Saturday, September 27, 2008 Speaker open to alternatives to ‘gray areas’ in House bill
HOUSE Speaker Pros-pero Nograles yesterday urged media organizations to give “alternatives” to the right to reply bill, admitting there are “gray areas” in the proposal.
“It is not gagging you...Give us your take on the bill and help us make a win-win (legislation),” said Nograles.
Nograles discussed provisions of at least three pending proposals that affect the media. He was a guest speaker in a forum on Media Legislation yesterday, as the celebration of the Cebu Press Freedom Week continued.
“If what we are doing is wrong, don’t attack us immediately,” Nograles told a gathering of print and broadcast reporters and future journalists from the University of the Philippines in Cebu and the University of the Visayas.
Media organizations in Cebu oppose the right to reply bill because it is unnecessary.
In a resolution, the Cebu Citizens Press Council (CCPC) stated, “Journalists already practice the right to reply as part of individual and corporate standards and the news outlets’ accountability to their public audience.”
The resolution “expresses (the CCPC’s) vigorous opposition to pending proposals to legislate and criminalize the right to reply, as they infringe on press freedom and are unnecessary, impractical, and open to abuse.”
Efforts of the CCPC, composed of representatives from the private sector and the media that aim to make Cebu’s press free and responsible, paid off last February when
Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, author of the bill, withdrew his support for it.
Rep. Bienvenido Aban-te, another supporter, also backed off.
Nograles explained that this does not mean the bill has been withdrawn.
“That is the technical problem of the House. Once it is endorsed before the committee or the plenary, the author has no jurisdiction over the bill anymore.”
The bill is already with the House committee on public information. The bill proposes that a person criticized in news reports, whether in print or broadcast, will have the opportunity to reply with the same amount of space or airtime.
On the issue of libel, Nograles encouraged the media “to police its own ranks.”
Six bills before the Senate and one in the House of Representatives are pending on the decriminalization of libel.
Most of the bills seek to abolish the penalty of imprisonment but retain the paying of a fine on those found guilty.
“We are for retaining libel as a crime, not fully abolishing it. Freedom comes with a responsibility and being made to account for excess or abuse helps to sharpen jour-nalist’s sense of responsibility,” the CCPC said in a resolution.
Another proposed law deals with the promotion of journalists’ welfare.
Nograles explained that some of the provisions of the bill include free travel tax for journalists sent on assignment abroad and requiring the journalists to get accredited through examinations. Sens. Loren Legarda and Jinggoy Estrada crafted the proposal.
The CCPC said thanks, but no thanks.
“The CCPC thanks Legarda and Estrada for their concern about journalists’ protection and welfare but earnestly request them to reconsider their bills,” it said in a resolution.
“Journalists are not special people who seek more benefits than those extended to other laborers in the working class; even their request for protection against impunity killings is no greater than the plea of all other citizens that their government assure their personal safety,” it also said.
Shortly after the Media Legislation forum, the CCPC met and viewed the video documentary “Access Denied: Journalists’ Lament, News Sources’ Plea.” They also discussed parts of the forum with Nograles. (JGA)
