Speaking of Media

Guns is mightier than the pen?
“Finally, they (Palace officials) have come to their senses and heeded our call to give us a fighting chance when confronted with a violent situation.”
– Joel Sy Egco, Association of Responsible Media president, Philippine Daily Inquirer, May 25

“We are not trained to fight and to kill. We are trained to write and to expose the truth. That’s the job of the police and the military.”
– Jose Torres, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines spokesperson, Inquirer, May 25

“More arms, more violence. In fact we should ban altogether firearms. Respect for life, respect for the media, and serious government action are key solutions to stop assault on free press and stop violence versus media persons.”
– Davao City Councilor and former media practitioner Peter Laviña, on a survey among 100 journalists all over the country on the issue of arming journalists, Sun.Star Davao, May 29

“To begin with, if arming journalists is the solution to their current decimation, why not arm activists, too?…
“Indeed, why not arm the ordinary citizens who are victims also of murder and sundry mayhem? Why not arm the balut vendors who are robbed by istambays, and fast-food women workers who work at night and raped by thugs, and who may not report the crimes to cops for fear of being robbed or raped twice? What is the argument here, that only privileged classes or professions deserve to have the means to defend themselves?
“But more than this, where does government, even if it takes the face of the braggart Gonzalez, get off exuding this airiness? Government is responsible for these killings, by commission and omission, by active encouragement and encouraging passivity, by commanding irresponsibility and command responsibility.…For them to now say that, out of the goodness of their hearts, they are allowing journalists to arm themselves is breathtaking cheekiness. And that on the condition that journalists first behave by ridding their ranks of scalawags, broadly hinting that the victims also brought the mayhem upon themselves!”
– Conrado de Quiros, Inquirer, May 29

“The killing of an activist and a journalist is as much a crime as a rape, a murder, or a kidnapping. But these must also be distinguished from the latter. First, because they are obviously political in the broad sense that they are meant to stop dissent and protest and to prevent information on public issues from reaching citizens. Second, and more fundamentally, there is a pattern in the killings which suggests that they are part of a political conspiracy to terrorize and silence regime critics, and to deny the citizenry the benefit of information about public affairs.”
– Luis V. Teodoro, BusinessMirror, June 9-10

“Arming members of the press in the wake of the killings of so-called journalists and media men and training them to use guns the responsible way is about the most ludicrous and stupid thing that can be done to curb these killings.
“For one thing, a determined assassin or killer cannot be stopped by arming journalists and media men. Even the most well-guarded person on earth—the President of the United States—is not protected from a determined killer or assassin. But, most importantly, arming members of the press tends to promote a culture of violence, which is precisely what the state would not like to do. Do police expect newsmen to fight it out with assassins and killers at OK Corral?
“The bottom line is that there’s no substitute for effective law enforcement, investigative efficiency, and the speedy wheels of justice. For so long as assassins and killers and their masterminds know that they can escape from the long arm of the law and even buy their way to freedom, killings will continue. I’d even say that some people have given up on the rule of law and due process so much so that they have taken the law into their own hands.”
– Emil Jurado, Manila Standard Today, May 30

“The climate of terror confronting Filipino journalists comes in the form of: (1) officially imposed restrictions on access to information, (2) crackdowns on media organizations charged with rebellion under the pretext of national emergency decrees, (3) and the incapacity of government to stop the spiral of unsolved extra-judicial killings of journalists.
“The third is the most scary and sinister form of terrorism. The continuing spiral does not only indicate a lack of political will on the part of the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to use police powers to stop the wave of violent crimes. What should concern citizens more is that indications are increasing that government itself is promoting what Amnesty International and the Commission on Human Rights have called the ‘climate of impunity’ that emboldens death squads to murder designated targets—whether leftist activists or journalists—without fear of being arrested or being taken to court.”
– Amando Doronila, Inquirer, May 31

“Most of the discussions on the proposal to arm journalists in the face of media killings miss a very crucial and important point.
“The Geneva Conventions-International Committee of the Red Cross has time and again emphasized that journalists must be protected as civilians. Article 79 says that:
“1. Journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict shall be considered as civilians within the meaning of Article 3, Paragraph 1.
“2. They shall be protected as such under the Conventions and this Protocol, provided that they take no action adversely affecting their status as civilians.
“The International News Safety Institute (INSI), a global coalition of press organizations and press freedom groups advocating greater safety among journalists and media workers, underlines in the eighth provision of its Safety Code that “journalists are neutral observers. No member of the media should carry a firearm in the course of his or her work.”
By arming themselves, journalists lose their civilian status and can be considered members of a belligerent party or an armed group enjoying no protection from the Geneva Conventions.”
– Red Batario, INSI, Southeast Asia Office, Inquirer, June 2,


Journalist or vendor?
“Oras magkaproblema, di ako pwedeng itali na propagandista ako o taga-depensa ng produkto. Venue lang ako para maging balanced ang information dissemination… Endorser lang ako. Kaya maingat kami, meron kaming unwritten agreement na respect niyo ang profession ko. Kinuha niyo lang ako as personality at ang credibility ko ang naidagdag sa ganda ng produkto niyo.”
– Arnold Clavio, explaning his being a product endorser while at the same time work as broadcaster, Newsbreak, May 22

Emoting with reporting
“In this modern day and age, it’s shocking to hear newscasters on local TV and radio who still report the news in the artificial, melodramatic and overloud style of the 1960s and ’70s.
“They speak with unction, fire and brimstone, and appear to have built-in loudspeakers and ‘echo machines’ in their chests.
“They also love to add extra syllables to the words they intone, particularly those that end in consonants. One freak-out evening, we bothered to jot down some of those ‘echo’ words, and came up with this partial list:
“Malabon-uh. Siyudad-ah. Malacañang-ah. Anak-ah. Senador-uh. Karapatan-ah. Militar-uh. Kaparusahan-ah. Pinalitan-ah. Binabalak-uh.
– Nestor U. Torre, Inquirer, May 29

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