I VISITED my sister in Calatrava over the weekend. Apparently her household is so immersed in local politics in this province. While I was there, I took the opportunity to ask around just how politics is wired here and how key personalities deal with media. You see, I have been so immersed in local governance for almost a decade now but only in this region where I found how sensitive politicians can be including the most seasoned ones on the role of media.
Having handled two community papers as chief over the years, I have always managed to establish credibility with my balanced take on things and in giving all sides their chances to be heard. There are, however, news materials I can’t let through for lack of verification and for having lots of holes as we call it. It is our way of protecting our integrity as news provider.
Some of the politicians who were my clients and whose local government units (LGUs) I handled for some time have tried to ask favors of more exposures in my paper or favors to tone down certain issues that involve them but I always turned them down nicely to uphold our journalistic ethics as I try to be faithful to our primary duty to the public. For their part, they always take it well knowing that I am more of a governance professor than a political enemy.
That said, I even consider myself a little too soft for a chief of a community paper because while I am in media now, I also had my share of being a senior executive of a local government. I would understand the grey areas of local governance; the devil in the details so they call it.
You ask why am I soft? You see, SunStar Publishing Inc. is actually owned by a political family in Cebu, and yet their family members who are in politics are not even spared by how hard-hitting our editorial team there can be when things are called for. Because it’s what this media industry is actually all about; we play as the platform to promote transparency and accountability to those who seek and occupy public office which is by the way a public trust. Simply put, the fundamental role of media is to be an independent monitor of power.
We are not perfect, don’t get me wrong, I had my shares of lapses too and so we always keep our doors open for stakeholders who would like to correct, justify or simply be heard of their side of the story as well.
On a personal note, I even have very high respect for politicians. I know just how much sacrifices they make on a daily basis just to provide the social services the people ask of them, even the most unreasonable requests coming from constituents. I would know it full well having run a highly urbanized city myself in the south.
Perhaps the point I just wanted to drive at is that media plays a crucial role in building a community. We are not enemies with politicians or other stakeholders for that matter, rather partners. At times, there would be things that we tackle in our paper that are inconvenient to some, but we always make sure that they would also be given their chance of airing out their concerns.
Because ultimately, the most that print and digital media can do such as SunStar Bacolod in this community is not really to besmirch someone’s reputation, rather to simply spark a dialogue among people. And dialogue is good.