fa-voring foreign contractors butwhich has resulted in cost over-runs and project delays (Bids sans

caps, tied loans favor foreign contrac-tor, http://pcij.org/stories/2008/oda5.html).

Because of these problems,PCIJ found that seven out of 10ODA-funded projects “failed todeliver the promised economicbenefits, and (will) exacerbatethe nation’s debt burden” (“7 in10 ODA projects fail to delivertouted benefits,” http://pcij.org/stories/2008/oda9.html). News-papers such as The Philippine Star,Malaya, and The Manila Times andwebsites abs-cbnNEWS.com,GMANews.tv and Sun.Star Net-work online carried PCIJ’s report.

Apart from these investiga-tive reports on the Spratlys dealand the country’s economic andtrade agreements with China,VERA Files also published a two-part investigative report lastApril 7 and 8 on how the sugarbarons in Congress were con-verting their agricultural landsinto biofuel plantations. By turn-ing rice, corn, and sugar lands

An ABS-CBN 2 reporter covers an anti-Arroyo rally.Former national treasurer LeonorBriones

Media’s relentless coverage of political controversies has sustained public scrutiny of the current administration.

15APRIL 2008PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS

SEN. JUAN Miguel Zubiri was among those politiciansidentified in the VERA Files story on biofuels. In a pressconference last April 9, Zubiri complained that the story’s

authors had introduced themselves as University of the Philip-pines (UP) students doing research on biofuels.

STUDENTS OR JOURNALISTS?

.........................................................................................................................“I don’t know why this sup-

posed research was passed onas investigative report. I reallythink they have an agenda,”The Philippine Star quotedZubiri as saying.

VERA Files countered thatthe authors had not misrepre-sented themselves. The story’sauthors are UP journalism stu-dents, “a fact that was madeknown by the authors to Zubiri’soffice and by VERA Files to alleditors and news desks when itreleased its story.”

The story was part of an

abridged version of a UP thesis,VERA Files said in a statement,and was meticulously and com-prehensively researched. It metUP standards and passed theeditorial screening of VERA Files,the group added.

VERA Files, however, did notsay whether Zubiri was in-formed that the interview wasalso intended for mainstreampublication. Journalism ethicsdemands that publication bemade explicit through theinterviewer’s identifying him orherself as a journalist. n

credited for airing last Feb. 16 thefirst special on the NBN-ZTE con-troversy: Harapan: the Jun Lozadacontroversy. The three-hour specialwas aired over ABS-CBN, ANC,and network’s radio arm dzMM(See “In the public eye: Heroes andCrooks,” PJR Reports March 2008issue). There was some criticismthat the personalities invited, in-cluding star witness Rodolfo Noel“Jun” Lozada Jr., had been “set up”in the program. But Charie Villa,head of ABS-CBN 2’s news gath-ering team, insisted that the pro-gram had been fair to all sides. An-chors Korina Sanchez and RickyCarandang explained during theprogram that it was not meant tobe a confrontation betweenLozada and former elections chairBenjamin Abalos Sr., merely toprovide an opportunity for theguests to air their respective sides.

But not only did Harapan be-come a venue for the personali-ties to explain their side, it alsogave viewers a sense of the na-ture and vast extent of corruptionin the Philippine government.

The press was also consistentin explaining developments re-lated to the issue, as among themthe revocation of Executive Or-der 464 last March 5 and the Su-

preme Court ruling on executiveprivilege last March 25.

LapsesNotwithstanding the high

number of investigative and in-depth reports on the controver-sies, there were serious lapses inthe daily coverage. Some reportsshowed a lack of corroborationwith other sources. Others wereobviously partisan. Some impor-tant issues were also forgottenalong the way.

In one of the most criticizedinstances of media lapses, thePhilippine Daily Inquirer failed toconfirm the accuracy of its March9 lead story from the main sub-ject itself. The Inquirer had re-ported that Philippine NationalOil Company (PNOC) formerpresident Eduardo Mañalac knewabout the alleged $41-millionkickback in the NBN-ZTE project.Mañalac, it added, would testifyas Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s “surprise”witness on the Mar. 11 Senate in-quiry (“Ex-PNOC head to testify:Spratlys pact signatory said toknow of ZTE bribe advances”).

The next day, the Inquirerbannered Mañalac’s denial ofboth his supposed knowledge andhis upcoming testimony in the

Senate hearings on the deal. Al-though the paper reprinted his e-mailed letter complaining aboutthe report, the damage done wasserious enough for Mañalac toconsider filing charges againstthe paper and the article’s writerfor “irresponsibility in makingsuch an inflammatory declarationwithout confirming its accuracy”and “for their part in this piece offabricated information” (“A com-plete falsehood,” Mar. 10). Thepaper admitted its error—al-though it took three days for thepaper to publish an apology(“PDI Apologizes,” Mar. 12).

“There’s a suspicion that wewere given a bum steer”, orwhat’s known as “kuryente” injournalism circles, Inquirer pub-lisher Isagani Yambot told PJRReports, admitting that the re-

Congresswoman Riza Baraquel, Senators Benigno Aquino III and Alan PeterCayetano, and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay

Arroyo regime officials Eduardo Ermita, Norberto Gonzales, and Raul Gonzalez REY BANIQUET/OPS-NIB

Arroyo supporters

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS16 APRIL 2008

IT WAS supposed to be the talk of the town, andwas getting 36,000 visits a day not only fromnetizens from the Philippines but also from othercountries. But the Brian Gorrell blog and the con-troversy surrounding it were only reluctantly be-

ing covered by the Philippine media.

n By Luis V. Teodoro

MUCH ADOABOUTNOTHING—ALMOST

COMMENTARY

There were at least two rea-sons for the reticence. One wasthe story’s limited relevance,though it has undoubtedly at-tracted a lot of interest. The otherwas the libel law.

For those whose interest has

been focused on the rice crisis,hunger, unemployment, severaleconomists’ doubts over the al-leged 7.3 per cent growth of theeconomy last quarter, the na-tional broadband network(NBN) scandal, China-Philip-

porter and some editors hadsomehow been negligent withthe story. He said the Inquirer wasconducting a fact-finding inves-tigation on the issue.

Some reports did not providebackground and context. The pressdutifully and uncritically re-ported Arroyo’s “unity walks” inMalacañang, first with Cabinetofficials, and later with local gov-ernment executives and youthgroups. Based on an obvious Pal-ace propaganda ploy to show sup-port for the beleaguered President,the reports did not ask how muchmoney was used to host thesewalks (for transportation, accom-modation, food, among others)and who was going to pay forthese costs, among other lapses.

Again, the press also reportedthe graft suit filed by women’sgroup Babae Ka against Lozada.The group sued Lozada for alleg-edly using his position as formerPhilippine Forest Corporation(PhilForest) president to giveland to his sister and paying hisinsurance with PhilForest funds.These reports, however, did notprovide any background infor-mation on Babae Ka. It turned outthat Babae Ka had been accusedof being an administration frontwhen it ran—and lost—in lastyear’s party-list elections.

Some reports were downrightbiased, especially, though notsurprisingly, those from the Pal-ace-controlled press. While cov-ering the Feb. 29 Makati rally—the biggest since the inception ofthe NBN-ZTE controversy—NBN-4’s Primetime Teledyaryo ech-oed concerns about the occur-rence of rallies in Makati, thecountry’s business center. Al-though the government-ownednetwork dispatched two report-ers to cover the Makati rally, therest of Teledyaryo’s reports that daymostly focused on the usual af-fairs in the Palace and on a pro-Arroyo rally at the Manila-Quezon City Mabuhay Rotonda.

Express Balita, a news programof government-sequestered IBC-13, also highlighted the activities

of pro-Arroyo groups last Feb. 29and echoed the Palace’s negativereaction to the participation offormer presidents Joseph Estradaand Corazon Aquino in theMakati rally.

Crucial allegations initiallyreported, such as the loss of thememorandum of agreement onthe South Rail project and con-version of agricultural lands intobiofuel plantations for Chineseconsumption, were not followedup and were forgotten in thecourse of the coverage.

ViewsPolitical experts acknowl-

edged the role of media in thesecrucial times. Political analystand former Cabinet officialLeonor Briones said the NBN-ZTE controversy could have dieddown in October of last yearwhen the government cancelledthe project. Media’s relentlesscoverage of the controversypartly kept the issue alive, ac-cording to Briones, who currentlyserves as a professor at the Uni-versity of the Philippines’ Na-tional College of Public Admin-istration and Governance.

As other controversies arise,the continuing challenge to thepress is to make issues both un-derstandable and interesting tothe public. Briones said the presscould present, for example, theconnection between the Spratlysdeal and the country’s oil andfood supply problem.

Benito Lim, who teaches at theAteneo de Manila University andwho is an expert on Chinese poli-tics and the Spratlys issue, notedthat most of the reporters cover-ing the Spratlys controversy hadno background at all on the is-sue. Most of them were merelygetting the views of the person-alities involved, and were thussusceptible to spin.

