PRESIDENT-elect Rodrigo Duterte won primarily on his promise to stop crime and corruption in Philippine society. So far he has not mentioned any type of criminal as exempt targets. It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude he is also targeting the murderers of journalists.
That is one half of the big picture Manila-based media chose to overlook when they elected to misinterpret the President-elect’s pronouncements on corrupt journalists as a license to kill them.
The other half is less obvious but which any journalist worth his/her salt should be able to see. This has to do with corruption being endemic in Philippine society, the fact that corruption exists not only in government but also in other critical institutions of society such as, and primarily so, in business, religion and media.
The President can deal directly with corruption in government. But he cannot do so with corruption in business, in religion and in media. This is an in-house problem that the respective mother organizations should solve. The President can only intervene directly if the victim of the corrupt practices of business (bribery of government officials), of religion (bishops asking for cash and/or cars from government) and of media (concerned government and media personalities know how this is done) is the Filipino people.
Manila-based media could have easily reacted by promising the new President an honest-to-goodness house cleaning that would rid their ranks of corrupt members. Why they chose instead to overlook the big picture and attack him as promoting the killing of journalists can only be understood as an attempt to protect their pre-eminent position in the media industry in the country for the sole reason that they belong to big networks and organizations based in imperial Manila. One reporter even headlined her report with this quote, supposedly from Rody Duterte, “Kill corrupt journalists.” How untruthful can you be? But why?
I would have been mystified if I didn’t know how controlling Manila-based media is. I came to journalism late in my years. In a previous life I had my share of horror stories with media. With all due respect to the exceptions, I learned early in my professional career (as priest and later business executive) never to tangle with some media people who never lose an argument and always slant your story in favor of their biases.
In a meeting with Sun.Star personnel, Rodrigo Duterte assured local community media that he will give them the same access to him as Manila journalists. It now seems this prospect has been sabotaged by Manila-based media’s choice to overlook the big picture and nitpick instead with a President they cannot seem to re-create into their own image.