Editorial: How honest is probe on village chiefs?

I AGREE with the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP)-Cebu City Chapter that Rep. Luigi Quisumbing’s news-blackout-during-a-crisis-situation bill is not needed.

But I don’t agree with the fuss over the issue of Capitol giving reporters free lunch.

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On the former, I don’t think there is a need to legislate guidelines on media’s conduct in crisis situations. We in the media can will ourselves to change without government kicking our butts for us to do so.

The latter is a non-issue. Food does nourish the mind, but it does not necessarily shape a reporter’s viewpoint. I have eaten all the meals offered by news sources of different shapes and sizes but I haven’t fallen in love as yet with anyone of them.

Besides, we in the media have more compelling issues to talk about in Broadcaster’s Month this month and Press Freedom Week in the coming week. Like admitting our faults in the Aug. 23 Rizal Park hostage crisis and then sincerely learning from those mistakes.

As I have pointed out in a previous column, some media leaders do have a tendency to be defensive. When the institution is criticized, the knee-jerk reaction is to either refuse to admit media’s failings or to rationalize them. Then the critics are flogged in return.

The hostage crisis was a sobering experience not only for the government, specifically the police, but for all of us, including those in the media and the “usiseros.”

Everybody contributed something to the brew that turned the hostage-taking incident into a bloody mess. Everybody should therefore gather lessons from it.

In the hostage crisis, the broadcast media—-TV and radio—-by their very nature, got the first crack at the coverage, airing the entire incident live. It is not surprising, therefore, that the focus of the scrutiny is on the acts of broadcast reporters and program handlers.

Two concerns are at issue here. One is the live coverage of the incident, specifically on how sensitive information and scenes were handled. Another is the interview conducted by two RMN-dzXL radio personalities with hostage-taker Rolando Mendoza less than an hour before he shot some of the Chinese nationals he held at gunpoint inside a bus.

National KBP officials issued statements days later announcing their moves in the aftermath of the tragedy. Even as KBP claimed that the broadcast media “abided by coverage guidelines in hostage situations,” it said that it is investigating the propriety of the RMN-dzXL interview. (to be continued)