“Being the eyes and the earsof the people, reporters shoulddo their own investigation ,” Limsaid. Most media organizationstried to oblige, but with mixedresults. n

pine relations, the Spratlys, andother issues too many bloggerswould sniff at as less than earth-shaking, the blog came online infurtherance of Gorrell’s cam-paign to get back AUS$70,000 thathe claims was swindled off himby an ex-boyfriend who’s alleg-edly a member of Manila highsociety, and whose associatescover its doings as lifestyle page“journalists”.

Among other claims, Gorrellhas written that what he calls the“Gucci Gang” are freeloading,drug-snorting, pretentious

Youth groups call for the President’s ouster.

LITO OCAMPO

17APRIL 2008PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS

brutes and bitches—parasiteswho live off the freebies andhandouts of such PR events asthe launch of this or that productline for socialites (and such otherpretenders to the title as the prettyactress-whores kept by Manila’saging but rich Lotharios) and therest of that crowd.

It’s not an unfair picture ofManila high society, it being thedomain as well of the low. Butit’s the truth of Gorrell’s chargesagainst his alleged ex-lover andhis cohort that’s yet to be estab-lished. Primarily we only havehis word for it via his blog, andwhile he has allowed one of thosehe has attacked in it some space,a blog is by its very nature self-serving, and the instrument ofwhoever created it.

That a blog is neither news-paper nor broadcast stationseems obvious, but it’s a fact that’snevertheless often missed, espe-cially by those bloggers who’veonly recently discovered—andmisconstrued— the miracles offree expression.

A blog provides those whowould otherwise have no otherway of venting their spleen themeans to inflict their opinionson whoever chances upon it oris directed to it in cyberspace.While there’s no shortage ofbloggers who are also journal-ists so steeped in the profes-sional and ethical standards ofjournalism they don’t releaseanything into cyberspace thatthey haven’t verified, legionsmore hardly know the differ-ence between gossip and fact,and don’t care to find out.

Anyone with a desk or laptopand an Internet connection canstart a blog. He or she decideswhen it goes up, what goes intoit, who gets to comment in it, andhow long it stays up. A blog is adistinctly individual thing, un-like the collective undertaking anewspaper or a news broadcastis, in both of which there are edi-tors and a desk whose job is tolook for errors in fact, correct badgrammar, and yes, check for li-belous remarks.

It’s true that some newspapersand news broadcasts seem to berun by idiots too, and have beeneither printed or aired by peoplewho’re just like most bloggers—i.e., they haven’t had a single day’straining in what they’re claimingto be doing, which is journalism.There’s this difference, however:responsible, professional jour-nalists know the latter for whatthey are, and have about thesame attitude towards them asdoctors have toward quacks,which is to say that they don’thold them up as exemplars ofthe profession, whereas most

bloggers don’t make that dis-tinction among themselves.

As for libel, (non-journalist)bloggers have been known tosneer at journalists’ concern forit, dismissing it as a concessionto censorship. It can be. But whilethe libel law has been used to in-timidate journalists, and Filipinojournalists lost the most famouscase in this country—the 1909Aves de Rapina case—through acourt biased for an official of theUS colonial regime, it does havethe eminently valid purpose ofprotecting media subjects fromthe abuse of the overzealousand/or malicious.

Not that journalists have notrisked libel suits if the stakes arehigh enough. Some have bravedprison and even death, both dur-ing the martial law period aswell as the present regime, whichat various times has threatenedjournalists with inciting to se-dition cases and the withdrawalof network franchises, as wellas listed them as “enemies ofthe state”.

Many have indeed died, 90percent of the community jour-nalists who have been killed inthis country since 2001 for expos-ing corruption and criminality.Scared most journalists aren’t.But it’s a rare blogger who’dknowingly take the same riskswhile shooting his mouth off.

In many instances journalistsrisked life and limb and fortunefor demonstrably relevant rea-sons— and by relevance I meanthe value of what they were re-porting to other lives, in somecases millions of them. Journal-ists did not shirk reporting theNov. 29, 2007 incident, for ex-ample, and neither have theyevaded the responsibility of re-porting on the rice crisis, whichfor the impact it’s likely to haveon the fortunes of the Arroyo re-gime is potentially as risky ascovering the NBN scandal. Ofcourse they’ve tried to steer clearof libel suits at the same time byreporting only what they’ve veri-fied, and refusing to be drawninto name-calling even the peoplethey detest the most.

Too many bloggers, unawareof why certain professional andethical standards have developedin the course of journalism’s longhistory, prefer to call peoplenames, among other reasons be-cause they think it’s argumentenough. (It isn’t.) There’s also thefact that if they’re in Australia thepeople they’re insulting who arein the Philippines can’t suethem—a convenience denied,say, a journalist in the Philip-pines who can be sued, andwho probably has been (by,among others, Gloria

Macapagal Arroyo’s husband).So some sneer, declaring that

the newspapers and the networksare too scared to report theGorrell case with any promi-nence, and have chosen to keep itin the entertainment pages. Butit’s not a matter of being scared,but of the fact that that’s exactlywhere stories like this belong,and only once, please. In thenitty-gritty, what it’s all about isan Australian who admits to hav-ing been swept off his feet by oneof those sweet- talking scammersof which Manila has no shortage,who lost his life savings in theprocess, and who hopes to re-cover them by shaming the al-leged perpetrator and his cohort.This story deserves the frontpage?

Lesser stories have landedon the front pages and in theevening news for the sake of“human interest”, but that’s anargument for the newspapersand the TV news programs tobe more judicious in their deci-sion-making rather than an ar-gument in favor of putting thisparticular storm in a teacuptogether with the stories on theSpratlys and how the Arroyoregime’s trying to soften theimpact of the rice crisis byvainly cozying up to China.

But if only a third of whatGorrell says is true, specificallyon the way his former lover’s as-sociates use their being with thelifestyle pages of a certain broad-sheet to stay in hotels and totravel for free, there’s a real storyin the Gorrell to-do. It’s in howcertain sectors of Philippine jour-nalism—or what passes for it inthe lifestyle pages—is so far gonein corruption and unprofessionalconduct, among other reasonsbecause many of the peoplewho’re into it are there not fortheir skills as journalists but fortheir claimed connections withthe high and mighty, amongthem the decision makers in thePhilippine media with whomthey happen to be rubbing elbowswith in the same soirees. That’swhat mainstream media can becondemned for—for allowingthis to happen: nay, for encour-aging and abetting it to the detri-ment not only of people likeGorrell but also and primarilythat of the foolish Filipinos whofollow the lifestyles of their self-proclaimed betters more assidu-ously than they do reports of ex-tra-judicial killings and the lat-est government scandal. n

A slightly different version of thispiece appeared in Luis V. Teodoro’s“Vantage Point” column (“Teapottempest”) in the April 4 issue ofBusinessWorld.

A BLOG on the alleged swindling of an Australianby a Filipino socialite is raising questions on thePhilippine libel law’s ability to serve as a

deterrent against defamation in a world that isincreasingly becoming borderless due to the Internet.

n By Don Gil K. Carreon

LIBEL IN ABORDERLESSBORDERLESSBORDERLESSBORDERLESSBORDERLESSWORLDWORLDWORLDWORLDWORLD

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Since March 4, AustralianBrian Gorrell has been churningout unflattering (others mightcall them defamatory) articlesin his blog against his formerlover, former Philippine Starlifestyle columnist DJ Montano,as well as Montano’s friends.Gorrell stated that he started theblog to shame his former loverinto returning his life savings of$70000 (Australian), which healleged Montano duped him outof, and which he needs to payfor his HIV treatment.

Filing a libel suit againstGorell in the Philippines won’tbe of much help, as he has beenposting his entries againstMontano and his friends inAustralia.

This unique situation hasalso prompted members of thePhilippine legal community topay attention to Gorrell’s blog,which averages more than36,000 visitors daily.

In an interview in Media inFocus last March 27, Universityof the Philippines law professorJJ Disini said at least some ofGorrell’s posts in his blog arelibelous. He said that while someof the characters subjected tolibelous statements by Gorrell arefamous, the allegations made areunrelated to their fame.

Aside from alleging thatMontano owes him money,Gorell has also claimed thatMontano and some of hissocialite friends, whom he alsoidentified, are cocaine users. Hesaid that the articles against hisex-lover’s friends are meant topressure them to convinceMontano to return his money.

The panelists in the Mediain Focus episode said Gorrellshould return to the Philippinesand file charges againstMontano who can then file libelcharges against Gorrell. But theAustralian has stated that hedoes not intend to battleMontano in the courts in thePhilippines, which he describedas having a corrupt law process.

In a report on the PhilippineDaily Inquirer last April 12,Montano’s lawyer, Jose Oliveros,said they were considering filinga criminal complaint for libelagainst Gorrell and civil casesof tort or damages in Australiaand in the United States againstthe US company hostingGorrell’s blog.

The panelists in the Mediain Focus episode said thisoption is indeed open toMontano, but said it would be“tedious” and “expensive,” asit would indeed be. n

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A Pinoypress on the Gorell case.

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTSAPRIL 200818

n By Don Gil K. Carreon

ON JAN. 11, editorial board chair andcolumnist Vic Agustin of the ManilaStandard Today announced in hisCocktales column that the paper hadjust been sued for libel. Agustin said the

complainant was Philcomsat Holdings Corp. (PHC)vice president Enrique Locsin, a brother of the paper’spublisher, Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. PHC is agovernment-sequestered company whose management

If self-regulationdoesn’twork, thegovernmentwill do theregulating

VOLUNTARYTHE RIGHT OF REPLY:

COMPLIANCEOR LEGALSANCTION?

