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Sunday, February 26, 2006
Cebu editors warn v. prior restraint
In a joint stand, the five daily newspapers in Cebu yesterday reminded government it cannot impose prior restraint on media as proclamation of a state of emergency does not suspend the constitutional right to liberty of expression.
The papers that aired this warning were Sun.Star Cebu, Cebu Daily News, The Freeman, Sun.Star Superbalita and Banat News. The editors-in-chief of these papers are Pachico A. Seares, Eileen G. Mangubat, Jerry Tundag, and Juanito V. Jabat. Joining the Cebu newspapers’ stand were individual journalists like columnist Juan L. Mercado of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and broadcaster Bobby Nalzaro of dySS and GMA 7.
Balance
Earlier, government raided the opposition Daily Tribune. And Maria Ressa, head of the ABS-CBN News Department, said she attended a meeting between officers and members of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) the other day where NTC Commissioner Ronald Solis said broadcast outfits should refrain from airing statements from parties that incite to sedition or those that are rebellious in nature.
“The NTC told us to be fair and balanced. But there is a pre-judgment of media without any discussion about it. Besides that, fair and balanced reporting is already in our code of ethics. We all have that,” Ressa said.
Mangubat stressed that the imposition of the state of emergency by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should not curtail the Bill of Rights. Thus, prior restraints will violate the Constitution’s injunction against abridging freedom of the press, she said.
Seares of Sun.Star said the raid of the Daily Tribune was a “disturbing” development which presented an implied threat against press freedom.
The Cebu journalists recalled the self-defeating role of Marcos censors. “In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only weapon against bad ideas is better ideas,” they said.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 26, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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