November 2008 Issue of PJR Reports
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2 NOVEMBER 2008 PJR REPORTS EDITOR’S NOTE PUBLISHED BY THE CENTER FOR MEDIA FREEDOM & RESPONSIBILITY Endorsing Candidates Melinda Quintos de Jesus Publisher HE U.S. electorate was preparing to go to the polls as this also said that 46 of the newspapers that endorsed Obama Luis V. Teodoro issue of PJR Reports was going to press. The 2008 U.S. this year supported Bush in 2004. Editor Tpresidential elections have been hailed as “historic” in While newspaper endorsements are normal during U.S. elec- that they might result (and by the time this issue is released, are tions, their absence has characterized Philippine polls since 1992, Hector Bryant L. Macale likely to have resulted) in the election of that country’s first when the first presidential elections were held after the over- Assistant Editor black president. throw of the Marcos dictatorship and its replacement by the Although racism is pretty much alive in the United States, Aquino government. JB Santos Barack Obama’s election to the U.S. presidency would suggest While many media practitioners as well as ordinary citizens Melanie Y. Pinlac that its most virulent forms have receded, although it remains don’t seem to favor it, a newspaper’s or a broadcast station’s Kathryn Roja G. Raymundo a major factor in U.S. politics. Were it not for his race, Obama endorsing candidates seems only natural of organizations en- Edsel Van DT. Dura would win (or would have won) overwhelmingly over any gaged in the dissemination and discussion of public issues. That Reporters rival from the Republican Party, given the disaster the Bush it’s not happening today in the Philippine media is mostly due Arnel Rival administration has inflicted over the last eight years on both to the latter’s belief that they have to nurture the myth that Art Director the US and the world. they’re “objective” and neutral, while some practitioners also If Obama has won the U.S. presidency, the media would feel that it would affect their credibility. And yet a media en- Lito Ocampo have played a major part in it. His campaign strategy included dorsement forewarns the public what to expect from the cover- Photographer TV infomercials and ads meant to depict him as a reasonable, age if made at the start of the campaign, or puts the coverage in balanced, conciliatory, and open individual concerned with perspective if made on the eve of an election. Endorsements Carol M. Paragele both country and people. Obama knew that he had to overcome also endow the public with a perspective from which to evalu- Editorial Secretary the racist bias that, beyond the more virulent forms still resi- ate the media organization’s coverage not only of the elections, dent in neo-Nazi and other fringe U.S. groups, still lives in but of other issues. Jose Abueva subtler forms in the consciousness of many whites in the US The Philippine media shouldn’t restore the practice just be- Joaquin Bernas, SJ who fear and despise blacks. cause the U.S. media are doing it, or even because the Philippine Melinda Quintos de Jesus However, any assessment of the impact of Obama’s ads and media used to do it before the declaration of martial law in 1972. Fulgencio Factoran infomercials on the outcome of the U.S. presidential elections Rather should they do it for the sake of transparency. Like the U.S. Maribel Ongpin Tina Monzon Palma can be credibly made only by research. The same is true of the media, the Philippine media are controlled by various political Paulynn Paredes Sicam newspaper endorsements of Obama’s candidacy, which, a week and business interests, and an endorsement could give the public Luis V. Teodoro before the Nov. 4 elections, were running at two to one in his a sense of how those interests help shape their coverage. Vergel O. Santos favor, with 231 endorsing him and 102 endorsing John McCain. Filipinos will go to the polls in 2010 to elect a president, Board of Advisers The U.S. journal Editor and Publisher, which covers the pub- among others. Some honesty on the part of the media to admit lishing industry, said the combined circulation of the newspa- (although perhaps only to themselves) that they do have pref- pers that had so far endorsed Obama was 21 million readers, erences because of their individual and/or owners’ interests compared to seven million for the newspapers that had ex- should lead to their restoring the practice of endorsing candi- pressed support for McCain. dates during elections. It would be an opportunity to help vot- Editor and Publisher noted that the Obama lead in en- ers decide who could best lead this country—and would cer- dorsements contrasted sharply with that of Democratic Party tainly be more honest. presidential candidate John Kerry in the 2004 U.S. presiden- Luis