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is bitterly disputed by itsmajor shareholders.

Agustin wrote that the Stan-dard was being sued for his Dec.19 column “Locsin’s privateATM.” Quoting from the com-plaint, Agustin said Locsin hadclaimed that he had been “mali-ciously and unwarrantedly por-trayed as a person who has with-drawn several millions of moneyfrom a certain corporation for hisown personal account.”

Fourteen days later, The Phil-

ippine Star published an advertise-ment by Locsin complainingabout the Standard’s repeated re-fusal to publish his response tothe Agustin column. He said therefusal had forced him to buy adspace in another paper to balancereaders’ understanding of the is-sues. Locsin is also the publisherof the news magazine PhilippinesFree Press.

Locsin complained aboutAgustin’s Jan. 7 column“Lawyer’s fiesta, PR bonanza,”where the latter, among otherclaims, said that P400 millionpesos of PHC funds could not betraced after Locsin ordered itswithdrawal. When Locsin wrotethe Standard in reply, he said thepaper would not publish his let-ter even as a paid advertisement.

Locsin protested Agustin’s selec-tive reprinting of portions of hisletter, which he said were takenout of context.

Agustin said in an e-mail in-terview with PJR Reports that theStandard decided against publish-ing the letter for four reasons: itwas unsigned; it did not carry areturn address and telephonenumber; the fax machine that wasused to send it did not list a re-turn number; and when a hardcopy was eventually delivered,the Locsin PR consultant wouldnot sign an acknowledgment thatthe letter, which still did not carrya return address or telephonenumber, indeed came from /hadbeen delivered by the PR firm.Agustin said the Standard had apolicy to print letters to the edi-

tor questioning the accuracy ofits reports.

The right of reply lawThe Standard-Locsin flap is a

reminder of the acrimonious dis-

pute between former foreign af-fairs secretary Roberto Romuloand The Philippine Star in 2004. InJune 2004, Romulo complainedthat the Star had vilified him inmore than 30 articles over a pe-riod of 14 months and had refusedto print his side. Romulo firstsought the help of the press com-munity to resolve the issue buthe eventually filed for libel. Cen-tral to that incident was also theright of reply and the presscommunity’s ability to ensurethat people subjected to inaccu-rate and otherwise unflatteringreports could still exercise thisright when it is denied them by anews organization.

The right of reply proceedsfrom the assumption that report-age is a continuing dialogue and

that those subjected to damagingcomment or reports have theright to defend themselves in thesame medium. Responsible pressorganizations recognize thisright. Some media critics, how-ever, argue that the right shouldbe legally enforceable, since vol-untary compliance as a functionof self-regulation is unreliable.For example, the press commu-nity’s inability to resolve theRomulo-Star row partly fueledongoing efforts to enact a rightof reply law.

Such a law would theoreti-cally make it easier for aggrievedparties to present their side. Butthe press has opposed the billsthat have so far been introducedin Congress, among other rea-sons because a right of reply lawwould constitute prior restraint.Editors are also concerned thatsuch a law would impinge on theeditorial prerogative to decidewhat to print and have arguedthat it isn’t necessary, since mostnews organizations do recognizethe right of reply. In brief, theargument is that a right of replylaw would be contrary to ArticleIII Section 4 of the Constitution,which mandates that “No lawshall be passed abridging thefreedom of speech, of expression,or of the press, or the right of thepeople peaceably to assembleA forum on the right of reply. LITO OCAMPO

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS 19APRIL 2008

and petition the government forredress of grievances.”

The proponents of right toreply laws have softened theirstance and even withdrawn theirsupport for it after consultationswith the press. Aurora Rep. JuanEdgardo Angara said he is nolonger pursuing the passage ofthe right of reply bill (House Bill00162) he filed in July 2007,which has been merged with Rep.Monico Puentevella’s version(HB 01001).

Last October, Sen. AquilinoPimentel, the bill’s proponent inthe Senate, also expressed willing-ness to support the voluntary rightof reply on the condition that therebe a working remedy to thosecases when news organizationsrefuse to recognize this right.

These were welcome develop-ments, since the proposed lawswere flawed. Pimentel’s SenateBill 1178 makes it compulsory forpress organizations to publish orair the reply of the aggrievedparty within 24 hours or be finedP10,000. Third time offenderswould face a 30-day prison termon top of a P30,000 penalty.Puentevella’s bill even proposesa 30-day suspension of operationsof the media organization thatdoes not comply.

Enter the PPCThe press community already

has in place the mechanismPimentel wants. The PhilippinePress Council (PPC) is a self-regu-latory body within the PhilippinePress Institute (PPI). It is chargedwith addressing ethical and othercomplaints against the press, andrecognizes the right of reply ofthose parties with grievancesagainst the print media (com-plaints against broadcast are ad-dressed by the Kapisanan ngBrodkaster ng Pilipinas, or KBP).The PPC, composed of represen-tatives from the media, the pri-vate sector, and academe, was or-ganized so that complaintsagainst the press could be re-solved without interventionfrom the courts or other govern-ment agencies.

Aside from the PPC, there arealso several citizens press coun-cils in the provinces organized bythe Center for Media Freedomand Responsibility (CMFR).These councils—there’s one inPalawan, and one each in BaguioCity and Cebu—accept com-plaints from those abused or ag-grieved by the news media, butwho have been denied the oppor-tunity to defend themselves.

PPC chair Gary Mariano saidthe council was already lookinginto the Locsin-Agustin issue buthad to abandon its inquiry be-cause of the council’s policy not

to entertain complaints whencases have been filed in court.

“I wish Mr. Locsin (had come)to the Council,” Mariano said.“But the Council is an option, nota requirement. I respect his deci-sion to go to court [as he claimedin the Star ad] and to place thatad in the Star.”

Locsin, however, told PJR Re-ports in an interview that he didnot file a complaint before thePPC because he did not know thatsuch a council exists.

The lack of awareness aboutthe PPC—in this instance, evenby a news magazine publisher—underscores a nagging problemthat has haunted not only the PPCbut the citizens press councils inthe communities as well.

In a forum on press coun-cils CMFR organized in Sep-tember 2006, PPI executive di-rector Jose Pavia declared thatthe lack of public awarenesshad been a long-standing prob-lem of the PPC.

Pavia said the PPC had begunan aggressive awareness cam-paign of going to all informationoffices of government agencies inManila and some campuses toinform them about the Council.Two years later, however, theproblem apparently remains—and it is especially ironic, themembership of the PPC beingmedia organizations whose man-date is to provide the public in-formation.

Pavia in fact wenty farther.He said many journalists them-selves are not even aware of thePPC’s existence, not to mentionwhat it’s for.

“The lack of awareness aboutthe PPC has always been there,even in the press community,”

Pavia said. “Maybe they haveheard of it but they don’t knowwhat it can do.”

Attempts to inform peopleabout the Council continue.

“Every time we have an outof town seminar for communityjournalists, there is a companionactivity wherein Mr. Marianotalks with students, especiallymass communication studentsabout the PPC and journalismethics,” Pavia said.

The PPI website, http://pressinstitute.ph, also containsguidelines on how people couldseek relief from the PPC if andwhen they have problems withthe media.

The PPC is not the only pressregulatory body that has aware-ness problems. In a roundtablediscussion on the state of theBaguio-Benguet Citizens PressCouncil (BBCPC) last Dec. 10, theparticipants also attributed thelack of complaints filed before theBBCPC press council to the factthat much of the public is un-aware of both the existence of thecouncil as well as, in general, thefact that the news media are man-dated by ethical standards to cor-rect errors, and to present all therelevant sides in a given issue.CMFR helped establish theBBCPC in 2005.

Mariano has a different takeon the low number of complaintssubmitted to press councils. Hesaid one probable reason for thepaucity of complaints to the PPCis that editors nationwide do rec-ognize the right of reply, whichis why those who believe theyhave not been heard do not go topress councils but to the mediaorganizations instead.

The glaring fact remains,

however: by not providing in-formation about press councilsand other self-regulatorymechanisms, or providing toolittle of it, media organizationsthemselves are not giving thecorrective capacity of the presscouncils much of an opportu-nity to flourish.

Toothless tiger no more?Despite Mariano’s positive

take on press recognition of theright of reply, Locsin’s beingforced to file a libel suit againstthe Standard indicates that whilesome news organizations claimto recognize the right of reply,they throw all sorts of obstaclesinto its implementation, as is evi-dent in the Standard’s multipleconditions it wanted Locsin tomeet before publishing his let-ter. If the right of reply is to be ofany use for those aggrieved bythe media, the latter need tomake it easy rather than difficultfor that right to be exercised.

The sense among policy andlaw makers that the media are

arbitrary and arrogant in the ex-ercise of their power in fact pro-ceeds mostly from their personalknowledge of how often the me-dia have been asked to providespace or air time to those theyhave maligned or otherwise mis-treated, and have refused. Theproponents of right of reply lawscannot be blamed for thinkingthat the only way to address theproblem is to compel the mediato observe the very ethical re-sponsibilities the media them-selves claim to recognize but of-ten don’t practice.

