Sunday, October 08, 2006 Cabaero: Esperat coverage By Nini B. Cabaero Beyond 30
Word on the guilty verdict handed down by the court on the three persons accused of killing journalist Marlene Garcia-Esperat spread like the proverbial wildfire through the different Philippine news websites last Friday.
A running account on one site was connected to another website. News websites changed their headline stories within minutes from the promulgation of the decision to carry reports on the guilty verdict. Finally, there was a positive outcome to the many pending cases over the killing of journalists.
It was a much-awaited decision especially by media advocates who have been keeping track of the number of journalists killed in the line of their work.
Esperat, columnist for a Mindanao community newspaper, was believed killed for her crusade against corruption in the agriculture sector. Philippine journalists shared the call for justice with colleagues in the international community like those in the Reporters Without Borders or Reporters sans frontieres, the International Press Institute and the Committee to Protect Journalists. These organizations equally placed pressure on our government to resolve the case.
Days before Cebu Regional Trial Court Branch 21 Judge Eric Menchavez was scheduled to issue a decision, the media were abuzz on how the case would be resolved. Would this be one victory for press freedom? If a guilty verdict was handed down, can the mastermind be next to be brought to justice?
The Sun.Star website at www.sunstar.com.ph was among the first news sites to report the court's decision. The coverage started with a running account posted online of the arrival of the family of Esperat and then the reading of the decision. It continued with the handing down of the verdict, the lawyer's next move to go after the mastermind and the press conference of the Esperat family. (Photos, a copy of the decision and a video clip are available online.) Websites of other news organizations did similar reporting.
Beyond covering the event for its news value, the reporting done by these news websites was also an expression of their solidarity with the call for justice for a fallen colleague.
For this is what media could do to support the cause to end media killings. To continue to report on investigations on specific cases of journalists killed and to celebrate every guilty verdict handed down on persons responsible for such killings.
As what the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility said in its primer on the Esperat case (http://www.cmfr.com.ph/esperatprimer.htm): "Arguably one of the key factors for the case's relative success or considerable progress has been the consistent coverage by both the national and local media."
