‘Mutya ng Masa’ No More

A reporter clashes with employer ABS-CBN
‘Mutya ng Masa’ No More
By Hector Bryant L. Macale

FOR MILLIONS of television viewers, she was the “Mutya ng Masa”—the small, spunky reporter who covered the stories that directly involved the man on the street. In a medium that insisted on stereotypes, Doris Bigornia defied the odds and carved a niche for herself. Among the reporters that appeared on the television screen, she was one of the few whose face and name could readily be associated with the station that she represented.

That is why when news broke out that Bigornia was being fired from ABS-CBN, not a few were surprised. Bigornia, it was said, leaked out confidential memorandum to an outsider. And before that, she made a report that dragged the station to another so-called network war with rival GMA-7. Still, some observers and journalists were saying, “Now, what could be so wrong with that?” Journalists, after all, depend on leaks from news sources in the course of doing their jobs. What’s wrong when one does the leaking for a change? And the network war has all but become so boring.

The small storm created by the dismissal of the veteran reporter from television giant ABS-CBN may have fallen silent for now. However, there is no assurance that the issue is completely over as Bigornia had just filed a complaint against the network on May 8 before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) for firing her.

What caused the bitter breakup of ties between ABS-CBN and Bigornia, who used to be one of the network’s prized reporters? (PJR Reports tried to get Bigornia’s side but she declined to comment, explaining that she had been advised by her lawyers not to say anything about the issue anymore as her case is already with the NLRC.)

Tsunami Scare
Trouble started when Bigornia reported a tsunami scare in Nasugbu, Batangas, and nearby towns for TV Patrol World last March 14. She said residents of Nasugbu, Lian, and Calatagan towns in the province panicked after an alleged report that a tsunami would occur in their area.

Bigornia quoted residents as saying that the report came from Arnold Clavio of the GMA-7 network, ABS-CBN’s toughest competitor. However, Bigornia said in her report that no one had personally seen or heard the supposed GMA-7 report.

Another resident was quoted in her report as saying that such false stories should never be aired and that in their area they trust only one TV station. “Kami lahat dito ay puro kapamilya,” he said, referring to ABS-CBN, as opposed to the “kapuso” moniker of GMA-7.

GMA-7 clarified that it only reported on the evacuation of the residents in Nasugbu and Lian and that it was not the source of the information that there would be a tsunami in the area. The station’s news program Saksi even quoted a barangay chairman in Lian town as saying that residents had already left even before GMA-7’s news crew arrived in the town. Clavio emphasized that the station only reported the evacuation witnessed by its news team.

“Iginigiit po naming wala kaming maling ibinabalita (We would like to stress that we did not air a wrong report),” he said.

In an interview with PJR Reports, Clavio again insisted that GMA-7 was not the source of the false report.

“I even talked with Renato Solidum Jr. (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology director) in Unang Hirit and in my radio program to clarify the issue,” he said. “Hindi naman kami bobo para patulan ang tsunami scare (We are not stupid to play up a tsunami scare),” he explained.

Suspension
Because of her story, Bigornia was suspended for two days. Charie Villa, head of ABS-CBN’s newsgathering team, wrote a memorandum to Bigornia saying that the latter had manifested her clear bias towards ABS-CBN.

Bigornia’s report, according to the memo, dragged the ABS-CBN news organization into “a trivial and demeaning network war with GMA-7, when the story was not even about ABS-CBN nor GMA-7.”

“During the pre-suspension meeting,” Villa wrote Bigornia, “you admitted your bias and as a journalist, you should be aware of the basic tenet that your report should be free from bias and should not serve one side.”

Both Villa and Maria Ressa, head of ABS-CBN’s news and current affairs, told PJR Reports that Bigornia had violated the Code of Ethics of ABS-CBN’s Standard and Ethics Manual, which was implemented in November last year to guide the newsroom in its coverage.

“ABS-CBN operates in a highly competitive market,” the Code of Ethics stated. It added that “ABS-CBN’s reputation… will not be enhanced by defaming our competitors. We should never misrepresent competitors or their programs. We must concentrate on promo-ting and improving the quality of ABS-CBN programs instead.”

A long process
Villa denied that Bigornia was not given due process in her suspension.

“It’s a long process that we took. We didn’t have plans of suspending her,” said Villa who pointed out that Bigornia was her friend. According to Villa, Bigornia had even told her that it was a chance to attack GMA-7.

“But I told Doris, ‘Doris, that’s biased reporting’,” Villa said. She told Bigornia to change the slant of her report because the network’s other news program, Insider, and ANC would later carry the same story.

Villa then recounted Bigornia as telling her, “I’ll change it, but with a heavy heart. But given the chance, I’ll do it again.”

Bigornia was not fired from the network because of her report, both Villa and Ressa clarified. They said that she was terminated because she had leaked confidential internal documents regarding her case to people outside the network, specifically Manila Standard Today columnist Emil P. Jurado.

Jurado published Bigornia’s suspension order in his April 4 column and another ABS-CBN memo to Bigornia asking her to explain how Jurado got a copy of the suspension order on April 7. Leaking confidential informa-tion, according to Ressa and Villa, is a violation of the organization’s Code of Conduct policy for its employees.