Hopefully in recognition ofthe fact that unless the media prac-tice what they preach, the PPI hastried to ensure that those withgrievances against the presswould no longer have to turn tothe courts. In August 2006, the PPIBoard of Trustees adopted a reso-lution binding PPI members tothe PPC’s decisions. PPI membersthat do not comply with its deci-sions may be subjected to cen-sure, a fine, suspension or termi-nation of membership. Marianosaid the resolution was adoptedafter the PPC was virtually ig-nored by the Filipino-languagetabloid Pilipino Star Ngayon, whichthey were trying to communicatewith due to a right of reply com-plaint in January.

Press councils are sometimesregarded as being more of a“moral instance that do not needto enforce (their) decisions thana jurisdiction of the profession.”Hopefully, this step taken by thePPI to strengthen the PPC’s over-sight functions would finally dis-suade the government from forc-ing the media to comply, ironi-cally with their own standards.

The Philippine mediashould learn a lesson from theBritish experience. When pub-lic disaffection grew with theBritish Press Council’s perfor-mance in the 1980s, the govern-ment commissioned a study todetermine “what measures(whether legislative or other-wise) are needed to give furtherprotection to individual privacyfrom the activities of the pressand improve recourse againstthe press for the ordinary citi-zen.” In June 1990, the commis-sion recommended that thePress Council be replaced bythe Press Complaints Commis-sion. If in 18 months, it does notsatisfactorily conduct its job, a“statutory system for handlingcomplaints should be intro-duced.” The complaints com-mission has since been madeto work for the simple reasonthat if self-regulation doesn’twork, the government will dothe regulating. n

PPI’s Jose Pavia

The Cebu Citizens’ Press Council website: any complaints?

NATIONAL

CRiSiSNATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTSAPRIL 200820

High Court grants transferof venue of trials in thekilling of two journalists

THE SUPREME Court grantedlast March 18 a petition by theFreedom Fund for Filipino Jour-nalists (FFFJ) and the NationalUnion of Journalists of the Phil-ippines (NUJP) to transfer thevenue of the trials of suspects inthe killings of two Aklan-basedjournalists to another branch ofthe Regional Trial Court (RTC).

The High Court approved thepetition for change of venue andordered the Kalibo RTC clerk ofcourt to send all records on thecases of the suspects in theRolando Ureta and HersonHinolan killings to the executivejudge of the Cebu City RTC. TheCourt also asked the Cebu CityRTC to immediately raffle off thecases upon receipt of the records.

Two assailants on a motor-cycle killed Ureta on Jan. 3, 2001in Lezo town, Aklan. A lone un-known gunman shot Hinolan onNov. 13, 2004 outside a carnivalin Kalibo, Aklan and died twodays after at a local hospital.

In its Feb. 5 letter, the FFFJand the NUJP asked the HighCourt to transfer the venue of thetrials of the suspects in the Uretaand Hinolan killings from theRTC of Kalibo, Aklan to anybranch of the Cebu City orMakati City RTC “to avoid a mis-carriage of justice and to dispelthe impression that a culture ofimpunity encouraged by govern-ment inaction makes the Philip-pines ‘the most murderous placefor journalists’.”

The FFFJ is a coalition of sixmedia organizations formed in2003 in response to the high num-ber of journalist killings in thecountry. Its members are the Cen-ter for Community Journalismand Development, Center forMedia Freedom and Responsibil-ity, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasterng Pilipinas, Philippine Centerfor Investigative Journalism,Philippine Press Institute, and theUS-based newspaper PhilippineNews.

FFFJ said that “(b)ecause ofthe clout and influence of the ac-cused in the area as shown bytheir ability to unduly influencethe investigation of the case, wit-nesses have been reluctant tobreak their silence and testify forfear of retaliation. To date themasterminds of the crime remainfree as none of the law enforce-ment agencies dare to enforce thewarrant of arrest against themand/or conduct further investi-

gation to shore up the pro-secution’s evidence.”

The Ureta and Hinolan fami-lies said they were grateful forthe approval of the petition.

“I’m really happy that the casewas transferred…because itwould be hard to achieve justiceif [the suspect] is tried here inKalibo,” Aphrodite Hinolan,wife of Herson Hinolan, said.

“I feel more encouraged (thatjustice will be achieved) now thatthe case has been transferred toanother venue,” Rolando Ureta’swidow Emely, said.

Judge grants TRO on trialof “masterminds” injournalist’s killing

THE CEBU City Court of Appealsissued a 60-day temporary re-straining order (TRO) on March25 in the trial of the suspectedmasterminds in the killing of ajournalist.

A three-page resolutionpenned by Associate Justice Fran-cisco Acosta and co-signed byAssociate Justices PampioAbarintos and Amy LazarioJavier granted the Feb. 4, 2008petition filed by OsmeñaMontañer and Estrella Sabay, ac-cused of ordering the March 24,2005 killing of journalist MarleneEsperat, asking for the issuanceof a TRO to prevent Cebu Re-gional Trial Court (RTC) Branch7 Judge Simeon Dumdum fromhearing the case.

The Cebu Court of Appealshas yet to issue a resolution onthe petition for certiorari alsofiled by Sabay and Montañer onFeb. 4, 2008. A certiorari is a writwhich could be issued by a supe-rior court to a lower court to an-nul or modify ongoing proceed-ings if the latter judge acted on acase outside his jurisdiction.

Sabay and Montañer arguedthat Dumdum has no jurisdic-tion over the case since the Nov.23, 2005 Supreme Court reso-lution approving the transferof the case from Tacurong City,Sultan Kudarat to Cebu City,Cebu only applied to then ac-cused Esta-nislao Bismanos,Rowie Barua, Gerry Cabayag,and Randy Grecia.

Cebu City RTC Judge EricMenchavez had earlier sentencedBismanos, Cabayag, and Grecia—the gunman, lookout, and co-con-spirator—to life imprisonment onOct. 6, 2006. Barua, who turned statewitness, was discharged.

The Freedom Fund for Fili-pino Journalists (FFFJ) petitionedthe Supreme Court on July 4, 2005for the transfer of the Bismanoset.al. case to Cebu. The Center forMedia Freedom and Responsibil-

ity is a founding member of FFFJand serves as its secretariat.

FFFJ asked for the transfer inresponse to the safety concernsof the witnesses and the need fora more neutral court and envi-ronment, the accused being alleg-edly influential in Tacurong.

Esperat, who had writtenexposés accusing Montañer andSabay of corrupt practices, wasgunned down in full view of herchildren while the family washaving dinner in their TacurongCity, Sultan Kudarat residence.

Sabay and Montañer were notincluded in the Supreme Courtresolution granting the transferof venue because Tacurong CityJudge Francis Palmones, thenpresiding judge of the case, haddismissed the case against Sabayand Montañer even before theprosecution had presented evi-dence.

Private prosecutor NenaSantos said that the Montañerand Sabay petition for certiorariand TRO is “another scheme toget away with murder throughtechnicalities.”

“I’m discouraged and sad-dened (by the issuance of theTRO), but I’m not giving up,”Santos said. She filed a letter tothe Supreme Court on March24, 2008 asking for a “declara-tory resolution” on the case’schange of venue. In her letter,Santos asked for the SupremeCourt to state “that only theSupreme Court has sole author-ity to act on matters affectingthe change of venue of trial incriminal cases and that (theNov. 23, 2005 Supreme Courtresolution ordering the trans-fer of venue) clearly subsumesand encompasses the trial” ofSabay and Montañer.

Santos also asked for the Su-preme Court to require the ac-cused to explain why they shouldnot be cited for contempt sincethe issue of transfer of venue hasalready been resolved by the Su-preme Court, to direct the CebuCourt of Appeals to dismissSabay and Montañer’s petitionfor certiorari, and to direct theCebu RTC branch 7 to proceedwith the case.

“Considering the absurdityof the position the accused havenow taken, i.e., that the caseshould be returned to TacurongCity, or refiled in Cotabato City,we feel that it behooves the Su-preme Court as a court of law andequity to use its plenary powerto assist the People of the Philip-pines, private complainants andthe media group in obtaining aspeedy, just and inexpensive de-termination of this only mediamurder case where the master-minds have long been identified,

investigated, re-investigated,charged and re-charged but neverarrested and brought to trial,”Santos said in her letter.

Dumdum issued arrest war-rants for Sabay and Montañer onFeb. 4, 2008, but the two werenever arrested.

security is violated or threatenedwith violation by an unlawful actor omission of a public officialor employee, or of a private in-dividual or entity.”

The implementing guide-lines for the writ were issuedby the Supreme Court on Sept.25, 2007, in light of the rampantextrajudicial killings and en-forced disappearances in thePhilippines. The writ took ef-fect on Oct. 24, 2007.

Suspect in 2004 killing ofjournalist surrenders

THE SUSPECT in the 2004 killingof radio broadcaster HersonHinolan surrendered on March 5to the Kalibo Regional TrialCourt (RTC) Branch 7 in Aklan,after a key witness retracted hisearlier testimony against the sus-pect.

