When sources resent media
by Marlon Alexander Luistro
When disasters such as tsunamis, typhoons and earthquakes strike, people usually turn to the media for news and information. But who else will the people rely on for information in times of disasters if they have lost faith in the accuracy and truthfulness of the media?
I went to Talisay, Batangas, which is at the foothills of Taal Volcano, on April 19 to interview residents and to get their reaction to Malacañang’s appeal for them to voluntarily leave the island, which the government has named a permanent danger zone because of its proximity to Taal. I was expecting the affected families to be open to the media. Instead I was greeted with near-animosity.
As of press time, Taal Volcano remains at Alert Level 2, which means that the volcano’s main crater, Daang Kastila Trail and the Mt. Tabaro site remain off-limits to the public due to possible steam-driven explosions and the high concentrations of toxic gases.
At least 5,000 people, are living on the island, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS). They depend on farming, fishing, aquaculture and tourism for livelihood.
Even before going to the volcano in the afternoon of April 18, I had already been warned by Talisay Tourism Officer Genalyn Barba that the people who live in the shadow of Taal volcano aren’t too friendly to journalists.
“They don’t like the media because they feel that the more you report on the volcanic alert level (which is based on the possibility of a Taal eruption), the more likely will tourists not come (to the volcano),” she explained.
Tourism is the lifeblood of thousands of island residents. Residents who rent out horses can make at least P600 per day per round trip trek to the crater, while a tour guide earns about P300, and a boatman a significant portion of the P1,500 roundtrip fare from Talisay mainland to the island.
Now that the tourists are gone, most of the residents have had to do more farming, fishing and tilapia culture, which as livelihood sources do not provide incomes as stable as in tourism, and depend on how bountiful the harvests are.
When I finally set foot on Taal after a 15-minute boat ride, I was warmly welcomed by the Talisay tourism staff and some other residents who were busy swimming and fishing in the nearby Taal Lake.
I thought it would be easy to interview them because of the warm reception I had received. But when I brought up Malacañang’s appeal for them to leave their homes, some started crying.
And I couldn’t blame them. After all, what are you going to feel if you were asked to leave the house that you’ve invested and lived in for years?
Although they live within the volcano danger zone, the residents’ houses are made of concrete rather than the usual bamboo . Not a single resident wanted to talk to me, much less in front of a video camera, when I asked for an interview.
One resident, 45-year-old resident Josie Sanggalang, agreed to be interviewed, but only off-camera . As expected, she told me that she had no intention of leaving unless Taal was already erupting.
She also raised concerns about past media coverage of Taal. Although she refused to elaborate, she said that many residents were hesitant to speak to the media because they had been misquoted in the past.
“Nadadagdagan yung sinasabi. Lalong pinalalala. Nag-aalburoto daw (yung bulkan) eh hindi naman,” Sanggalang said, adding that while the PHIVOLCS reported an increasing number of earthquakes at the volcano, residents like her haven’t felt anything so far since the alert level was raised to 2.
What also irks the residents, she said, was the media’s ignoring community policies on safety. She mentioned Global News Network reporter Joshua Garcia, whom she accused of going down the volcanic crater on June 17, 2010, despite warnings from residents.
As a result, Garcia was trapped for five hours before he was rescued by Coast Guard personnel. He suffered exhaustion, burns and some bruises in his body. Residents were irked by what they thought was arrogance on the part of Garcia, who said in a later interview with ABS-CBN on that date that he did not regret what he did.
Other residents, meanwhile, were complaining about the report aired by a regional station of a major TV network on April 18. In that report, 47-year-old William Mendoza claimed that the station showed video footage of a group of people aboard a boat heading for the Talisay mainland whom the reporter falsely described as evacuees. The news crew of the TV station did not even bother to ask the people on the boat whether they were evacuees . If they did, they would have learned that the “evacuees” were actually heading for a celebration in the Talisay mainland.
Neither did the crew bother to do their homework. Data from the Talisay Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council would have shown that there were only two evacuees at that time–a mother and child–in the town’s evacuation center, as most of the residents had decided to stay in their homes.
There were also concerns that the media, particularly television, has been sensationalizing news reports on the volcano. Mendoza said some people in the island complain that “what they said on the interview is different from what comes out (on air).”
This was the case when another television network aired a story saying that the people on the foothills of Taal volcano were already panicking after the alert level status was raised to 2, despite a tourism officials’ declaration that the people remained calm.
Mendoza also pointed out that Talisay island residents have regular access to the major television and radio stations in their generator-powered houses. A deliberate exaggeration of the possibility of an eruption on the part of the media could thus lead to panic among residents.
But it is not only the reports of television journalists which raise ethical and professional questions. Newspaper and online journalists have been equally at fault.
A report published online by the Manila Bulletin on April 18 (and printed in hard copy the next day) sounded like a press release from Malacañang.
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda was quoted as saying that the Palace was asking the residents “near the Taal volcano” to voluntarily leave. The problem however was that the story failed to elaborate on the term “near.”
According to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, if Taal erupts, at least six municipalities in Batangas would be directly affected and these are Agoncillo, Balete, Laurel, Mataas na Kahoy, San Nicolas and Talisay.
When we say near the volcano, which of the said towns are we in the media referring to?
Meanwhile a report in The Philippine Star website on April 19 quoted National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Executive Director Ret. Gen. Benito Ramos as saying that most of the 5,000 residents living “near the Taal volcano” had already been evacuated, while 1,007 residents had remained.
The reporter failed to verify the accuracy of those numbers as it clearly conflicts with the report released by the NDRRMC’s counterpart in Batangas province on the same date that only 1,412 residents of the volcano island had voluntarily evacuated.
The day after a GNN reporter defied warnings from residents and was trapped inside the Taal crater, the National Disaster Coordinating Council, PHIVOLCS, Batangas provincial government and the Talisay municipal government immediately banned the media from entering the volcano’s main crater.
Today, reporters can no longer enter the Taal Volcano area and nobody can interview its residents without being accompanied by a staff from tourism office.
On my way back to the Talisay mainland, a volcano island resident told me that they were happy that there would be no more media people going to their area.
With the people’s growing animosity as a result of the media’s irresponsibility in the coverage, I wouldn’t be surprised if they later request local authorities to totally ban the media from going to the volcano island.
This only proves one thing. That if media fail to regulate themselves and to police their own ranks, government will.
Marlon Alexander Luistro is a news stringer for GMA Network
Photos by Marlon Alexander Luistro
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