Friday, August 01, 2008 Editorials: Media as adversary or friend
MEDIA over the years has grown indispensable to the survival of both democratic and totalitarian nations. Drawn into the vortex of human global activity daily, the media has become the traditional subject of critical observation and study by various sectors.
Thus, media, as purveyor of good or bad information in the performance of its “voluntary” function in modern society, almost always become the target of critical public abuse or praise from the members of the very society it serves, depending upon—as the popular saying goes—which side of the toast is buttered.
Recent developments show three critical appraisals of the modern media from an observant public. The first appears to take media as an adversary, as an unfriendly “organism” capable of eroding public trust and confidence on individuals that become subject of critical media scrutiny. This is the passage recently of Senate Bill 2150 that provides the “right to reply” to persons which media has just critically “appraised.”
The second one may be taken as a reformed outlook towards media. This is the recent policy taken by the chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP). The policy is anchored on the belief that media should be the law enforcers’ ally in serving the people. The PNP chief believes there is a need for police to “get a better understanding of the role of media in society.”
It is the view of the PNP that working closely with the media is part of police work. Hence, the law enforcement agency is trying its best to do away with its “adversarial relationship” (with media) and instead embrace the concept of media as partners in public service. The PNP chief believes the police could support “the citizen’s right to information, especially on matters of public safety.”
Finally, the third may be considered as one from the private sector, as reflected in a letter to the opinion page of this daily from a concerned citizen. It is the letter writer’s view that the media can be subject to manipulation by a private interest who could hire someone to do “perfume” work on an unsavory individual, and make him or her palatable to the public. He means, of course, hired media relations men.
Such a view, of course, is most unkind to the legitimate media practitioners being lumped with the “bad eggs” among them, a view that usually comes only from someone who may be losing an argument. But the point is the media in general draws all sorts of attention or interest from various sectors of our society, and it is either adversarial or friendly, depending on how a particular interest is served.
