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Isn't this statement contradictory? If the media is untouchable, why are so many mediamen brutally killed? In a properly functioning democratic society, libel suits should be the only Damocles' sword hanging over journalists to keep them in line with the tenets of truth, integrity and objectivity required by their profession. But in our country, murder and undue harrassment are the grimmer threats hounding journalists.
Reply:
It is not contradictory. It's true the media is untouchable by law. A provision in the constitution says; "No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, idea, expression and of the press." This is the law that made the media powerful. They cannot be sued in court except on libel. The media publishing defamatory statement in the news against an individual person is libel. But the government cannot bring the press to court for libel. This provision in law made some media practitioners abusive that is why they are hunted down by the person they harmed in the press. I think we are not yet ready for absolute press freedom. We got this system from the Americans but I think there is a difference of culture between the two countries. Sarah Palin for example, she can take the issue during the election that her special child is the son of Bristol her daughter, but telling that to a Filipino politician I think that journalist will not last long.
This is what I said that; "the right of the media to publish the news is balanced by their duty to be responsible."
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The media is responsible only for the truth, and not in behalf of anybody. Ensuring freedom of press will make the media a clearinghouse of issues that will bring to light the scurrilous and the mercenary. The law can deal with legal lapses of the media like defamation and misrepresentation, and the reading public can deal with its excesses such as unbalanced and prejudicial writeups through public censure and withdrawal of patronage.
Reply:
It is easy to say that the media is reponsible only for the truth, it's like music to our ears but the person the journalist hurt in the press, the journalist is not responsible because he believes he is writing the truth. The word "truth" can always be seen in all different angles. This is why the journalist should take responsibility in all he writes in the papers.
The press in the Philippines if they are really the purveyor of the truth they should produce evidence that can stand up in court so that those public officials they maligned as corrupt can be brought to a court of law. Filipinos are catered always with the issue of graft and corruption in the press but not a single official in the cabinet rank that went to jail. If they have no evidence to support their allegation they should refrain this rumors of corruption in government to prove that there is responsible reporting in our country. The media is only fueling the emotion of the people to get angry at their political leaders. The fear-mongering in the media is always going overboard causing political and economic instability. Foreign investors will shy away because the Philippine media is putting always the issue in the news that Filipinos are corrupt. Where will foreign investors go if they fear the Philippines? They will go to China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand or India, countries that have regulated media outlets. The Filipinos? They will go to countries that will offer good paying job for them and too much brain drain happening in our country because of economic dislocation. The truth is only few Filipino intellectuals who are benefitted by the lively debate in the media.
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In my observation we are the only nation in the world making the issue of graft and corruption against our political leaders.
Even in the more polite and self-restrained media of Japan, political leaders are criticized of graft and corruption, not to mention, inpetitude, daily.
Reply:
You are right! But Japanese media practitioners criticizing their leaders of graft and corruption have evidence to support their criticism which is why a politician or a business leader who is the target of criticism will resign and some will commit suicide. In Australia documents as evidence of fraud or corruption are put in the news or shown on television so that the people reading the news or listening on TV are well served with the truth. In the Philippine the press are good only in the issue of graft and corruption in the news without evidence and can be interpreted by a few as political intrigues but to those unsophisticated Filipinos, it's up to them to balance it whether it is right or wrong which is divisive and can cause instability in government and in the economy.
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The issue of the AIG bonuses is not raised as an issue of corruption against the government because first, it is an act committed by the private sector, and at this point in time, no government official has been indentified as having benefited from it (unlike the issue of Legacy, etc.)
Reply:
The issue of AIG bonuses is an act committed by the Democrats in congress and approved by the Treasury Department because Senator Chris Dodd has revealed himself as the author of a controversial amendment that cleared the way for the huge bonuses to be paid to executives of AIG, the insurance giant rescued by the US Government last year to avert a global financial meltdown.
But this is not the point... The point is, if this insertion of "pork barrels and bonuses" into the stimulus package happens in the Philippines, I am very sure that the Philippine media will have a feast on these as issues of graft and corruption in government. But in the US, not a single media practitioner ever dared to raise these as corruption issue. Why? The answer is because it is not corruption but a provision inserted in the stimulus package law.
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I think it is not fair and right to blame the media for our social ills. For all its imperfections, the media only chronicles and reflects the dynamics of our society, and brings into the fore issues that the public ought to pay attention to. Some issues it raises turn out to be flippant and even downright false, but the free and open press has a self-corrective mechanism. As the Fourth Estate, the media strengthens the healthy functioning of checks and balances in our society. By and large, the free media is the first to acknowledge that one's freedom ends where another one's freedom begins.
Reply:
You are right! It is not fair to put all the blames on the media but blames can be attributed partly also to our politicians who, by common knowledge, are bribing and corrupting the media to furhter their political ambitions. The press is the battlefield of politicians but most of the time political bickerings are going overboard causing our very own democratic structure to fall. The fall of Erap happened because of the over-zealous media thinking that by enciting the people to rebel is healthy to our fledgeling democracy.
WN
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