Thursday, August 21, 2008 DOJ consults Cebu media on guidelines
THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued a set of rules that “absolutely prohibits” the media from accessing records on cases involving minors, adding to the list of government issuances encroaching upon press freedom.
But, DOJ Undersecre-tary Linda Malenad-Hor-nilla said the 15-point guidelines she presented to invited media practitioners at a forum yesterday, are still subject to consultations and further revisions based on input from the practitioners themselves.
Cebu-based journalists reacted to the contradicting points in the draft guidelines.
Item 11 said crimes or violence by or against children “must be reported factually and seriously.”
Meanwhile, item 15 said the journalists “are urged to undertake investigative journalism and to report on violations of
children’s rights.”
But item 10 declares it “absolutely prohibited to access” to any form of case file or record on such cases.
“You want us to report these cases to raise awareness and you want it done factually but you provide an absolute prohibition on records. On what are we supposed to base our reports on?” a reporter asked in the open forum that followed the presentation.
The journalists stressed that the Cebu media has been given numerous commendations on the way the industry covers issues involving children.
Identification
For example, the name and all other facts that could lead to the identification of a child victim or suspect is omitted in news stories.
And while some reports quote the portion of a medical certificate that details the specific injury a child victim has sustained, there are, in most cases, lifts from the resolution penned by prosecutors and not from the medical record itself.
Moreover, the child’s name and all other details that could reveal his or her identity are still secured.
The reporters said all the policies on how coverage is supposed to be done were put in place internally by the industry through entities such as the Cebu Citizens-Press Council and trainings provided by groups like the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility and the Philippine Press Institute.
Best interests
“Telling us what we can do and what we cannot do undermines our own efforts to arrive at the same goal you have,” a reporter said.
Hornilla, acting chairperson of the DOJ Special Committee for the Protection of Journalists, explained that the item in the guidelines providing for absolute prohibition is a lift from the provisions of an existing law.
She said their only intent is for journalists to prioritize the “best interests of the child” when they pursue stories both involving children in conflict with the law and children victimized by crime.
She explained that the guidelines were not drawn specifically for practitioners in Cebu but those from other places where self-regulation by the industry has not yet been attained.
She said they are also drafting guidelines for policemen and prosecutors to follow. (KNR)