Alfredo Arcenio, formermayor of Lezo town in Aklan,surrendered to Kalibo RTCBranch 7 Judge Virgilio Pamanat around 3:10 p.m., said Aklanregional police director Supt.Benigno Durana Jr. Durana saidPaman informed the police ofArcenio’s surrender and hasasked for additional security per-sonnel. Arcenio was immediatelyturned over to the Aklan Reha-bilitation Center, the local penalfacility.

Hinolan was shot on Nov. 13,2004 outside a local carnival. Wit-nesses allege Arcenio was the onewho shot Hinolan and fled onboard a motorcycle driven byanother man. Two days later,Hinolan died at a local hospitaldue to multiple gunshot wounds.Hinolan was the station managerof dyIN Bombo Radyo in Kalibowhere he hosted a program called“Bombohanay”.

Durana said the police havebeen receiving unconfirmed re-ports that Arcenio would turnhimself in a few days before thesurrender. Arcenio had been freedespite an arrest warrant issuedby the local court against him onSept. 7, 2006. Arcenio, who was aformer intelligence officer of theArmy, had supposedly disguisedhimself as a woman. The Philip-pine National Police offered areward of P100,000 for his arrestwhile the Department of Justice(DoJ) issued a hold departure or-der against him to prevent himfrom leaving the country.

Arcenio, accompanied by hislawyer Lou Tirol, immediatelyfiled a petition for bail before thelocal court. Though Arcenio ischarged with a capital offense,bail could be granted if evidenceagainst him is weak.

Arcenio’s surrender was pre-

Supreme Court issuesfirst writ of amparo

THE SUPREME Court granted thefirst writ of amparo for a jour-nalist last March 11.

Journalist Nilo Baculo filed anapplication for the writ when helearned of a plan to kill him, al-legedly by people whose wrongdoing he had exposed.

In a four-page resolution, theSupreme Court, sitting en banc,issued a writ of amparo in behalfof Nilo Baculo Sr., publisher ofthe community newsletterTraveler’s News in Calapan city,Oriental Mindoro.

Baculo asked the High Courton Feb. 4 to issue him a “tempo-rary protection order” under Sec-tion 14 of the Rule on the writ ofamparo after an alleged hiredkiller told him he had been hiredto kill the journalist by a localbusinessman and two local offi-cials of Calapan City. All hadbeen the subject of Baculo’sexposés, and were named respon-dents in Baculo’s petition.

Baculo was elated that theHigh Court had approved hispetition. “I am inspired…becausethere is still justice in the coun-try,” he said in Filipino.

Baculo also said that he willcarry on his fight against corrup-tion and anomalies in his com-munity. Baculo, with the help ofhis children, continues to publishhis weekly newsletter Traveller’sNews.

The writ of amparo is “a rem-edy available to any personwhose right to life, liberty and

Baculo MELANIE Y. PINLAC

APRIL 2008 21PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS

ceded by the retraction of witnessPeter Melgar, who submitted anaffidavit of desistance on Febru-ary, withdrawing the statementhe gave in 2004 identifyingArcenio as the gunman.

Bombo Radyo Kalibo stationmanager Jan Allen Ascaño saidthat Melgar stated in his retrac-tion that he was not sure that itwas Arcenio who shot Hinolan.After almost four years, Melgarclaims that it was a case of mis-taken identity.

“Masama ang loob ko sanangyayari sa kaso (I feel badwith what’s happening tocase),” Aphrodite Hinolan, wifeof Herson Hinolan, said. Shesaid Arcenio could have paidoff Melgar to retract his state-ment. Melgar has left the DoJWitness Protection Program,Hinolan said.

Senior state prosecutor LeoDacera of the DoJ’s WPP said theDoJ lost contact with Melgar thisFebruary. The last time the DoJhad any contact with Melgar waswhen he claimed his subsistenceallowance from the DoJ’s WPP.

Lawyer Napoleon Oducado,private counsel in the Hinolancase, said in an interview withBombo Radyo Kalibo that thecase against Arcenio remainsstrong despite Melgar’s retrac-tion because there is another eye-witness who had identifiedArcenio as the shooter.

The Supreme Court has re-cently approved the petition forchange of venue filed by the Free-dom Fund for Filipino Journal-ists and the National Union ofJournalists of the Philippines inFebruary 2008 for the case ofHinolan and another Aklan-based reporter Rolando Ureta(see related story “High Courtgrants petition for transfer ofvenue of the trials in the killingof two journalists”).

News network preventedfrom aerial coverage

THE AIR Transport Office (ATO)prevented aerial news coverageby a local TV news network ofthe largest protest rally againstPresident Gloria Macapagal Ar-royo since a scandal over a na-tional broadband network dealbroke out. ATO declared the airspace above Makati City wherethe Feb. 29 rally was held a “nofly zone”.

The news helicopter of ABS-CBN 2 could not take off as a re-sult, thus preventing reports andphotographs from the air thatcould have given the public anidea of how large the rally was.

The ATO directive was issuedupon the request of the Philip-

pine National Police (PNP) onFeb. 27. The PNP website said thatthe ATO directive was “anotherprecautionary measure” to en-sure the safety of those attendingthe rally. But ATO Executive Di-rector Daniel Dimagiba wasquoted as saying that the direc-tive was aimed at stopping specu-lations that protestors were un-der surveillance by governmentforces during the event.

According to ABS-CBN 2newsgathering head CharieVilla, the network received acopy of the directive just hoursbefore the protest rally was aboutto begin.

The ban lasted from 5 p.m. to8 p.m., or about the same timethe rally started and ended. ThePNP estimated the crowd ataround 10,000 to 15,000, whileorganizers estimated attendanceat 75,000.

The protest rally, whichcalled for the resignation of Mrs.Arroyo, was one of many pro-voked by allegations of grosscorruption in a governmentproject to build a national broad-band network allegedly involv-ing millions of dollars in kick-backs for high-ranking govern-ment officials. Both Mrs. Arroyoand husband Jose Miguel“Mike” Arroyo have been impli-cated by three insider witnesses.

Villa said they were fortunatethat the network had set up aback-up camera at the Ayalatower, a commercial buildinglocated near the rally site. ButVilla said ABS-CBN 2 coveragewas hampered anyway.

ATO is the governmentagency responsible for com-mercial licensing of pilots, reg-istration of aircraft, and record-ing of various aeronautical ac-tivities connected with com-mercial aviation. n

The Irish News appealed thejury’s verdict on the libel casewhich ordered it to pay £25,000to Convery for damages. Thenewspaper said that the reviewwritten by Caroline Workmanconsisted of fair and honest com-ments.

Convery sued The Irish Newsfor libel for the August 2000 re-view of his restaurant saying thatthe pizzeria has lousy service andcheap food ingredients.

Chief Justice Kerr also or-dered a retrial of the case sayingthat the jury was misdirected dur-ing the trial. According to theLondon-based newspaper TheTimes, Kerr also said that “thequestion of malice has not beendecided by the jury and this there-fore remains an issue that re-quires to be determined, if it isconcluded that the defense of faircomment is otherwise available.”

The Associated Press (AP) re-ported Kerr as saying that theoutcome of the previous trialcould have been in favor of thenewspaper if the jury was prop-erly guided by the trial judge onwhat to do.

Workman was delighted bythe court decision. “I am very re-lieved. I think it is a good day forrestaurant trade of Northern Ire-land,” she told the The Times.

The Irish News editor NoelDoran told the The Times that “Itis a great victory for The IrishNews. We came here to prove apoint of principle and we havebeen vindicated.”

Convery plans to file anotherlawsuit against The Irish News,according to the AP report.

Crackdown over Tibet andOlympic protests continues

RIGHTS ACTIVISTS protestingthe Chinese crackdown in Ti-bet, including three membersof Reporters Without Borders(RSF), were arrested on March24 for disrupting the Olympicflame-lighting ceremony inOlympia, Greece.

RSF secretary general RobertMénard and two other RSF mem-bers unfurled a banner of theOlympic rings transformed intohandcuffs and called for a boy-cott of the opening ceremoniesof the Beijing Games in August.

The incident occurred as LiuQi, president of the Beijing Or-ganizing Committee, was ad-dressing thousands of dignitar-ies, Olympics officials and spec-tators, minutes before the flamewas lit at the ancient Greektemple of Olympia amid a secu-rity detail of 1,000 police offic-ers and commandos. The March24 ceremony marks the official

countdown to the Games.According to RSF, Chinese

state television cut to a pre-re-corded scene during the disrup-tion, and Greek national televi-sion broke off its broadcast.

Moments later, about 10 Ti-betan activists marched out ofa hotel in Olympia and shoutedslogans against Chinese rule inTibet. One woman doused inred paint lay down in thetown’s main street in front of atorch runner.

Police detained the three RSFmembers and some of the Ti-betan activists. The RSF memberswere accused of showing “con-tempt for national symbols” andwill go on trial on May 29.

“We cannot let the Chinesegovernment seize the Olympicflame, a symbol of peace, with-out denouncing the dramatic situ-ation of human rights in the coun-try,” RSF said in a statement.

RSF, along with other Inter-national Freedom of ExpressionExchange (IFEX) members, hascondemned China’s humanrights violations and the crack-down on press freedom in the faceof rising civil unrest in Tibet.

