Tuesday, March 04, 2008 Seares: Shooting messengers By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
“NONE loves the messenger who brings bad news.” —Sophocles, “Antigone”
That theory of tragic Greek poet Sophocles has been used to explain hostility to journalists.
Just like ancient times when the king beheaded the messenger bringing news of a lost battle, aggrieved persons nowadays kidnap, gun down, or, less harshly, sue the journalist reporting scandal or crime.
A Colombian writer said at an international conference on “Impunity and Press Freedom” in Makati last week, a journalist in their country is abducted or murdered for an insulting word or phrase in his story.
Filipino journalists are killed for more serious reasons. Philippines, with 70 killed in line of duty, is deemed by Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) unsafe for reporters and editors.
Southeast Asian Press Alliance (Seappa) and CMFR organized the forum with the help of Open Society Institute and Committee to Protect Journalists. And organizers made sure the serial assaults on media weren’t lost on judges and state lawyers who joined the conference.
More vile
Murder is more vile when (a) culprit is unpunished and (b) impunity is repeated in a series of summary executions. Utter contempt of law and order raises the crime several degrees more in wickedness.
In Cebu where murder of journalists, thank God, still hasn’t become the fashion, the press worries over lawsuits aimed to harass or threaten.
Court charges may not maim or kill but they also oppress. Courts dump most complaints but journalists’ ordeal is no less harrowing.
Lawsuits punish messengers for just being messengers.
