Grave challenges to media under Duterte regime

Grave challenges to media under Duterte regime

Gigi Grande, 2016 Marshall McLuhan Fellow, at PPCO event, Nov. 29 (PHOTO: HG)

By Althea Manasan

A growing culture of impunity around media killings, online threats toward reporters and the antagonism toward the media by President Rodrigo Duterte are among the biggest challenges facing the Philippine press today, says journalist Gigi Grande.
The ABS-CBN anchor spoke at an event hosted by the Philippine Press Club of Ontario on November 29. Grande was the recipient of this year’s prestigious Marshall McLuhan fellowship, an honour that had her travel across Canada for two weeks to talk about the challenges that Filipino journalists are facing under the current political leadership.

Grande, who has almost 20 years of journalistic experience under her belt, said that one of the most important issues is a growing culture of impunity surrounding media killings in the Philippines. It’s especially disheartening for a country that once used to be known for having the freest press in Asia.

“We had more freedom than our neighbours,” Grande said. “Those of us in the national media, we could pretty much criticize government and do whatever stories we wanted to do about corruption and human rights abuses and electoral fraud, electoral violence, terrorism, peace and order. No topic was off limits.”

PPCO members and guests with Gigi Grande (Photo: Ariel Ramos)

But that has been changing over the last few years, particularly after the Maguindanao massacre in 2010. At least 34 journalists were confirmed killed, making it the single deadliest event for journalists in history, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The CPJ estimates that 77 journalists have been killed in the Philippines since 1992, with 89 per cent of cases leading to no convictions. The other 11 per cent of cases resulted in some, but not all, of the people responsible being convicted.
“These people who are behind the media killings, they get away with it and for that reason, there’s this thinking that, ‘Well if I do the same then I’ll probably get away with it as well,’” Grande said. “So there’s that culture of impunity.”
Although Duterte had made statements earlier this year that corrupt journalists deserve to die, Grande pointed out that since he was inaugurated in June, there haven’t been any reports of journalist being killed. In October, he announced a new presidential task force to look into media killings.

But Grande identified a new set challenges under his administration. For example, media workers reporting on stories critical of Duterte’s government have received online threats of rape or violence to them and their families. These social media threats have been condemned by journalism groups, including the International Federation of Journalists and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.

“So that’s something that’s quite new as well. We didn’t have that before,” said Grande. “These threats are coming from both real people, legitimate people with legitimate social media accounts, as well as internet trolls.”

Duterte himself has had harsh words for the press. He has antagonized reporters and said that media corruption is prevalent in the Philippines, a claim that Grande denies. She said that Duterte, who had been a local mayor for most of his political career, has had little contact with members of media. “How can he be in a position to generalize that most reporters are corrupt if he has not met most reporters?” she said.

Duterte’s appointees have also taken to name-calling, making it difficult for the media to do its job. “If you raise the issue of human rights, youll be called a drug supporter,” Grande said. “You might be called a yellowtard, you might be called a presstitute. You might be called all these different names if they don’t like your reportage.”

Steve Pagao, president of Philippine Chamber of Commerce-Toronto lights a candle for Ampatuan Massacre victims.

While she revealed the unique difficulties the press is now facing in the Philippines, Grande was careful to keep her personal views to herself at the risk of appearing biased. “As a reporter I think it’s not my place to rate him,” she said. “I think that’s something that is better rated by different institutions — human rights institutions, perhaps, business rights leaders, economic managers.”

Despite the fact that Duterte’s offensive comments, incendiary rhetoric and calls for violence against drug dealers have made him unpopular internationally (he’s been condemned by officials of the United Nations, the U.S., the European Union and several human rights groups), he maintains an 86 per cent approval rating in the Philippines.

In addition to anchoring The World Tonight Saturday and News Now at ABS-CBN, Grande is currently a correspondent for broadcaster’s investigative unit. She covered the 2016 election, producing in-depth stories about the party-list system, campaign rules, social issues and candidates’ character.

From left: Rachelle Cruz, Althea Manasan, Gigi Grande and Mila Astorga-
Garcia.

Although Grande has not interviewed Duterte herself, she said that given the opportunity, she would press him about human rights.

Grande also said she hopes to see more clarity coming from the president and his administration, citing conflicting messages that are often confusing not just for Filipino reporters, but also for international press.

From left: Eva Agpaoa, Gigi Grande and Willie Reodica.

Oscar Castaños and Gigi

Steve Pagao, Gigi Grande and Fred Yuson

Lui Queaño

Gigi Grande with Romy Zetazate

“It should not be the job of the media to decode him, to figure out what he’s trying to say, to figure out when he’s serious and when he’s joking,” Grande said. “It is however the responsibility of the president to speak with more clarity so that Filipinos and the rest of the world can understand him and what he really wants to say and how he really wants to implement his programs.”