Founded in 1992, IFEX is a glo-bal network of non-governmentorganizations that seeks to pro-mote and defend freedom of ex-pression. The Center for MediaFreedom and Responsibility is anIFEX member.

Human Rights Watch says theOlympics officials’ resolve to runthe Olympic torch throughTibet’s capital Lhasa on June 20-21 could invite new protests andprovoke further repression. “Ei-ther Tibet is open or it’s not. If itis, let independent monitors andthe media go there. If it’s not, thetorch shouldn’t go there either,”says Human Rights Watch.

China has faced a public rela-tions disaster since protestserupted in Lhasa on March 10, the49th commemoration of a faileduprising against Chinese rule,and spread through Tibet andneighboring provinces. The Chi-nese authorities responded bydispersing the protests, in somecases violently. The governmentsays 22 people have died in theclashes but the toll has been im-possible to confirm because of anews blackout imposed by Chinain the country’s interior. Tibetanexile groups say at least 80 peoplehave been killed.

According to the Committeeto Protect Journalists (CPJ), statemedia have not reported thespread of violence into westernChina. The government censorshave access to overseas reportsand online discussion, leavingmany in China uninformed aboutthe extent of the turmoil. Mean-

while, the state press is relayingone-sided statements by officialsraging against the “Dalai Lama’sclique”, “rioters”, and foreignnews media, says RSF.

The Chinese governmentcontinues to ban and expel for-eign journalists from Tibet andthe neighboring provinces ofGansu, Qinghai, and Sichuan, aswell as the capital, Beijing, sayRSF and CPJ. Journalists havebeen temporarily detained andfollowed. RSF has recorded morethan 40 serious violations of therights of foreign journalists sincethe protests erupted on March 10.

Meanwhile, lines of commu-nication have been cut or heavilyrestricted. International radio sta-tions have been jammed in Tibetand Internet café owners are be-ing forced to increase the surveil-lance of clients to prevent photosand videos from being sentabroad, reports RSF. At the sametime, telephone services are stillsubject to extensive disruptions.

Nor is the crackdown con-tained within China’s borders.Police in Nepal broke up a pro-test near the UN offices inKathmandu by hundreds of Ti-betan refugees and monks onMonday. The protesters, whowere demanding a UN investi-gation into the crackdown,were beaten with bamboosticks and at least 40 were ar-rested, say news reports.

Human Rights Watch hasurged Nepal to stop doing“Beijing’s bidding” and end itscrackdown on Tibetan exilesprotesting against China.Nepal, home to thousands ofTibetan refugees, has said itwill not allow protests againstany “friendly nation,” includ-ing China.

IFEX members RSF, CPJ,Human Rights Watch, as wellas ARTICLE 19 and the WorldAssociation of Newspapers(WAN) are demanding that theChinese government lift itslockdown of all Tibetan areasand give media and indepen-dent observers full access.

Human Rights Watch and RSFare also calling for an indepen-dent investigation, ideallyheaded by the United Nations,into recent events in Tibet. – IFEX

Eyptian editor sentenced tosix months in jail

AN EGYPTIAN misdemeanorcourt has sentenced IbrahimEissa, editor in chief of the in-dependent daily Al-Dustour, tosix months in prison for “pub-lishing false information andrumors” about President HosniMubarak’s health. The court

Irish newspaper wins appealon libel case verdict

THE COURT of Appeals ofNorthern Ireland overturnedon March 10 an unprecedentedjury verdict directing localnewspaper The Irish News topay libel damages amountingto £25,000 to a restaurant for acritical food review.

Northern Ireland Lord ChiefJustice Brian Kerr with two otherAppeals court judges approvedthe appeal of the Belfast-basednewspaper to overturn thejury’s verdict on the libel caseagainst The Irish News filed bythe owner of Goodfellas Pizze-ria, Ciarnan Convery.

INTERNATIONAL

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTSAPRIL 200822 CRiSiSNATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL

said the articles were likely todisturb public security and harmthe country’s economy.

Eissa was forced to post 200Egyptian pounds (Php 1,500) asbail to halt implementation of thecourt’s ruling until appeal. Eissa’slawyers told the Committee toProtect Journalists (CPJ) that theywould appeal the “politically-motivated verdict”.

Eissa, who has been doggedfor several years by criminalprosecutions, was charged underthe Penal Code in September forpublishing reports aboutMubarak’s health that were “li-able to disturb public security anddamage public interest.” The casewas first hastily submitted to theEmergency State Security Court,a special tribunal that does notallow for appeals and rarely is-sues acquittals. But it was exam-ined later by a misdemeanorcourt following a local and inter-national outcry.

Eissa’s prosecution occurredafter First Lady Suzanne Mubaraktold the satellite television sta-tion Al-Arabiya that herhusband’s health was “excellent”and that “there must be punish-ment either for a journalist, a tele-vision program, and newspapersthat publish the rumors (sayingthe contrary).”

Al-Dustour was neither theonly nor the first Egyptian paperto speculate about Mubarak’shealth. But Eissa’s critical and sar-castic articles, particularly onepublished at the end of August inwhich he said the president inEgypt “is a god and the godsdon’t get sick,” prompted angerin official circles and was usedlater to prosecute him.

“The verdict is a strong mes-sage from the regime to warnevery journalist against the dan-ger of getting close to the presi-dent or criticizing him,” IbrahimMansour, Al-Dustour executiveeditor, told CPJ. “This is mereschizophrenia. Because they keep

claiming that they are commit-ted to freedom of expression at atime when they are issuing courtdecisions to jail journalists.”

Eissa told CPJ that he cur-rently faces eight cases, most ofthem filed by members of theruling National Democratic Partyheaded by Mubarak, who willturn 80 in May. They accuse theeditor of tarnishing the image ofthe country and harming thereputation of its leaders, in reac-tion mainly to articles critical ofMubarak’s lengthy rule and ofthe rumor that his son, Gamal, isbeing groomed for power.

In May, CPJ designated Egyptas one of the worst backsliderson press freedom, citing an in-crease in the number of legal andphysical attacks on the press.

Billion-baht defamationsuits filed againstcolumnist, formerparliament member

TESCO LOTUS, one of the big-gest retailers in Thailand, hasfiled two staggering defama-tion cases against a Thai colum-nist and a former Parliamentmember, sending a strong mes-sage to civil society and thepress to tread carefully beforecriticizing the retailing giant inThailand, the Southeast AsianPress Alliance (SEAPA) reports.

Tesco Lotus sued columnistand academic Kamol Kamol-trakul and former Thai NationalLegislative Assembly (NLA)member Jit Siratranont for 100million baht (approximately Php132 million) and one billion baht(approximately Php 1.32 billion),respectively, after they criticizedand questioned the aggressiveexpansion strategies of Tesco Lo-tus in Thailand.

The British newspaper TheObserver quoted a Tesco spokes-man as saying that they “haveissued proceedings against two

individuals in connection with asustained campaign of false andmisleading statements aboutTesco Lotus in Thailand. The sug-gestion that profits from TescoLotus are not reinvested in Thai-land is blatantly untrue. The re-ality is that we have investedwell…. While we believe peopleare entitled to their opinions, itis our belief that in these casesTesco Lotus was seriously de-famed. Both cases are being dealtwith by the Thai courts and weawait the outcome. We regretthat we have had to resort to thisaction and hope the matter canbe resolved by agreement.”

Siratranont, currently the sec-retary general of the Thai Cham-ber of Commerce, was quotedby The Observer as saying in aspeech to 150 activists: “Thelarge-scale expansion of the bigretailers must be exercised withgreat care —not too aggressivelyand too rapidly—to reduce thepotential tension, which couldlead to serious conflict. There isalso the need for the small retailtraders to adjust to changes.Tesco Lotus must take all of thisinto account.”

Kamol was sued for an ar-ticle published in the Thai-lan-guage KrungThepTurakit(Bangkok-BizNews), which ex-pressed generally the same con-cerns about Tesco Lotus’ aggres-siveness, and also what the col-umnist suggested was the re-tailing giant’s weak social re-sponsibility in Thailand.

Both Siratranont and Kamolacknowledged erroneously say-ing that Tesco Lotus’ Thailandoperations accounted for as muchas 37 percent of the UK-basedTesco’s global revenue, butstressed that this did not detractfrom the main message of theirconcerns—concerns which, in anycase, were of legitimate publicinterest in Thailand.

The expansion of foreign re-tailing chains in Thailand haslong been a major political issueas it undercuts tens of thousandsof small retailers across the coun-try, SEAPA says.

Established in Bangkok inNovember 1998, SEAPA is a coa-lition of five media advocacy or-ganizations around SoutheastAsia that aims to unite indepen-dent journalists’ and press-relatedorganizations in the region intoa force for advocacy and mutualprotection. The Center for MediaFreedom and Responsibility is afounding SEAPA member.

SEAPA sees the Tesco Lotussuits as harassment, pure andsimple, not only of consumeradvocates and Thai civil societyactors, but of journalists and com-mentators in general.—SEAPA n

CHRONiCLEof the Screening Committee toassure continuity in the process,will instead decide on oneawardee for each of the threecategories mentioned above.The winning articles can be ei-ther investigative or explana-tory reports, and will receivethe usual cash prize of P70,000each. Other meritorious inves-tigative/explanatory articleswill also be recognized and ac-cordingly awarded.

