Dealing with an Accusation

When a news source makes a charge, what’s a reporter to do?
Dealing with an Accusation
By Hector Bryant L. Macale

LIKE A scourge that will not stop, corruption is a persistent problem in the Philippines. Even the all-too-mighty media, for all its power in exposing corrupt public officials, has its own share of corruption.

To be sure, not all journalists succumb to corruption. There are still many journalists who, despite the perks and pressures in their jobs, continue to have strong moral moorings.

So, what happens when a journalist is accused of corruption? That is exactly what happened to senior ABS-CBN reporter Lynda Jumilla, whom Sen. Ma. Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal allegedly accused of being under the payroll of fellow senator Juan Ponce Enrile, Madrigal’s nemesis in the Senate.

Madrigal allegedly made the comment when she was informed that Jumilla had been assigned to cover the senator’s ocular inspection of the controversial housing project in La Mesa Dam. According to newspaper reports, Madrigal allegedly told JJ Fernandez of the environmental advocacy group Bantay Kalikasan: “I don’t want Lynda Jumilla; she’s in the payroll of Enrile.” Bantay Kalikasan is a sister group of ABS-CBN.

Jumilla learned of the allegation and wrote a letter to Madrigal, asking her to prove her claims.

“I take strong exception to what you have said. It is a huge lie and an assault on my person and my integrity as a journalist of 19 years,” newspapers quoted Jumilla as saying in her May 24 letter. “I challenge you to prove that I am on the payroll of Senator Enrile or any other senator or politician for that matter.”

In her letter, Jumilla also said that Madrigal should not repeat such allegations, warning that if she did, the reporter would take “appropriate action.” The letter, according to reports, was noted by Maria Ressa, the network’s news and current affairs head. (Although Ressa and Jumilla were interviewed by PJR Reports on this issue, Ressa later asked that the interviews not be used. Ressa had disagreed with the way PJR Reports handled two previous stories involving ABS-CBN.—Ed.)

Madrigal denied making such comments. In her May 26 letter to Ressa, Madrigal said Jumilla made “shocking statements” that were “baseless and unfair.”

“I categorically and absolutely deny making the statement: Ayoko kay Lynda Jumilla dahil nasa payroll siya ni Enrile,” reports quoted Madrigal as saying in her letter. Madrigal also said that the alleged conversation between her and Fernandez did not take place and that she did not ask the network to cover the La Mesa event.

What to do
Whether Madrigal actually made such an accusation or not, one concern for the press arose from the issue: How should a journalist handle accusations of corruption?

“It’s just right for ABS-CBN not to just let it pass,” veteran journalist and journalism educator Luis V. Teodoro told PJR Reports in an interview. To do otherwise “makes the making of those accusations normal. It encourages. It’s like the killing of journalists. If you don’t stop it, people will keep on doing it,” he said.

Teodoro, former PJR Reports editor and now a columnist for BusinessMirror, said that accusations of corruption affect a journalist’s credibility and standing as a media practitioner.

“I think as a matter of course, and this should be a standard practice on the part of journalists, if they are accused of corruption, they should challenge the accuser to prove his contention,” Teodoro said, adding, “Of course there may be journalists who are corrupt and against whom charges of corruption may be proven, so on their own, baka mahirapan na sila doon.”

“But those who are not corrupt should be prepared to confront their accusers and to demand that they prove their allegations,” he said.

Teodoro added: “The problem is that some journalists are corrupt but this is difficult to prove. I don’t think public officials should be making such assertions if they don’t have proof. Kasi madaling sabihin, many journalists are corrupt. It’s hard to prove, hindi ba?”

Effectiveness weakened
Journalist Chay Florentino-Hofileña shares a similar view. “Allegations of corruption should be taken very seriously. It strikes at the heart of your credibility as a reporter,” she said.

Hofileña, who is also a journalism educator, has written a book on media corruption in 1998, News for Sale: The Corruption of the Philippine Media, which was jointly published by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ). She did a sequel in 2004, News for Sale: the Corruption and Commercialization of the Philippine Media, focusing on media corruption in the 2004 elections, which was published by PCIJ.

“If you are accused of corruption, unverified, unchecked, it’s going to affect your effectiveness as a reporter,” Hofileña told PJR Reports in a phone interview. “Now, whatever you write,” she said, “will never be believed in by the people.”

Arlene Lim-Farol, who covers the Senate for ABC-5, thinks that it is important for journalists to protect their reputation. “Just like everybody else, journalists work to earn a good reputation which they then protect with great care and diligence,” she said.

If faced with the same situation as Jumilla, Farol said she would also “confront my accuser because that’s my right.”

For Carlos Conde, correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times, said accusation of corruption should be taken more seriously than, say, allegations of bias or sensationalism which are “subjective.”

“Accusations of corruption undermine everything you do as a journalist,” he said. As such, there is always a “need to get to the bottom of the allegation.”

And if the same thing had happened to him, Conde said he would also demand that Madrigal prove her allegation. “If she refuses, I would demand that she be censured by her colleagues, by Enrile for instance,” he said, adding that he might even sue the senator for libel despite the privilege of immunity that legislators enjoy.

“The point is to make a point: that nobody can question my integrity and get away with it,” Conde said.

Accuser’s problem
A different tack is favored by BusinessWorld columnist and media critic Vergel Santos.

“If I had been in Lynda’s place, I’d have made sure to be fair and give Madrigal her deserved side in the story. That should have made the story speak for itself, so that if, all the same, Madrigal cried bribery it would be her problem, not mine,” Santos, who sits as chair of the CMFR board, said.

He added, however, “The issue, or non-issue, of course, can be carried to a point where they could no longer be ignored. Well, if my own organization or superiors feel it should be dealt with, they should themselves do it—deal with it and her, not me.”

Santos would rather be “a high-grounder who will rise and fall on his own sense of conscience and professional competence.”

Like Conde, Teodoro agreed that such accusations should not be taken lightly. “Corruption is not only a major problem in Philippine journalism, but it also adversely affects the news and commentary that is delivered,” he said.

“In the long term, (corruption) is damaging to Philippine media as a whole. Because what spreads in Philippine society is (the notion) that most journalists are corrupt, which is being used to justify the killings of journalists,” Teodoro continued.

For Teodoro, “accusations of corruption should really be addressed because it develops the sense among the public as a whole that the media is corrupt and cannot be relied on.”

Ultimately, he said, corruption “affects the exercise of press freedom, it affects the safety (of journalists), as well as the quality of democracy.”

Comments are closed.