THE SunStar Bacolod newsroom got unexpected visitors this week.
Some personnel of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, four of them, stopped by the office located at Lopue’s Mandalagan annex building in Bacolod City on Wednesday, October 3.
They didn’t conduct “Oplan Tokhang,” visitation of alleged drug personalities to persuade them to stop with their illegal activities, instead, they were there to forge a partnership.
According to a SunStar Bacolod staff, the policemen said they are proposing that the press should write about their good deeds since the media always report negative stories about them.
The staff also said the police mentioned they’re doing “door to door” visits to media outlets like broadcast and print, but it would still depend on us if we will accommodate their proposal.
We later found out that the order came from the Philippine National Police headquarters. This is part of their so-called information campaign.
SunStar Bacolod has yet to receive the formal letter, which according to our visitors, they will send it as soon as their director signs it.
For everybody’s information, it’s not the job of the media to make anybody look good on paper.
We report both good and critical stories. We don’t make up one. Let alone print their “praise release.”
This visitation to newsrooms is bordering to intimidation.
If they want to improve their image, then they should do their jobs. Just saying.
If the police do that, there’s no need to visit the news outlets all over the country.