The recipients of the MarshallMcLuhan Prize and AustralianAmbassador’s Award will bechosen from among theawardees by the Canadian andAustralian embassies in consul-tation with CMFR. The awardeeswill be presented in a ceremonypreceded by the JVOAEJ journal-ism seminar, which this yearwill be on June 26.

New investigativejourn group formed

A GROUP of veteran journalistshas established VERA Files,which they said will be doing in-depth and investigative storieson Philippine issues. Vera is Latinfor “true.”

According to Ellen Tordesillas,one of its trustees, VERA Fileswill provide relevant informa-tion about current Philippine is-sues thru stories with back-ground, context, and perspective.It aims to help make the publicunderstand these issues so it canmake informed decisions.

The new group’s first story,on the Spratlys issue, was pub-lished on March 10 in severalManila newspapers, followedby a series on the biofuels lawon April 7 and 8.

In addition to Malaya columnistand Jaime V. Ongpin Awards forExcellence in Journalism(JVOAEJ) first-prize winnerTordesillas, the trustees andmain writers of VERA Files areYvonne Chua and Luz Rimban,who are both JVOAEJ Hall ofFamers; Chit Estella, former PJRReports editor; Booma Cruz, for-merly of Pinoy Times; and Jenni-fer Santiago of BusinessMirror.

Chua and Estella are both fac-ulty members of the Departmentof Journalism of the Universityof the Philippines, while Rimbanteaches at the Ateneo de ManilaDepartment of Communication.

Tirol resigns asPDI ombudsman

LORNA KALAW-Tirol, formereditor of the PJR Reports, hasofficially resigned as the press

2008 JVOAEJfocuses oncorruption, humanrights andenvironment

THE 2008 Jaime V. OngpinAwards for Excellence in Jour-nalism (JVOAEJ) will focus oncorruption/governance, humanrights and environmental issues.

This was among the changesannounced in the country’smost prestigious journalismawards by the Center for Me-dia Freedom and Responsibil-ity (CMFR), which administersthe JVOAEJ.

CMFR executive directorMelinda de Jesus said thechanges are being introduced inrecognition of the urgency ofencouraging journalistic excel-lence in addressing corruption/governance, human rights, andenvironmental issues.

The country has beenrocked by one corruption scan-dal after another, even as thehuman rights situation and en-vironmental degradation haveworsened.

CMFR also announced that aBoard of Judges is being consti-tuted to decide on who the 2008JVOAEJ awardees will be. Theselection process goes throughseveral stages. CMFR conductedthe first late last year, the inde-pendent scan of the major newspublications to collect articles onthe basis of minimum criteria,length and time of publication.

Articles submitted earlierwere screened by a committeeof journalists and academicslast April 3 and 4. CMFR hasalso received for screeningnominations by editors and re-porters of in-depth reports pub-lished in 2007. Articles submit-ted to the Board of Judges donot have to be nominated bythe news organization.

The articles that pass thescreening stage used to be clas-sified into investigative and ex-planatory articles and were thenforwarded to Boards of Judgesin the politics and governance,business and economics, and en-vironment and social issues cat-egories. A “superboard” thendecided on a list of ten finalistsat most, from which threeawardees each from the investi-gative and explanatory catego-ries were drawn.

CMFR said that for the judg-ing this year, a superboard willno longer be constituted, and nodistinction will be made be-tween articles published in week-lies and dailies. A Board ofJudges, which includes members

Mubarak WWW.MSN.ENCARTA.COM

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS APRIL 2008 23CHRONiCLE

OBiTBARNES, 63TELEVISION JOURNALIST and newscaster Carol Barnes died of a strokelast March 8 in Brighton, England. She was 63.

At a time when looks are given much weight in the selection offemale newscasters, Barnes stood out to prove she was far morethan that. A combination of intelligence, passion, and glamour, Barnesstarted as a scriptwriter for Independent Radio News in the early 70’sand moved to BBC Radio 4’s The World at One in 1974.

In 1975, she became a reporter for ITN and anchored, amongothers, its flagship news program News at Ten. She also became partof the morning newsmagazine program Channel 4 Daily produced byITN and aired over the British TV station Channel 4.

Barnes covered varied assignments, from Ayatollah Khomeini’sexile in France in 1979, Brixton riot in 1981, down to the tragic deathof Princess Diana in 1997. Her stint in ITN included her anchoring ofthe financial program Simply Money and current affairs Seven Days.

Barnes reportedly suffered from depression when her daughter byformer partner and fellow journalist Denis MacShane, died in anaccident in 2004. This led her to elude television work for a while.During this time, however, she worked as a columnist for the maga-zine Absolute London. Barnes also spearheaded a number of confer-ences which included a summit on age discrimination.

MCNICOLL, 93DONALD MCNICOLL, a Scottish journalist who worked for the Asso-ciated Press (AP) for 33 years, died on Feb.25. He was 93.

McNicoll’s 72-year career in journalism was primarily devoted toAP, first as the news agency’s London desk head and later as itsworld desk head. While in AP, he wrote the AP Manual News Agen-cies and the Law, a guidebook discussing libel, and introduced AP-Dow Jones Financial News Service. McNicoll reported WinstonChurchill’s death and viewed it as his most remarkable work for thenews agency.

Known for being a strict and meticulous editor, McNicoll trainedhis staff with the right journalistic skills, enabling them to be com-petitive with rival news organizations Reuters and United Press In-ternational. When computers were first introduced in the news-room in the early 1970s, McNicoll took part in the negotiations aftersome employees contested the change.

McNicoll was elected head of the National Union of Journalists(NUJ) in AP for 20 years and chaired Fleet Street News Agencies’branch of NUJ.

McNicoll retired from AP in 1979, after which he continued towrite, covering the environment and forestry beats. He also taughtat the London School of Journalism for almost 30 years, serving asits deputy head from 1965-75.

RODERICK, 93JOHN RODERICK, one of the most well-known foreign correspon-dents in Associated Press (AP), died on March 11 at the age of 93.

He joined the news agency’s Portland bureau in 1937 and laterits Washington office in 1942. Roderick’s most notable report washis coverage of the civil war in China in 1946.

The relationship he established with communist leaders when hewas covering the renewed civil war between the communists andthe nationalists after World War II enabled Roderick to help pave theway for China’s “reopening” to Washington after years of hostility,which eventually led to then President Richard Nixon’s visit to China.

His fascination with China led him to write the book CoveringChina, which detailed the many conversations and encounters hehad with Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other top Chinese communistleaders.

Roderick also reported in 1948 the assassination of Count FolkeBernadotte, a United Nations mediator in the Arab-Israeli conflict,and the defeat of the French Union Forces in the Battle of Dien BienPhu in Vietnam in 1954.

Roderick was named AP special correspondent in 1977 and re-ceived the Order of the Sacred Treasure, an award given by the Japa-nese government, in 1985. n

ombudsman/readers’ advocateof the Philippine Daily Inquirer.Tirol, who held the position forthree years, was the fourthombudsman of the newspaper.The Inquirer’s previous readers’advocates were DomingoQuimlat, Alice Colet Villadolid,and Raul Palabrica.

The press ombudsman—alsoreferred to as news ombudsman,public editor, readers’ represen-tative, or readers’ advocate—actsas a liaison between readers andthe newsroom, trying to makeboth parties understand eachother. The ombudsman has amandate to represent the readersin the newsroom, addressingtheir concerns about thenewspaper’s work. S/he therebyassures that fairness, accuracy,and balance are being met innews reports.

The role is usually given tolong-term practitioners. It iscommonly assigned to a news-paper insider, sometimes as-sumed by the publisher or edi-tor; to an outsider, to providean extra level of independence;or to someone appointed by thegovernment (as in the case ofSweden). Some ombudsmenwork on a contractual basiswhile most are on thenewspaper’s regular payroll.

The press ombudsman sys-tem originated in Japan in a To-kyo daily in 1922 and was laterdeveloped in the US in 1967. Itwas then adopted by such coun-tries as UK, Ireland, Canada,and those in Europe, LatinAmerica, and Asia, many yearsafter. It was meant to providean independent, self-regulatorymechanism to ensure transpar-ency and accountability in newsgathering and dissemination—a crucial task in establishingand sustaining newspaper cred-ibility before the public.

Despite what a press om-budsman can do in the news-room, the concept has notachieved universal acceptancein the media. According to theEuropean Journalism Observa-tory, there are roughly 90 pressombudsmen internationally asof 2007. In the US alone, thenumber of press ombudsmen isdeclining as news organiza-tions abolish the position foreconomic reasons despite sev-eral US studies suggesting thatthe position has a positive ef-fect on improving newspapercredibility and over-all quality.

In the Philippines, the rolehas already been tried andtested by many newspapers.The Inquirer, The Philippine Star,the Manila Bulletin, The ManilaTimes, Malaya, andBusinessWorld and the now-de-

funct The Manila Chronicle andPhilippine Times Journal areamong the newspapers that, atleast once, employed ombuds-men in their newsrooms. His-tory has shown that as in mostother countries, the press om-budsman system does not workin the Philippines either, andonly the Inquirer has retainedthe position of ombudsman, orreaders’ advocate.

