Breaking confidentiality agreement (UPDATED)
JEERS TO GMA 7’s Born to Be Wild for breaching a confidentiality agreement with a source by disclosing the location of an unstudied and endemic spider species.
Born to Be Wild in its March 16 episode aired a story about Philippine orange tarantulas. Veterinarian Ferdz Recio, the host of the episode, documented the search for the spider species and disclosed in detail the site where these spiders can be found.
According to the report, Philippine orange tarantulas are venomous and are native only in some islands of the country. The program highlighted the fact that the huge clutter of spiders is proof that the insects’ habitat is well-protected. The show also mentioned that in some places in the country tarantulas are illegally sold to people for pets.
Though Born to Be Wild called for the conservation of the spiders, the program mentioned where the tarantulas can be found three times.
On March 18, Dr. Aimee Lynn B. Dupo, entomologist and curator of the University of the Philippines Los Baños Museum of Natural History (UPLB MNH), published an open letter addressed to GMA 7’s Born to Be Wild team through the UPLB MNH page in the social networking website Facebook. Dupo said the program had breached a confidentiality agreement .
Dr. Dupo wrote, “…I have provided your show, through Mr. Lherry Landicho, all of the information and contacts needed, with only ONE SIMPLE REQUEST—not to disclose the locality of these spiders. I explained that the species is unstudied, so we wanted the area to be kept undisclosed. I was assured that this will be done after I explained to them how difficult it is to protect it from poachers and locals wishing to make a quick buck.”
Landicho is one of the researchers of Born to Be Wild. The entomologist also said in the open letter that she had sent a message to the researcher about the issue but no one in the team took responsibility for what happened.
While there was no written confidentiality agreement between the show’s staff and Dr. Dupo, the UPLB MNH told the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) through email that the museum curator had explicitly requested the team not to disclose the location of the spiders after explaining the consequences of doing so.
Aside from giving the team information about the location of the orange tarantulas, Dr. Dupo was also interviewed in the program about the nature of the spider.
A teaser of the Born to Be Wild story on the Philippine orange tarantula was published on the GMA Network website on March 13 prior to the airing of the show. The report mentioned the island where the tarantulas can be found.
Born to Be Wild, in defense, released a response to Dr. Dupo’s letter on March 19 through its official Facebook page. The letter said that the team assures that the story of the Philippine orange tarantula was produced with utmost care and in close cooperation with the locals and authorities who have full jurisdiction over the protected area where the spiders can be found. The team members even said that they have encountered several blogs by tourists who have seen the spiders.
The wildlife program said the researcher did not inform the show’s producer about the request. The program said it has already called the researcher’s attention.
The program further wrote, “After the airing of the episode, the PASU (Park Superintendent) assured us that they are just as vigilant today in addressing threats of poaching as they had always been and allowed us to quote the following, ‘They must go to the park to see how we work. Hindi basta-basta nakakapasok ang kung sino-sino rito. We believe that (the program’s) purpose was positive.’”
Born to Be Wild assured that the program is very serious about addressing issues confronting conservation as a part of their advocacy.
On November 2012, a GMA 7’s news program Brigada and its reporter also violated a confidentiality agreement by tweeting information that a source had asked to keep secret.
Twitter user Arnold Cesar Romero (@notty_romero) flagged CMFR this report.
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BORN TO BE WILD REPLIES:
| Dear CMFR,
Please allow us to make some important clarifications on the article “JEERS TO GMA 7′s Born to Be Wild for breaching a confidentiality agreement with a source by disclosing the location of an unstudied and endemic spider specie [sic].” We hope you can take the time to consider the full context of this issue. The location of the orange tarantula is neither confidential nor new to the public. In fact, information on the location of the species is readily available online: http://www.projectnoah.org/spo…, http://networkedblogs.com/ukCE…, http://www.eazytraveler.com/20…. The National Park which houses this species even promotes the interaction with the spiders through eco-tours which have been open to the public for many years. The program did not disclose any information that was not already public to begin with. The writer Ms. Aimee Dupo who complained about the disclosure of the spiders’ location on the program was not the team’s primary source on the Philippine tarantula story, nor was she the one who directed the team to the location of the spiders. Prior to the team’s contact with Ms. Dupo, the program had already secured the information on the tarantula’s location through the Bulabog Putian National Park authorities and through the various online articles about it. The proper authorities had also by then given the team permission to document the spider. The program would therefore have no reason to enter into any confidentiality agreements in exchange for information with any other parties given that the main sources had already cooperated fully with the production team. As a principle, the program also does not enter into agreements giving third parties a free hand on editorial matters. As the program explained in its earlier statement, the researcher failed to relay to any of his superiors (who have editorial control over stories) Ms. Dupo’s request—a “favor” was what she called it on her Facebook exchange with the researcher—to conceal the location of the spiders. She explains in her letter of complaint to the researcher that disclosure of the location would result to threats from foreign researchers who might want to collect the spiders for their studies. The researcher apologized to Ms. Dupo immediately upon receipt of her letter and owned up to the mistake of acknowledging the favor she asked without elevating the same to his superiors. We reiterate