Thursday, June 12, 2008 So: Safety protocol By Michelle P. So Caught in the Net
I WOKE up yesterday at two minutes into the third quarter of the Celtics-Lakers third game in LA. Boston was leading by two points. Everyone in the house, including our dog, is rooting for the Lakers. Except me. I go for the team, any team that plays against the Lakers.
Between sips of coffee, I made phone calls, sent text messages, watch Kobe and Gasol score point after point, read Borg’s prediction of a Nadal win in Wimbledon, and thought of Ces Drilon and her crew.
I hope Drilon and her crew are all right. As I write this, ABS-CBN has confirmed that the three have been kidnapped for ransom (www.sunstar.com.ph) but the TV network has not revealed any other detail.
It has asked the public to pray for their safety and wellbeing.
Drilon is a veteran broadcast journalist and, according to ABS-CBN news and current affairs head Maria Ressa, seemed to be the only one among the three of them to have realized that they were being held.
Law enforcement authorities said Drilon refused to be escorted despite knowing the risks of being in a dangerous territory like Sulu. As a journalist, I can understand why Drilon acted the way she did. A police or military escort would only call attention to the presence of the news team who is there to get a story as unobtrusively as possible.
Oh no! The Lakers were overtaking the Celtics by four points now. Grrrr. I hate Borg for having doubts on Federer’s winning a sixth Wimbledon Cup. Grrrr.
Safety is always a journalist’s concern. I don’t think having military or police men hanging around me while pursuing a story would make me any safer. I would feel exposed instead, especially if they are fans of the Lakers and Nadal.
In Sun.Star, we came up with a policy and protocol of protecting ourselves in hazardous situations. These were drafted and adopted in 2004 amid the rising number of journalists killed in the country.
“The conditions under which journalists work can never be completely safe and secure but unnecessary risk can be eliminated, not just by law enforcers, but by the journalists themselves and their employers,” the policy states. “Journalists shall not take unwarranted risks in the pursuit of stories. Editors shall encourage a policy of ‘safety first, before competitive advantage.’”
It is a wrong notion that we journalists will risk our lives to get a story, even with a hazard pay tucked in our wallets. We like the thrill of a scoop but not the idea of dying in its pursuit. Many of us don’t wear a cloak of invincibility and many of us exercise prudence in carrying out our work.
Given her experience as a journalist, Drilon has observed precautions before going to her Sulu assignment. According to www.inquirer.net, ABS-CBN news and current affairs head Maria Ressa said that she had been in touch with Drilon, a senior reporter and news anchor, since Monday morning.
In most newsrooms, reporters and editors or news directors get in touch with each other as often as necessary. If anything is amiss during the coverage, it is not their spouses or family reporters call. They call their editors. Spouses and mothers call the editors, too, to ask for the whereabouts of their husbands and young daughters at 12:30 a.m.
I pray for the safe return of Ces Drilon and her crew before the Lakers win another game.
