Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Valdehuesa: Feedback is Important By Manuel Valdehuesa StreetTalk
THERE'S always feedback on the email. Most are comments that don't require a reply or acknowledgment. Those that do are a columnist's delight. They signify the presence of sensitive, perceptive or caring readers.
From the way they write and the issues they raise, one can tell that not only do they want to improve things and make a difference, they will go an extra mile for society if need be. Concerned citizens they are.
Such are the feedback of Orly Garcia and Tony Malferrari Jr. to the column titled Irresponsible Elite on July 11. Their feedback also triggered and provoked this column but I shall deal with their points directly by email.
Their feedback sets me wondering how many of their kind are out there - because the level of public discourse in this town is dismal, aggravated by bad writing, awful pronunciation and imprecise language. Lots of nitpicking and police blotter news as if nothing substantial is happening. Very little investigative reporting. It is off-putting. It doesn't help that there seems to be no editorial standards, nor concern for copy editing. If they can't edit columns, at the least they should edit news items. But then, no one complains or points out the disservice. It is a disservice to inflict bad stuff on a trusting public.
Would that more feedback were forthcoming from readers and listeners. Would that the schools could pool their faculty and editorial teams to monitor the quality of journalism, then to hold up a mirror to posturing practitioners. Media people should know how the public views them and rates their performance. Many of them don't sound or write in educated tones or rhythms. Media has become a runaway industry with no brakes to moderate excess or quality control.
Press freedom should not be interpreted as freedom to take liberties with language, educational standards or the need for precision. No less than the development of our culture and civilization is at stake. To impede either one is to postpone our political development and maturation. Not least, uninhibited, improper or irresponsible media practices depress a community's mental health and literacy level. Hence, media owners ought to be discriminating in their hiring policy. Their announcers and reporters should be held to rigorous standards, with appropriate educational attainment. As consumers of media, we have a right to expect competence or proficiency. What are our minimum expectations?
From broadcast practitioners: language proficiency, correct pronunciation and sobriety. Language is the essential infrastructure of civilization. Pronunciation is essential for precision in communicating and propagating ideas. Panic-inducing language, style or gimmick is vexatious and raises stress levels in the community, thus it literally endangers health. Sobriety is therefore important.
From print media: objectivity, accuracy, grammar and syntax. Objectivity is not served where practitioners are in the payroll of politicians and vested interests. If it can't be avoided, full disclosure is essential. Nor is press freedom or objectivity served when public relations practitioners and political operatives moonlight as reporters -- a practice anathema to the canons of journalism. It should be prohibited. Not least, grammar and syntax goes to precision, accurate communication and literacy promotion. Reporters and broadcasters should be vetted for their proficiency in these.
The trouble is neither the press club nor the KBP has proved to be a reliable enforcer of the ethical norms they claim to be guided by. Whether in upholding quality, in policing their ranks or in protecting public morals or interests, they have fallen short of both their own Code of Ethics and the public's expectations.
Their failure makes it imperative for society to establish its own safeguards against the forces of corruption and barbarity of which mendacity, mediocrity and pedantry are the most subtle and thus the most insidious. Even Mike Baños would agree, I think.
(A former UN executive and secretary-general of the Association of South East Asian Publishers, Manny writes Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays. Email: valdeman_esq@yahoo.com.)
