Aquino must not use hostage crisis to emasculate media

Aquino must not use hostage crisis to emasculate media

By Antonio Zumel Center for Press Freedom

The Antonio Zumel Center for Press Freedom cautions the Aquino government from using the recent hostage crisis in the Philippines and the blame game going on against the media to institute restrictive policies against the press.

Even before an investigation of the police’s conduct of the botched rescue operation has been launched, criticism against the press that covered the incident has swelled, with officials suggesting measures – even a law! — that may be used to violate freedom of the press or restrict journalists from effectively doing their job.

President Benigno Aquino added fuel to the anti-media sentiment by saying that the media coverage of the hostage-taker’s brother being arrested “further agitated the hostage-taker,” despite the fact that it was clear the manner of the arrest was at issue, not whether journalists were there to record it.

We view these unfair criticisms against the press as an effort by the government to shift the blame from itself because of its incompetent handling of the crisis. As the Hongkong Journalists Association pointed out, “nobody can tell if the same tragedy would not have taken place without the presence of the media. What we can be sure of is that without the presence of the media no knowledge of this horrific tragedy would have been known to the outside world.”

An effect of this blame game encouraged by the Aquino government is that there are more stories coming out now about the media’s conduct than about the massive, system-wide corruption in the Philippine National Police, which is at the root of the hostage crisis. The allegation against Sr. Insp.
Rolando Mendoza – that he extorted money from a person he and his team earlier arrested – indicates how brazenly corrupt many police officers have become.

On the other hand, Mendoza’s claim that he had been treated unfairly, if true, indicates how the government has failed to uphold the interest of police officers. This can be traced directly to the same massive, and system-wide corruption that has bedevilled the PNP for decades.

While we share the frustration by many that the live, blow-by-blow coverage of the hostage crisis shamed the Philippines to the world, that does not justify the antipathy toward the media that the Aquino government has helped unleashed. What shamed Filipinos was not the conduct of journalists covering the incident; what shamed Filipinos was the incompetent conduct and the inadequate and confused response by the authorities.

Although media should certainly reexamine their conduct and determine which areas they can improve, they would serve the public interest best if they instead monitor whether the PNP and the authorities are really taking steps to improve THEIR conduct and avoid another fatal blunder.

What’s needed in incidents like these is effective leadership on the ground. Journalists are willing to cooperate with the authorities, we have no doubt about that. The government should not use the recent hostage crisis to violate press freedom and emasculate the media

27 August 2010