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Friday, September 22, 2006
Seares: Carungay and Dignos
By Pachico A. Seares
News Sense
I don't know well Aksyon Radyo's Ely Carungay. I don't remember having met dyHP's Joash Dignos.
Both are visible in the media sky, though people disagree on whether Ely and Joash cast lustre or cut dark figures. But they are seen.
Ely has a string of convictions for libel. The latest was promulgated Monday of Cebu Press Freedom Week---when RTC Judge Ramon Codilla's reminder about ethics and press freedom's boundaries was as apt as the Juan Mercado-penned pooled editorial on that day.
Joash has a string of complaints for libel, mostly on his comments about a mayor's alleged dalliance with his daughter-in-law. Joash popularized, as no one else did more outrageously, the word "jerjer" for sex.
Public interest
Few are convicted of libel. Courts, aware of deadline's heat, are tolerant of journalists' errors.
Not, however, when malice sticks out. By repeated innuendos or frontal charges, with no honest motive.
(Yes, the public is curious about which VIP is sleeping with whom, but it serves no public interest, a distinction often lost to the broadcaster who thinks he's holding a karaoke mike in a noisy pub instead of being on air.)
Call it marketing strategy, this mantra spread by industry gurus: to "rate" and be famous, a commentator must shock and infuriate the powerful by dumping the Broadcasters' Code and with it all the jazz about fairness and good taste.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (September 22, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
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