Blogger's Notes:
Commentary of an Academic
(Copyright @ 2014 by Chester B Cabalza. All Rights Reserved).
The Philippines,
having the most transparent and dynamic press freedom in Asia, is oftentimes
tagged as a cradle of crimes committed against journalists. Given the country’s
democratic values and traditions, how come some disciples of the right to
communicate are unjustly maltreated?
Press
freedom is anchored on democratic ideals and civil liberties, primarily
upholding international human rights such as freedom of expression. It
recognizes the need for checks-and-balances in the government to avoid abuse by
those in power (Mehra, 1981:1).
The
watchdog power of the press, a concept that has been in existence for more than
two centuries exist in most democratic societies because of the institutional
structures that is alien to countries under authoritarian rule. Schulte (1982)
cited how the press, as an institution, has been regarded as the “Fourth
Estate” in Britain and France, “the fourth power” in Spain, and “the fourth
branch of government” in the United States. Thus, it is in that power in which
the press has the ability to give or withhold publicity and from its
informative capacity (McQuail, 2009: 168).
According
to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), under President
Benigno S Aquino Jr, the Philippines has scored steadily dipping ratings in
recent years from international groups monitoring the state of human rights,
media freedom, and freedom of expression such as the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ), Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, Human
Rights Asia, and the Southeast Asian Press Alliance.[1]
One
of the most pressing issues in media-killing cases is linked to the country’s
weak criminal justice system. The horrendous bureaucratic system between the
judiciary and law enforcers is also not strong causing a turtle pacing in the
investigation phase alone.
In
the study done by PCIJ, they identified impediments that would lead to faster
litigation process of media-killing cases. It suggested the following
mechanisms: (1) the dire need to upgrade the training and capability of police
investigators assigned to gather evidence, process witnesses, and build cases
against both gunmen and masterminds; (2) the need to ease the case load of
public prosecutors assigned to prosecute media murder cases in court; (3) the
need to strengthen the Witness Protection Program (WPP) to encourage more
witnesses to come forward and testify against perpetrators; and, (4) the need
for the President himself to demonstrate political will and declare a clear and
unequivocal policy to promote and protect press freedom, and to abate cases of
harassment and murder of media workers.[2]
The
rules of court should be ironed conscientiously that must be in favor to the
aggravated media people; especially when those implicated in high profile
murder cases of journalists are officials and law enforcers. There should be a
hotline or independent government agency that must look for the security of
good media people, or a multi-sectoral quick response team that would safeguard
the interests of truthfulness.
Media Ethics
In
the profession of media, there are good and bad media practitioners. However,
if journalists practice their profession in good faith and in proper way, they
will be protected by the people. In case journalists will be killed while doing
their job in the right way, people will uphold truth and safeguard the rights
of these good media people.
In
other words, media ethics should be included in the curriculum of mass media
colleges. It should be properly taught among students and practice them by
heart in the field. This is very important because it will reflect the kind of
media culture that we want to empower in our society. Although media ethics
could be complex; it should still be inculcated among media practitioners. Truthfulness,
conflicts of interest, sensationalism, authenticity and appropriateness of
photographs, and media control should be upheld.
Human Rights
In
the profession of media, there are good and bad media practitioners. However,
if journalists practice their profession in good faith and in proper way, they
will be protected by the people. In case journalists will be killed while doing
their job in the right way, people will uphold truth and safeguard the rights
of these good media people. Human rights are innate to all of us. It should be
protected with utmost respect.
In
the Philippines, media people are robed with such human rights and often robed
of these rights. They seek assistance from the police and demand that the
police take the murderers to court; however, they can be even stripped of their
rights to report such crimes because oftentimes the perpetrators are the leaders
of the police themselves.
Security Issue
The
killings of journalists and media people can be qualified as a national
security issue especially that the media is touted to be the ‘fourth estate’.
The absence of safety and security to credible group of people who uphold truth
and clothed with various human rights, should be protected by the state in
sustain check-and-balance in various branches of the government and systems in
our society.
Media
people working in regional or provincial fields are more prone to attacks of
media killings, thus, the local government and local law enforcers need to
ensure their safety and security for the sake of upholding truth and freedom.
More frustrations are felt because this kind of security, be it in local or
national environments, that are not addressed adequately. Laws should be properly
implemented to prosecute the perpetrators and adherence to strict policies on
the security of media people should be secured.
Way Forward
To
sum it all, extrajudicial killings of media men and women should be addressed
well based from various flaws that are seen as social ills in our society. The
flaws on weak criminal justice system, not so strong media ethics,
non-observance of human rights, and security threat among journalists are signs
of lapses from our government and other sectors.
There
is a need to protect people who uphold the truth and fairness which is one of
the roles of the media. They should be granted with certain rights to defeat
the culture of impunity and media killings in the country.
[1] The news article can be
downloaded from http://pcij.org/stories/23-journalists-killed-in-40-months-of-pnoy-worst-case-load-since-86/, accessed last September 18,
2014.
[2] Ibid.
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