that the researcher’s attention has already been called regarding the matter and this is already the subject of an administrative proceeding. However, we wish to stress that although the producers would certainly have considered Ms. Dupo’s request had they been informed about it, the program would still have exercised its editorial independence especially since the so-called “confidential” information is something which several other major sources already disclosed to the program to be quoted openly. The same sources who first made this information available to the program had no issues regarding its disclosure. We thank Ms. Dupo for the general information she provided on spider behavior through her interview, but we would like to correct the impression that “all information and contacts” needed to air the story were provided by Ms. Dupo. The single contact which Ms. Dupo may have been referring to in her letter was a spider enthusiast whom she referred to the researcher when the latter inquired regarding experts who might be able to join the team in the field. Incidentally, the same associate Ms. Dupo recommended to the team has already published an online piece on the tarantula complete with the spider’s exact location. To be clear, the team opted not to go with the contact Ms. Dupo recommended. Born to be Wild believes in the free sharing of information, but it also takes into account the impact of the information it airs especially on the primary stakeholders in its stories. In this case, the primary stakeholders themselves – the locals of Bulabog Putian and the National Park authorities who served as the program’s main sources – openly expressed that they have no objections to the disclosure of the spiders’ habitat in their locality. We reiterate that the program has always been clear about its anti-poaching stance. Thank you. BORN TO BE WILD borntobewild@gmanetwork.com |
Dear CMFR,
Please allow us to make some important clarifications on the article “JEERS TO GMA 7′s Born to Be Wild for breaching a confidentiality agreement with a source by disclosing the location of an unstudied and endemic spider specie [sic].” We hope you can take the time to consider the full context of this issue.
The location of the orange tarantula is neither confidential nor new to the public. In fact, information on the location of the species is readily available online: httpss://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/16505087, httpss://networkedblogs.com/ukCEX, httpss://www.eazytraveler.com/2011/11/iloilos-underworld-bulabog-puti.html. The National Park which houses this species even promotes the interaction with the spiders through eco-tours which have been open to the public for many years. The program did not disclose any information that was not already public to begin with.
The writer Ms. Aimee Dupo who complained about the disclosure of the spiders’ location on the program was not the team’s primary source on the Philippine tarantula story, nor was she the one who directed the team to the location of the spiders. Prior to the team’s contact with Ms. Dupo, the program had already secured the information on the tarantula’s location through the Bulabog Putian National Park authorities and through the various online articles about it. The proper authorities had also by then given the team permission to document the spider. The program would therefore have no reason to enter into any confidentiality agreements in exchange for information with any other parties given that the main sources had already cooperated fully with the production team. As a principle, the program also does not enter into agreements giving third parties a free hand on editorial matters.
As the program explained in its earlier statement, the researcher failed to relay to any of his superiors (who have editorial control over stories) Ms. Dupo’s request—a “favor” was what she called it on her Facebook exchange with the researcher—to conceal the location of the spiders. She explains in her letter of complaint to the researcher that disclosure of the location would result to threats from foreign researchers who might want to collect the spiders for their studies. The researcher apologized to Ms. Dupo immediately upon receipt of her letter and owned up to the mistake of acknowledging the favor she asked without elevating the same to his superiors. We reiterate that the researcher’s attention has already been called regarding the matter and this is already the subject of an administrative proceeding. However, we wish to stress that although the producers would certainly have considered Ms. Dupo’s request had they been informed about it, the program would still have exercised its editorial independence especially since the so-called “confidential” information is something which several other major sources already disclosed to the program to be quoted openly. The same sources who first made this information available to the program had no issues regarding its disclosure.
We thank Ms. Dupo for the general information she provided on spider behavior through her interview, but we would like to correct the impression that “all information and contacts” needed to air the story were provided by Ms. Dupo. The single contact which Ms. Dupo may have been referring to in her letter was a spider enthusiast whom she referred to the researcher when the latter inquired regarding experts who might be able to join the team in the field. Incidentally, the same associate Ms. Dupo recommended to the team has already published an online piece on the tarantula complete with the spider’s exact location. To be clear, the team opted not to go with the contact Ms. Dupo recommended.
Born to be Wild believes in the free sharing of information, but it also takes into account the impact of the information it airs especially on the primary stakeholders in its stories. In this case, the primary stakeholders themselves – the locals of Bulabog Putian and the National Park authorities who served as the program’s main sources – openly expressed that they have no objections to the disclosure of the spiders’ habitat in their locality.
We reiterate that the program has always been clear about its anti-poaching stance.
Thank you.
BORN TO BE WILD
borntobewild@gmanetwork.com
facebook.com/borntobewildgma
It’s Dr. Dupo not Ms. Dupo. And, Born to Be Wild, just please fall on your sword. Do not fall into the false thinking that you know better – you are not scientifically trained researchers so it’s better to leave this matter to the experts.