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Monday, September 20, 2004
Nalzaro: A threat to press freedom
By BOBBY G. NALZARO
THE week-long annual celebration of the Cebu Press Freedom kicked off yesterday with a colorful parade participated in by members of the fourth estate in Cebu from the three major local dailies and from the broadcast industry.
The parade started at the Ayala Business Park and ended at the Capitol Social Hall where a mass was held, officiated by Fr. Roberto Alesna, in behalf of His Eminence Cardinal Vidal, who just came out from the hospital. A short but lively program was held, highlighted by the selection of Miss Gayest and Miss Press Freedom. Some lucky participants took home big prizes during the raffle draw.
Several activities have been lined up this week, like forums and round table discussions with news sources. Two prominent Manila-based media personalities—lawyer Dong Puno, vice president for news of ABS-CBN, and Jessica Soho, GMA 7 news director—have been invited to speak before local mediamen. Well, kudos to Sun.Star, this year’s lead convenor for a well-organized opening ceremony.
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It is just unfortunate that while the Cebu media is celebrating Press Freedom Week, there is this threat from Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to close GMA 7 for refusing to sell airtime to City Hall. The hizzoner vowed not to renew the business permit of the television station as an offshoot of the decision of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) Cebu banning City Hall from buying airtime from KBP member stations. The broadcast organization’s united stand was a result of the City Government’s failure to pay its debts on airtime contract incurred during former mayor Alvin Garcia’s administration.
For me, the decision of the mayor is not only a threat to the concerned station but to the entire media industry. He claimed that he is not afraid of the media. So who’s afraid of the media? First and foremost, we are not scaring the mayor. What the KBP did was just to collect the amount due the group as it had already performed its obligation specified in the contracts to air those City Hall merchandising plugs and commercials.
Now, because these broadcast entities insist on their right to collect payments from City Hall, which the present occupant refused to honor, he will use his power and influence to close down one of its members? This move is tantamount to the curtailment of press freedom.
The KBP does not want any confrontation with the mayor and we want to resolve this issue in a peaceful way. The KBP followed procedures. First, it lobbied to the members of the City Council, which acted in our favor. There was also a legal opinion from the City Attorney’s Office that recommended the payments. But Tomas, for reasons only known to him, refused to honor the council and the legal office’s recommendations.
Now he claims that the refusal of KBP member stations to sell airtime to the City Government is a violation of City Hall’s freedom of expression? What violation is he talking about? For the information of the mayor, each station has its own programming prerogative. There are some stations that are not selling airtime for political purposes, like dySS of RGMA Network.
If he insists on and uses his influence to pressure the media outlet to give in to his demand, I view this as an encroachment on the policies of a private company. It will be worse if he uses his power to close the station down. Former leaders of this country who were at odds with the media did not even lift a finger or threaten to close down a media outlet. But here in Cebu, we have a dictator in the making in the person of Tomas Osmeña.
(e-mail: Bobby@sunstar.com.ph. Text: 09193181404)
(September 20, 2004 issue)
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