Media on Elections and Violence 2016
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While Samar is among the areas where the NPA is considered relatively strong, almost all of the violence during the election period was apparently due to rivalry among political families and not from the long-running communist insurgency. Many of the victims were political supporters and leaders of warring political clans. A significant number were bystanders and civilians who were accidentally shot during the attacks on the targets. Of the 27 victims, 10 civilians were harassed, 5 were killed and 4 were wounded. Media coverage The glaring disparity in the data provided by the PNP and from media reports shows that the numerous killings and violent incidents considered to be due to politics have not been adequately and effectively covered and reported. As in other regions, there are appears to be a conscious effort by the PNP to set stringent and limiting parameters in the evaluation of incidents to determine whether these are ERIs or not. There also appears a limited source of information on the incidents even from police and law enforcement agencies. There are serious and continuing threats and risks to journalists covering and reporting on these incidents. In this context, journalists covered and reported on the incidents based on limited or non-official information. In most instances, the incidents were first known through Facebook and reported by journalists from outside the area of the incident due to security concerns. The reports that came out have been limited to PNP statements due to safety concerns. But some police sources preferred to stay anonymous in giving full details. Journalists focusing on the killings and visiting the family of the victims are often branded as “PRs” of the aggrieved party. In one occasion, the media in Samar encountered harassment from a lawyer inside a local court, being barred in covering the session hall, and indirectly threatened by a politician to stop following the story up. One journalist was indirectly threatened by a politician suspected to be behind the killings to stop writing the story or stop following it up. Journalists reported on the incidents based on limited information provided by the police and witnesses and victims. Reporters tried to overcome the safety concerns and security threats by covering as a group especially in going to critical areas. But because of the situation in the area, reports are limited to basic details of the incident. The apparent context of the killings—the war among political clans and their influence over the police—have not been comprehensively integrated in the reports.
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