Media on Elections and Violence 2016

The case for ground-truthing

The reporting on the post-election ambush of a Zamboanga del Sur volunteer of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) presents a solid case on the constant need for ground-truthing.

This researcher monitored eight news organizations that ran a story of the incident.

The seven relied on the pronouncements of the PPCRV national leaders to report on the incident; one (The Standard) got details from the PNP in Zamboanga del Sur. And even as the seven have the same sources, some of them varied in the basic details.

The PPCRV volunteer was with a teenaged child when attacked. She died from multiple gunshot wounds while the child survived but was in critical condition.

The name of the victim as contained in the advisory forwarded to this researcher by her colleagues as well as by the group Amnesty International’s provincial affiliates was LILIA ORMIDO “who was ambushed 5am May 10 (with) her 13-year old daughter who survived.”

This discrepancy in the purported facts mirrors the little interest invested by the news organizations on the incident and its implications. On hindsight, it would have been interesting to know whether the poll-related documents she was carrying was still intact or whether it was taken by the attackers; if, indeed, she was to be stopped from delivering these materials, what could be the reason; and what could have Olmedo seen during her poll observation mission for PPCRV.

Post-election attacks are rare, except among those directly involved in the electoral fight.