Privileged information
When Bigornia’s termination became known to the public, Ressa wrote an e-mail to her staff on April 21 explaining the issue. She wrote: “Charie and I met with Doris and issued her a termina-tion memo not because of any story she did but because she willfully and repeatedly violated a key tenet of this newsroom: leaking privileged information to lobby her personal cause. We’ve verified that she spoke to other journalists aside from columnist Emil Jurado—others who didn’t choose to print her story.”

“As I have repeatedly stated and written in numerous e-mail,” Ressa wrote, “leaking information is punishable by dismissal.”

In a previous e-mail to her staff, she said a “leak” happens “when internal matters, policy or information finds its way to the public domain,” including sharing “privileged informa-tion” with friends or family members. “I am assuming you have the maturity to delineate between gossip and privileged information,” she then wrote.

“If we find an employee releasing confidential informa-tion to anyone outside of ABS-CBN, that is ground for termina-tion,” Ressa’s e-mail stated.

The memos given to Doris by Charie, according to Ressa, “referred to internal matters which define policy.”

Doris could have made an appeal but she chose not to, Ressa wrote. “Instead, she brought it to a columnist (Jurado), who told us that he warned Doris if he published it, she would be ‘burning bridges.’  She allegedly said, go ahead.”

Ressa continued: “The fact that not only one but two memos were published showed intent, defiance and willful dis-obedience.”

No-leak policy
Before she came in as news and current affairs head of the network, Ressa said that ABS-CBN had been very notorious for leaks.

“You can’t run an organization like that,” she told PJR Reports. That was why when she came in, Ressa said she made it clear to everyone that the newsroom would be adopting a no-leak policy.

Both Ressa and Villa admitted that they lost a good reporter in Bigornia, although they said Bigornia was not the first in the newsroom to be sanctioned. Despite that, Ressa said, “If you give me a choice between an ethical journalist and someone who is really hardworking but doesn’t necessarily understand it, there is no choice because you have to be both. That’s why we are really trying very hard for our guys to know that.”

According to Ressa, she and Bigornia tried to find a middle ground, in the hope of keeping her.

“I think the problem was that Doris didn’t want to admit she’s wrong and that led to a whole lot of other things,” Ressa said.

Mixed reactions
Bigornia’s colleagues at the network had mixed reactions to Bigornia’s report and the way the management had handled her case.

“She was given leniency, actually,” reporter RG Cruz told PJR Reports.

Cruz, who said that he and Bigornia were civil in their professional relationship, added that the latter’s report didn’t have to say that the residents in the area were all kapamilya.

“It wasn’t necessary to the telling of the story,” he said. “The story there for me was that these people evacuated the barangays on a warning from a person whose credibility they didn’t even bother to check. That for me was the bigger story there.”

For reporter Adrian Ayalin, he felt sad to see Bigornia go.

“Parang nawalan ka ng kapamilya. Malungkot iyon (It’s like losing a family member. It’s sad),” he said.

Ayalin said it was not for him to judge whether Bigornia’s report was biased or not, but that it was good that the organization was addressing the issue of biased reporting. “Para rin maging careful kami sa pagre-report namin,” he added.

Both Cruz and Ayalin admitted hearing about a statement signed by a group of ABS-CBN reporters supporting Bigornia. But both denied having signed it, or even seeing it.

Villa and Ressa admitted that there was such a statement but according to them, the group later withdrew this after talking with them and understanding why the management had to fire the reporter.

When asked by PJR Reports, other reporters, including those who supposedly signed the document, chose to remain tightlipped about the issue.

Chilling effect
Loi Reyes Landicho, the person behind the prominent blog www.professionalheck-ler.blog-city.com, also wrote about Bigornia’s case. According to him, he asked a friend from ABS-CBN, a network reporter, about the reaction of the other reporters to the case. The reporter sent him back an SMS message, saying: “It has a chilling effect on us at ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs. Ganun lang ba kasimple ‘yun? They (Ressa and Villa) are in control now. Weather-weather lang ’yan.”

“Sigh. Now, here’s a network that tries hard to win back the loyalty of its viewers and yet seemed so quick to kick out one of its most loyal kapamilya. Who’s next?” Landicho wrote.

In another interview with Ressa last May 19, she said that she had heard that Bigornia had filed a complaint against the network but she has not read the document.

She told PJR Reports, “I ex-pected that she would file a com-plaint. Well, if Doris feels there’s a good reason to it, then it’s good.”

Ressa insisted that the issue was very clear. Bigornia, who now works as deputy manager for public affairs at the govern-ment station NBN-4, “violated the guidelines not once, but repeatedly,” she said.

Ressa considers the issue a landmark case. How many cases out there deal with violations of ethical and corporate guidelines, she asked.

“It is clear. It’s an issue of ethics, not of unfair management practice,” the ABS-CBN executive said. n

With additional interviews by Janice C. Ponce de Leon and Melanie Y. Pinlac and research by Rosario Joy E. Flores and Alpha Joy C. Misada

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