V. Teodoro tial elections. Kerry then led re-electionist George W. Bush in newspaper endorsements by a slim 213 to 205. E and P Adapted from a column in BusinessWorld, Oct. 31, 2008. The PJR Reports (Philippine Journalism Review Reports) is published by the Center for Media PRESSED FREEDOM By Manix Abrera Freedom and Responsibility. All mail should be addressed to: PJR Reports Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility 2/F Ateneo Professional Schools, 130 H.V. dela Costa St., Salcedo Village, Makati City 1227 Phones: (632) 840-0889/(632) 840-0903 (632) 894-1314/(632) 894-1326 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.cmfr-phil.org PJR Reports welcomes feedback and contributions on press and media issues. The publication of this issue is supported by a grant from the Open Society Institute. 5PJR REPORTS NOVEMBER 2008 3 IN THIS SPEAKING OF ISSUE MEDIA PJR REPORTS NOVEMBER 2008 On the right of reply bill selves. What will happen is that the pages The Press’ Own “Road to Nowhere” of newspapers will be full of long-winded HECTOR BRYANT L. MACALE ............................................................................................ 6 “FROM WHERE we stand, this bill throws replies (the bills mandate that the replies out of the window the provision in the be printed word for word), thus elbow- A Healthy Debate But… Bill of Rights of the Constitution that ing out more important stories and the KATHRYN ROJA G. RAYMUNDO ..................................................................................... 8 clearly says no law shall be passed advertisements without which no news- abridging the freedom of the press. paper can survive. Besides, these replies Media and Food Safety “It also constitutes prior restraint on will probably be full of lies and half- Frightened by Melamine freedom of the press that the Supreme truths, so the reading public gets neither Court would certainly frown upon. the truth nor a balanced view of the story. MELANIE Y. PINLAC ........................................................................................................ 10 “And it is likely to have a chilling Not only that, the first side will most effect on journalists who will have to likely demand to make its own reply to So? think twice before writing exposés on the reply of the other side, which will Questions of Context Hound Coverage of U.S. Financial Crisis corruption and wrongdoing in and out then reply again and so on, thus making JB SANTOS with reports from EDSEL VAN DT. DURA ............................................................. 12 of government. the exchange of replies almost endless. Tabloids “Responsible journalism emphasizes “Those are the practical considerations fair and balanced reporting. It allows both that our lawmakers failed to take into They’re Cheap—But Useful? sides of the story to be heard, without account because their railroad was run- HECTOR BRYANT L. MACALE ........................................................................................... 16 need of a law.... ning too fast. The more important con- “The ‘right to reply’ bill will be an- The Cebu Press Council sideration is that it is unconstitutional, other albatross around the neck of jour- being against freedom of the press. It is Alive and Well nalists who want to uphold good gov- prior restraint.” ernance and demand transparency and JB SANTOS ..................................................................................................................... Neal Cruz, explaining why a right of reply 18 accountability from those in public law is unnecessary, Inquirer, Oct. 6 Investigative Reporting office. Like the libel law, which has A Culture of Disclosure been used by the powerful and the in- When government exerts control EDSEL VAN DT. DURA ....................................................................................................... fluential to harass crusading journal- 20 ists, it will allow the corrupt, the in- “THE PALACE demand clearly smacks Halloween Infantilism competent and the stupid to emascu- of rigging the agenda of the exchange and late Philippine media.” Interviews with Ghouls and Vampires allowing the President to control discus- LITO B. ZULUETA ...............................................................................................................24 BusinessMirror, on the approval of the right sion of issues. It reduces the exchange into of reply bill at the Senate, Oct. 6 a presidential monologue, in which she dominates the choice of issues to be high- REGULAR SECTIONS “(The right of reply bill) would dic- lighted and excluded. tate to journalists and editors what story “Focap (Foreign Correspondents As- Editor’s Note..................................................................................................................