Media derring-do

By Renato Tibon

“Journalism will kill you, but it will keep you alive while you’re at it.” – Horace Greely, founder and editor of New York Tribune

IN search of newsworthy items and scoops, media newshounds, including investigative reporters, journalists, correspondents and other members of the press pursuing stories, rumors, scandals and other interests that inform, entertain and communicate are exposed to the hazards of the trade, sometimes fatally.

Among the most horrifying, the Maguindanao massacre in 2009 where 32 journalists and media practitioners were among those killed in a deadly ambush of 58 individuals on their way to an electoral event, easily comes to mind. The murderers were since apprehended and sentenced to life imprisonment but the threat to witnesses, arresting police and military personnel and media men covering the case, remains. 

More crucial than bringing the perpetrators to justice is taking steps to ensure the safety of journalists in the normal conduct of their profession.

How imperiled are journalists and media people in the country? Across the globe, Philippines has the most number of unsolved murders involving media practitioners. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), some reporters harping on sensitive issues including official corruption and organized crime were murdered and while suspects were eventually convicted, “impunity for such crimes remain the norm.”

If records at the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) is anything to go by, indeed the country is in bad shape, for the flourishing of press freedom. Their reports in 2018, documented 99 cases of attacks and threats to journalists since the present administration came to be, involving online harassments, killings, libel, SMS death threats, slay attempts, physical assaults, warrant-less arrests and strafing/shooting among other fatal and life-threatening incidents. Ominously, suspects in nearly half of the cases include state agents and public officials.

How about those who are covering operations against illegal drugs? With accusations leveled against policemen conducting raids at pre-identified targets, including “tokhang” (knock-request) operations, representatives of the church, interest groups and media were invited to accompany them during these engagements to promote transparency and negate charges that extra-judicial killings are perpetrated against suspects. The downside is that these representatives are required by law to become signatories to the arresting lawmen’s reports.

In a press statement, Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro’s District 2, stressed that media should be spared from being forced to document and testify in court for drug cases. He proposed to amend the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 (RA 9165) which requires representatives from media who accompany law enforcers in their anti-illegal drugs operation to sign the inventory of confiscated items. 

As witnesses, they are also to testify during the hearings of these cases. He pointed out however, it is not their job and that beat reporters are there to cover law enforcement activities and for “journalism purposes only.” The requirement puts them at risk since it is not a remote possibility that the accused might exact retribution for testifying in their cases. NUJP has been lobbying with congress to remove such a requirement by amending the law as a way of protecting media men from undue exposure.

Rodriguez said these reporters should not be required, coerced or intimidated to be called as witnesses in relation to the anti-drug operations they covered. Mere mention of the reporter’s name during the hearing should not be a reason likewise for the court to subpoena said reporter. He emphasized there are enough public officers like participating law enforcers, prosecutors and barangay officials who could attest to the inventory of seized contraband in drug operations and testify in hearings. “We should not burden our journalists with that since it’s not part of their job,” he further said.

Among other laws protecting journalists, writers, editors and reporters is RA 11458 recently signed by PRRD which provides that print, broadcast and online media “could not be compelled to disclose their sources unless the court or congress determines that disclosure is demanded by the security of the state”.

Despite laws that aim to protect press freedom, there still exists today, a pall of gloom hovering over the heads of media people. To my mind, the issues against a popular broadcast station whose franchise renewal may remain in limbo notwithstanding pronouncements by supporters, sympathetic senators and legal opinion-makers, is not an assault to media nor to journalists in the country plying their trade freely. It is the culture of impunity, of fear over retaliation and sense of vulnerability, the bias of laws and procedures that favor the rich who can afford the services of legal eagles and the extravagance of dyed-in-the-wool politicians who distort and manipulate journalism under their palms that are disturbingly pervasive. There will always be those however, who will carry on the fight, derring-do media personalities who will carry the torch for a free media. Deo et patriae.

(Renato Gica Tibon is a fellow of the Fellowship of the 300, an elite organization under Centrist Democracy Political Institute with focus on political technocracy. He  holds both position as political action officer and program manager of the Institute. He is the former regional chairman for Region 10 and vice president for Mindanao of the Centrist Democratic Party of the Philippines.)