Custom-Made “Journalists”
By Philip Tubeza
This article will appear in the upcoming September-October 2011 issue of the PJR Reports.
Right after being appointed to his post, newly designated Customs commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon raised a lot of eyebrows when he announced that he would be cracking down on “pseudo-journalists” at the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
Biazon said the ranks of reporters covering the customs beat had become too big and needed to be purged as some of these “pseudo-journalists” (known among journalists as hao-siao) were corrupt and were even aiding smugglers.
“It’s a problem…. It has an effect on the fight against corruption and smuggling within the Bureau because sometimes, the pseudo-journalists are being used to further the interests of smugglers,” Biazon said.
“They’re being used for the character assassination of employees of the Bureau. Nagagamit sila na pampabango ng mabaho. Ayaw natin ‘yun (They’re also used to make the corrupt look good. We don’t want that),” he added.
While emphasizing that it isn’t a top priority, Biazon said that while he would meet with these “pseudo journalists,” he will also consult legitimate media groups to help develop an accreditation system to purge the ranks of those covering the bureau of alleged “journalists”.
“(Coverage of the Bureau of Customs) is supposed to be open to anyone but what is happening is it being hogged by a certain group. So we need to level the playing field by instituting an accreditation system,” Biazon said.
The BOC media office currently accredits 41 reporters in the customs beat. This number includes individuals from the weekly tabloids that for some reason are based in the Bureau.
In addition to the national media, there are about 10 to 12 “tabloids” based in the BOC. They claim to come out weekly or twice a week and supposedly focus mainly on customs issues. Some have been in the Bureau for several years, but one tabloid was founded only last month.
Apparently, it is this group whose number Biazon wants to trim.
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