Journalism Review Archives | Page 115 of 159

Guilty Until Proven Innocent: Media as Unwitting Accessory

WHEN PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte made public the list of local government officials, judges and law enforcers allegedly involved in the drug trade, he did so with the caveat, that their involvement in the drug trade “might be true or might not be true ” – saying also that he...

Duterte and the Oligarchs

CHEERS TO some media organizations for explaining what an oligarch is after President Rodrigo Duterte called businessman Roberto Ongpin one during a speech before the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting. On Aug. 5, the Philippine Daily Inquirer ran “IN THE KNOW: Oligarchs and cronies” in its inside pages to...

Confused and Confusing

IN HIS first State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Rodrigo Duterte announced a unilateral cease-fire with the Communist Party of the Philippines’ New Peoples’ Army, and the National Democratic Frontof the Philippines (CPP-NPA-NDFP). Several newspapers ran reports on Duterte’s announcement. However, most of them confused the unilateral cease-fire with...

Taking a Stand: Journalism for Humanity

IN JUST a short span of time, President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs has already claimed hundreds of lives, alarming not only human rights groups but even officials as well as members of civil society. The death toll, which began to rise as early as Duterte’s landslide victory...

Federalism: Pointing Out an Inaccuracy

CHEERS TO some media organizations for pointing out the inaccurate claim of President Rodrigo Duterte regarding federalism during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA). Speaking about a change in government type, Duterte said that he wanted to copy the “France system” (sic). GMA News Online’s “Duterte’s...

Assessing the Cost of Duterte’s War on Drugs

CHEERS TO the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) for a quick assessment of the record so far of the anti-illegal drugs campaign of the Duterte administration that the Philippine National Police (PNP) is currently implementing. The PCIJ piece, “Duterte’s war: Breaking Bad? Big kill of small fry, puny...

FOI EO: Erroneous and Confusing

JEERS TO the Manila Bulletin for its erroneous and confusing story that said the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill has been signed into law. The Bulletin’s front-page report “Historic FOI signed into law” last July 25 said, “The public can finally gain greater access to government documents, including...

War on Drugs: Mapping, Charting the Killings

CHEERS TO ABS-CBNNews.com for providing a map and charts on the death toll in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs. On July 13, the news website of ABS-CBN 2 presented “MAP, CHARTS: The Death Toll of the War on Drugs,” which provided illustrated information on drug-related deaths per...

Victory at The Hague: Reporting the PCA Ruling

THE MUCH-AWAITED ruling on the Philippine complaint against China over the latter’s intrusions into Philippine waters was finally handed down on Thursday, July 12, by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). The Philippine media have noted the tension in the disputed area since 2011, the controversial 2012 naval...

Reporting Non-news

JEERS TO several news media organizations for making a fuss over an unverified announcement by musician Freddie Aguilar on his supposed appointment to the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts (NCCA). The possibility of Aguilar’s appointment to the NCCA had been mentioned as early as...