MikeLigalig.com

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

These two concepts and realities need not clash. In fact, they should not. Everyone, and especially those in media, no matter how hot on the trail of truth, justice and freedom, should work for charity.

This means that regardless of how we may be in conflict in any aspect of our life and activities, we should always care for one another. Patience, compassion, mercy, magnanimity, good manners, sobriety should prevail. We are all brothers and sisters, first, last and in between.

Besides, whatever amount of reason one may have on his side, the other party always has some reason too, and this should not just be dismissed completely.

Everyone has to learn to listen to everybody else and respect the position of others, even if one is convinced such position is inferior or even wrong. This is the law that governs our dealings with one another.

We always have to practice restraint and moderation in our discussions, keeping a good grip on our emotions and passions, and even on our reasoning. This is an elementary principle in civil behavior.

We don’t suppress them, because that is not human. It’s just to put the lid on them, because unguided by charity, they tend to exaggerate, twist and even pervert the proper order of values, making one self-righteous and misleading us.

Without charity, we can easily fall into misplaced ironies, gossipy detractions and calumnies, reckless stereotyping and labeling. Without charity, we tend to live in a black-and-white world, provoking polarity and division among the people.

We have to remember that charity always works within the system of our emotions, passions and reasoning. But because of our personal, spiritual nature, not to mention our supernatural calling, charity has requirements that transcend these human faculties.

Poor Erap, some newspapers automatically refer to him now as plunderer. He may have been convicted of plunder, but is it good taste, not to mention, charitable to say so?

In many letters to editor, the same transgressions of charity come aplenty. And many editors feel they can just present these letters as they are, in what I consider as an inappropriate show of journalistic objectivity.

They fail to realize that the views expressed are just opinions that need not be held as gospel-truth. Since they do not possess the only position, much less the whole truth, these opinions should be expressed with delicate respect for other opinions.

It would indeed be a great service to the media’s audience if those responsible in transmitting news, views and opinions take utmost care in meeting this fine requirement of good journalism.

They always have to mind balance, fairness and manners. They have to avoid sensationalism at all costs. That sadly seems to be a common sickness, a cheap trick often resorted to by media people to cover up lack of material or worse, one’s partisan views.

With sensationalism, readers and listeners are provoked to be more emotional than rational. This is not to mention that we are supposed to go beyond, not against, rationality to be charitable, which is always the ideal to pursue.

Media people, like everybody else, need to upgrade their communication skills always, polishing them to the point that their technical excellence begins and ends with charity.

They should not remain in the level of the technical, especially now when there are many rationalizations to justify lack of charity.

For example, there are those who claim that due to the rush and lack of time plus the other pressures, media people should be exempted from the strict adherence to the finer points of charity.

That may be true, but that just cannot be held as a principle to follow. It should be more of an exception. We commit mistakes sometimes, but we should manfully own and correct them.

There also are those who say that to be objective, realistic and just plain human in projecting things as they are, we should just relax the requirements of charity.

These are clearly cases of self-justifying sophistry. Everyone, including the media audience, should contribute to a fair, balanced journalism by truly living charity.


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