Drawing a borderline

It has been a month since the Manila hostage crisis of August 23 took over the center stage as everyone talked and feasted the subject which is the Philippines—being the top most dangerous country in the world. This is indeed another reflection as to how bad the security system and how unprepared the country is when being confronted with such problems.

I am a media student, and the things that happened within that hours of hostage drama lead me to a lot of realizations. The three most important developments on the hostage taking crisis that I have noted are the following: (1) The failure of the media to regulate themselves same as the failure of the Philippine police to manage and deal with the press during crisis situations; (2) The agreement between the government and the media to apply 4 “generally accepted” points in covering crisis situations and;(3) The introduction of the House Bill No. 2737 that would require TV and radio networks to delay airing of broadcasts during crisis situations.

The failure of the media to regulate themselves during the crisis showed how much they could make the bad situation worst to the extent of the death of several lives. And the failure of the police to handle the media proved how much they are unprepared on dangerous situations like this. Also it showed lack of association between the two groups, which is unfortunate because they should have been working hand in hand for a common goal.

The Philippines has been one of the freest media around the globe, for years we experienced the effect of their so-called “self-restraint, self-discipline, and self-regulation”. Did it work? I think it didn’t. That is why I believe that the House Bill No. 2737 should be strictly implemented, if ever be approved as law—strict implementation in the sense that it shouldn’t be just another forgotten rule/policy/code. It should be memorized and kept in the hearts of every media practitioners.

Although the Philippine police failed in some ways to perform their duty and apply their basic principles in handling the incident, the media has an equal share also of the blame. So I strongly believe that passing of the the House Bill No. 2737 is needed and indeed a positive action coming from the government.

It is just disheartening to note that “ratings war” as pointed out by the RMN anchor, Erwin Tulfo, was one of the reasons why these media men tend to forget their journalism code and policy. With this, can you still tell me that these media professionals are reliable and objective? They ought to forget their ethics just for the sake of money. And they even keep on excusing themselves on the blames that are being thrown to them.

A real public servant thinks first of their social responsibility through responsible journalism rather than securing advertisers through ratings. Money should be secondary. I think media practitioners should first relearn by heart their basic principles and learn to follow it not by words but with all their hearts and minds. Also during crisis situations media should avoid intervening with the affairs of the policemen and also stop doing the negotiations. That’s why we have police, it’s their job to negotiate not theirs. Media shouldn’t meddle with the police operations. They should stick with their job—and that’s to report straight just how the way things happened.

I don’t know what’s the best thing to do with these stubborn media men who kept on intervening and forcing their selves in the situations like these. Maybe they could get some help from someone who’s kind enough to reread to them their job description in case they are a little bit confused.