According to Vergel Santos,chairman of the editorial boardof BusinessWorld, the main rea-son why press ombudsmanshipis deemed ineffective is becausethe role “has an inherently ethi-cal anomaly.” He said that thenature of the job makes it un-clear whose interests press om-budsmen represent. “Newspa-pers have profit interests. Apress ombudsman representsthe public interest, but is beingpaid by people who have pri-vate interests,” Santos argued.

Newspapers employ a pressombudsman to impress on thepublic that they put a premiumon their readers’ concerns, butits limits are not properly de-fined. Santos said that some gobeyond their duties andmeddle in tasks that are not in-cluded in their job descriptions.This situation blurs a pressombudsman’s lines of author-ity, creating conflict within theranks in the newsroom.

But for Jose Pavia, executivedirector of the Philippine PressInstitute, the failings of pressperformance monitoring insti-tutions initiated in the countryby the media themselves can beattributed to the low turn-outof complaints. Some people aretoo focused on other engage-ments and tend not to com-plain, while others are con-tented with buying tabloidswhich feed them the news thatthey want and which they there-fore would not criticize. He saidthat with the small number ofcomplaints, newspapers wouldthink twice before employingpress ombudsmen.

The history of the Philip-pine media has shown that atleast initially they are moti-vated not by the public’s rightto and need for information butby private and political inter-ests, the media being multi-million business propositionsand as well as political weap-ons. Those who are supposedto represent public interestwithin the media, such as pressombudsmen, are pressured toprioritize the media’s privateand political interests first. Thepress ombudsman system thustends to be a vulnerable regu-latory mechanism most espe-

cially in the commercially- andpolitically-driven media in thePhilippines.

Book on ManilaChronicle storyreleased

A BOOK that recounts a time-less existence of the conver-gence between the forces of thePhilippine media and politics,The Power and the Glory: the Storyof the Manila Chronicle 1945-1998,was recently released.

Authored by historian RaulRodrigo, The Power and the Glorydeals with the entire saga of TheManila Chronicle from the time itwas put up by a group of journal-ists led by ex-Tribune staffRoberto Villanueva in 1945 untilits tragic downfall in 1998.

The Chronicle, acclaimed asone of the finest newspapers everto be printed in the country,served as “both recorder and ac-tor in some of the most signifi-cant moments in Philippine his-tory.” It has produced four Fili-pino winners of the RamonMagsaysay Award for Journal-ism, Literature, and CreativeCommunication Arts, namely:Zac Sarian, Raul Locsin, SheilaCoronel, and Eggie Apostol. TheLopez family led the newspaperfrom 1947 to 1993.

The Eugenio Lopez Founda-tion published the book.

Washington Postreporters bag 2008Selden Ring Award

DANA PRIEST and Anne Hullof The Washington Post tookhome the 2008 Selden RingAward for Investigative Re-porting for their series of re-ports on the deep and wide-spread problems at the WalterReed Army Medical Center.

Priest and Hull’s story, “TheOther Walter Reed”, exposedthe poor condition and badmanagement at the hospital.Their investigation led in thedismissal of leading Army of-ficials and the improvement ofthe system for treating militaryoutpatients. The WashingtonPost started publishing the re-ports in Feb. 2007.

The Selden Ring Award forInvestigative Reporting honorsjournalists whose investigativereporting “informed the publicabout major problems or corrup-tion in society and yielded con-crete results.” The award is pre-sented annually by the Annen-berg School for Communicationat the University of SouthernCalifornia. n

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTSAPRIL 200824

the beat never fail toshare with us insideinformation and eveninsights when theyare most needed.

While it takes some timeto build trust among old and

new reporters alike, I believethere will always be those whodeserve our trust outright. Wecall them “kaka” in the beat, andno further introduction or expla-nation is necessary.

Other reporters have comeand gone to and from that smallpress room at the Department ofJustice (DoJ) building along Pa-dre Faura. Many get reassignedto juicier beats, but given thechoice, I have alwayswanted to stay. For me,there is nothing like cover-ing the judiciary. Let me tell youwhy.

It is about seeing a pregnantwoman jump for joy upon learn-ing she has passed the Bar exams,as well as the long faces and tearsof those who failed, and the clap-ping and cheering and shoutingof those who made it as theysearch for their loved ones’ facesin the crowd.

It is about feeling your backache and your butt go numb asyou sit through 10 hours of oralarguments, witnessing how theSupreme Court justices think justby listening to the questions theyask during the proceedings. It iswatching that high profile andbrilliant lawyer stutter andbuckle as he tries to answer the

questions thrown athim by the justices. Itis also about bettingwith your fellowbeat reporters on whowill lose or win a casebased on the oral argumentspresented.

While many dread the longhours, fellow beat reporter Jo-seph Morong from GMA-7 saysit is actually what he likes mostabout the judiciary beat. Hesays he sees democracy in ac-tion when covering oral argu-ments, and how the principleof checks and balances operates,especially in cases where certain

acts and policies of the execu-tive department suchas the Calibrated

Peemptive Response policy, Presi-dential Proclamation 1017, and thePeople’s Initiative are questioned.

Covering the judiciary alsomeans interesting reading and aquick political education onceyou refuse to be intimidated bythe thick ponencias or decisionsby the High Court. The issuesthat have reached the court varyfrom the legality of the President’sstate of emergency proclamationto a person’s sex change. Some-times it is entertaining enoughto just read and listen to legalesethat even lawyers themselvesfind hard to understand. Add tothat the pressure of translating thecourt’s work into something theordinary viewer or reader can ap-preciate—while you’re trying tobeat a deadline. I mean, lawyers

have days to go over the court’sdecision before they commenton the issue at hand, but justicereporters have only an hour ortwo to file their stories. It is nomean feat for people who havenever been to law school.

Covering the justice beat alsomeans listening to, waiting forand sometimes even anticipat-ing what Justice secretary RaulGonzalez will say next. Cover-ing the judiciary also means cov-ering the colorful, often-criti-cized man behind the DoJ aswell. While many cringe in ex-pectation, I for one admire Sec-retary Gonzalez for saying the

unexpected—whether it beon the President’s enemies,the DoJ’s cases, or evenSusan Roces.

And yes, it is aboutthe friendships amongcourt reporters.Among members ofthe Justice and CourtReporters Associa-tion or JUCRA, ev-ery good thing,whether big orsmall, is cel-ebrated. Pizza,pancit, icecream, and moreare but regular

fare as we cel-ebrate birthdays, new

reporters assigned on the beat,banner stories, new cell phones,promotions, and even our ownchildren’s accomplishments inschool! I think it is our way ofreminding each other to alwayslook at the glass as not halfempty but half full.

Lastly, and perhaps most im-portant of all—covering the ju-diciary enables us to informpeople about the law. For manywho have never really read theConstitution from its preambleto the end, covering the justicebeat is almost like taking Law101–and it is something we aswell as our readers or viewerslearn not from teachers or booksbut from real people’s experi-ences with the law through thestories that we tell. Most of ushope to remind people of theirrights as individuals. We hopeto remind them of their rights ascitizens of this country, and toinstill in them the faith that theyshould not lose hope in the jus-tice system even if it has beencriticized often. We can senseourselves succeeding in somecases, but failing in some. Butthat’s the way it is in the justicebeat. n

Marieton Pacheco covers the jus-tice beat for ABS-CBN 2.

I WILL never forget the Supreme-Court’s 84-page decision on the le-gality of the Expanded ValueAdded Tax (EVAT) Law. Barely aweek into covering the judiciary, I

could not believe that I had to produce areport on the decision, which the HighCourt’s Public Information Office had distributedat 6 p.m.—30 minutes before our network’s primetimenewscast. I distinctly remember that while former SCspokesman Ismael Khan Jr. was giving a press confer-ence to explain the court’s decision on the added taxthat would further burden Filipinos, I was already infront of the cameras explaining to viewers why theEVAT was inevitable. This despite the fact that I hadnot read the main petition, nor the arguments for andagainst it.

n By Marieton Pacheco

It was my baptism of fire.While I would rather forgetabout my live report that night,I learned three important thingsabout covering the judiciaryduring that two-and-a-halfminute experience.

First, I am not expected tofully explain all the ramifica-tions of the Supreme Court de-cision. My role as a justice beatreporter is to inform the publicthat the court has decided on anissue, and then to make the is-sue understandable to ordinaryviewers in the two minutes thatI have to do the report.

Second, it pays to do yourhomework. That means readingthe petition when it is filed soyou have enough backgroundto understand and to be able toexplain the case once the deci-sion is issued.

And third, don’t forget to askwhy it’s important. Sometimeswe get so caught up in the legalarguments that we tend to takefor granted why we do reportson court decisions in the firstplace. Many resolutions emergefrom the Supreme Court’s enbanc sessions, but only a few areprinted in the newspapers oraired over radio and television.There must be a reason why.Knowing why the decision is im-portant makes it easier to gostraight to what it means for theordinary viewer.

My three years in the judi-ciary beat may seem relativelyshort compared to the terms ofthose who have been there foras long as some of the justicesthemselves. There are only ahandful of these veterans. Luckyfor us newbies, these veterans of

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MANIX ABRERA