Here are some more of the gems from her speech which Filipino journalists can identify with:
Stop banalizing the Truth
“I believe in being truthful, not neutral. And I believe we must stop banalizing the truth.
And we have to be prepared to fight especially hard for the truth in a world where the Oxford English Dictionary just announced its word of 2016: “post-truth.”
First things first: I’d like to thank each and every one who took time to attend the whole day launch and conference of the Media Ownership Monitor Philippines (http://philippines.mom-rsf.org/ ) last Thursday.
My special thanks to Press Undersecretary Enrique Tandan who delivered the keynote address in behalf of Press Secretary Martin Andanar, who was in Lima, Peru with President Duterte for the APEC summit; Atty Romel Bagares, who did the legal assessment of media ownership in the Philippines; and the four panelists – Ging Reyes, head of Integrated News and Current Affairs, ABS-CBN Corporation; John Nery, editor in chief, Inquirer.net and opinion columnist, Philippine Daily Inquirer; Prof. Clarissa David of the Philippine Competition Commission and the Graduate Studies Department, College of Mass Communication, University of the Philippines; and Bobi Tiglao, Manila Times columnist and author of the book, Colossal Deception- How Foreigners Control our Telecoms Sector.
The participants enjoyed the lively exchanges among the panelists –especially between Tiglao and Nery- which happens only in a gathering of learned and strong- minded personalities.
MOM is a joint project of Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) Germany and VERA Files (disclosure: I’m a trustee of VERA Files) which both believe that media ownership matters in the quality and credibility of the news that the public gets.
Oftentimes, many people including government officials blame media for the many problems that they face in their governance.
Media-bashing was a standard fare in many of the speeches of former President Aquino. President Duterte has followed the same line.
Although the media-bashing reflects a warped appreciation of the role of media, it is also a recognition of the power of media- in its role as a vehicle of information to the public.
Once again, warped thinking was on full display when a Yolly Reyes Junto posted on Facebook her rant against Reuters reporters Manny Mogato and Karen Lerma over the story of President Duterte comparing himself with Adolf Hitler.
Junto’s Oct. 1 post started with a purported disclaimer: “I am no Duterte fanatic. I criticize him more scathingly than anyone when his mouth is out of line. But this time, Duterte really didn’t say anything wrong. ‘
Get yourself a copy of Rigoberto Tiglao’s book, “Colossal Deception- How foreigners control our telecoms sector.”
The book, as its front cover states, is “a case study of corruption, cronyism and regulatory capture in the Philippines.”
The book benefits from Tiglao’s experience as journalist (Business Day and Far Eastern Economic Review) as he pierced through the corporate layers to see who is really behind what we think is Manuel V. Pangilinan’s expanding empire.
Tiglao said, his book, “ tells how an Indonesian magnate built up a new business empire outside his country in just 18 years – dwarfing others owned by Filipino magnates – and why a foreigner has been allowed to do so by Philippine authorities despite the clear constitutional restrictions on foreign control.”
The Indonesian is Anthoni Salim – a name that most Filipinos have not heard of.
Tiglao said Salim “ has never been seen in public here, if ever he had stepped on Philippine soil.”
“ Yet his conglomerate in the country consists of public utility enterprises in which the Constitution bars foreigners from controlling,” the author said.
We don’t have to enumerate bunglings by the Duterte communication team because Press Secretary Martin Andanar has admitted it.
“Tayo naman ay hindi perpekto ‘no, tayo’y nagkakamali din, pero Inaayos natin itong mga pagkakamali na ito (We are not perfect and we make mistakes. We are correcting our mistakes),” Andanar said in a radio interview.
At least he is humble enough to admit his mistakes which cannot be said of some communication officials of the previous president.
Andanar said in the current standard operating procedure for delivering the President’s messages it’s only Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella who will be speaking. Only if Abella is not available does he come in.
By YVETTE MORALES
VERA Files has partnered with Reporters ohne Grenzen, German section of Reporters sans frontières (Reporters without Borders, RSF) to embark on a three-month study of media ownership in the Philippines.
The Media Ownership Monitor (MOM) Philippines is part of RSF’s global project to study the extent of the concentration of media ownership, a prerequisite for securing freedom of the press and defending the diversity of opinions.
Vergel Santos, Chairman of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, who was one of the participants in the roundtable discussion held last week to kick-off the project, called the MOM a “terrific,” much-needed initiative that will open people’s eyes to the power behind the media organizations.
“It was done in the wee hours of the morning and he was very tired, “ Yasay said adding that the President “ already ended up the press conference … but the press were still leading him with a lot of questions, so it is in this context that he made this statements.”
Whose choice was it to hold the press conference at 1 a.m., Sunday? Why should the reporters be blamed for asking the questions at those unholy hours which the President earlier said was his normal working hours. Didn’t he say that he sleeps mornings and starts his day at 1 p.m.?
Do you feel sick watching daily images on TV and newspapers of people killed, lying lifeless on the sidewalks covered with newspapers or plastic with only their dirty feet and worn-out rubber slippers seen?
And of course near the corpse, the cardboard sign “Drug pusher ako, huwag tularan”, which has now become a standard accessory in President Duterte’s war against illegal drugs.
Studies have shown the ill-effects of being exposed to traumatic images.
In an article in the website of Association for Psychological Science, psychological scientist Roxane Cohen Silver of the University of California, Irvine and colleagues said “repeated exposure to vivid traumatic images from the media could lead to long-lasting negative consequences, not just for mental health but also for physical health. “
The article said Silver and her colleagues “speculated that such media exposure could result in a stress response that triggers various physiologic processes associated with increased health problems over time.”
That’s for those who are exposed to disturbing images in media. How much more with members of media who are up close to those gruesome scenes to capture them for the people to know what’s happening in the country.
Proof of the greatness of a creation is the emotion that it evokes, favorable or unfavorable.
Such is the picture of Jennelyn Olaires cradling the dead body of her partner, Michael Siaron, a 30-year-old pedicab driver, who was shot dead by motorcycle-riding men while he was waiting for passengers past midnight of July 22 in Pasay City.
Inquirer captioned the heart-wrenching photo by Raffy Lerma, “La Pieta,” after the famous sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti of the sorrowful Mary holding the dead body of Jesus.