Soriano charges ‘censorship’

Soriano charges ‘censorship’

(Complete text follows. –Ed.)

Gentlemen:

With your indulgence, I am forwarding to you the original of my column for Balita (March 16-30, 2013) that was distorted, censored and edited without my knowledge. There has also been some negative insertions that replaced some positive notes that I have written. Please note that if you read the printed version in Balita, it was a totally different version and I vehemently disown it.

I had an exchange of emails with the publisher of Balita to thresh out what and why this happened.

I got instead a lecture on who’s the publisher and editor and some other flimsy excuses why they changed my written work. I was even asked “Have you been paid ?” This is what I got for writing a factual, fair and objective story which obviously they did not relish.

I can take their lies and shallow excuses but not the insult.

I felt that this was not only news management but censorship. This happened not only once or twice and I vigorously argued with the publisher to enlighten her on what opinion writing is all about. It seems she had other ideas or concept of journalism.

Because of the foregoing, I have decided to severe my relationship with Balita (with thanks of course to Ruben whom I respect) and wish them all the best.

I would appreciate it if you could publish the original column so the public and community would know the real story.

In Solidarity,
Tenny F Soriano

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…… cites specifics

(Complete text follows. – Ed.)

Hi Hermie,

Thanks. Here are the alterations and insertions by paragraphs.

Original title: WHY ENVERGA DESERVED TO BE SENATOR

Balita’s version: DOES TOBIAS ENVERGA DESERVE TO BE SENATOR?

Paragraph1: “He fits the bill and truly deserved to be one.” — This sentence was deleted

Paragraph 2: I wrote: “Don’t get me wrong.” — This was also deleted.

Paragraph 8: I wrote: “That explains many of his humanitarian and charity works.” — This was also deleted and replaced by “This explains many of his fund-raising efforts such as their still not clear and controversial beauty pageants of 2009 and 2010.”

I wrote: “But in fairness to the man. He makes the Filipino proud by being appointed to the Red chamber.” — This was totally deleted.

Near the end of the article I wrote: “Recently, Linda Javier was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal courtesy of Senator Enverga.” –This was also deleted.

Last paragraph: I wrote: “This writer, invites the good senator to reply or refute allegations or statements made on this column for the sake of fairness and impartiality.”

The phrase: “invites the good senator” was also deleted.