PHILIPPINES: News Scoop or Betrayal?

By Lynette Lee Corporal

MANILA, Nov 7 (Asia Media Forum) - What happens if what is a scoop to journalists is nothing short of betrayal in the eyes of the State? This sore point that arose when one of the Philippines' leading television networks aired an interview recently with a separatist rebel being hunted by the government.

    At the core of the controversy over the media's role in matters of national security is the ABS-CBN network, which on Oct. 20 and 21 broadcast an interview with Abdullah Macapaar, more popularly known as 'Commander Bravo', of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebel group. For decades, the MILF has been seeking a separatist state in the southern Philippines, where most of the South-east Asian country's Muslims live, and several rounds of peace talks with the government have collapsed.

   Commander Bravo has a bounty of 10 million pesos (208,200 U.S. dollars) on his head for allegedly razing several houses in a village in the southern island of Mindanao a few months ago, killing civilians.

   The interview showed a defiant Bravo declaring that he "will fight to the end" and that they will take back Mindanao even if it means killing and being killed. "We want the independence of the Bangsa Moro people of Mindanao!" he said, referring to the Muslim separatist movement.

   Bravo's on-air statement immediately prompted the Department of Justice to demand a probe of the network by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the Kapisanan ng mga Broadcaster sa Pilipinas (KBP), or Association of Philippine Broadcasters. The NTC  grants permits to broadcast and operate, while the broadcasters' association is the self-regulatory umbrella organisation of radio and television networks in the country.

   According to the justice department, ABS-CBN violated the 2007 Broadcast Code and its franchise issued by the NTC. "The danger of that is that the media is being used for the propaganda of the rebels," said Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, adding that Commander Bravo could be seen as "larger-than-life" due to that interview.

   In a complaint submitted Oct. 22, the NTC said that the network violated the Sections 1 and 2 of the Broadcast Code, which states that broadcast facilities "shall not be used or allowed to be used for advocating the overthrow of government by force or violence".

   The Code also prohibits "the broadcast of materials which tend to incite treason, rebellion, sedition or create civil disorder or disturbance".

   But in a statement, ABS-CBN news and current affairs head Maria Ressa, who used to with the U.S.’ Cable News Network, contends that the network did not violate the ethics code. "It is our responsibility as journalists to report on people and events that affect public interest. The public has the right to know. Abdullah Macapaar  alias Commander Bravo is one of the country's most wanted men, a key figure in the collapse of the peace process in Mindanao. He's a legitimate story, and our interview with him aired Oct. 20 and 21 adhere to ethical standards of journalism," the network's statement said.

   This incident drew mixed views from Filipino journalists and those who follow media issues in the country.

   The ABS-CBN network was, indeed, used "as a propaganda arm of rebellion and subversion", argued columnist Emil Jurado. "While personally I think the network violated its franchise and its permits to operate, an investigation by the NTC and the KBP of a member is in order. I also believe that the oft-repeated claim of journalists like Ressa of press freedom and the people's right to know has its limits, especially in broadcast," Jurado, a journalist of more than 50 years, wrote in his column in the 'Manila Standard' newspaper.

   Jurado said that he will "fight for press freedom and the right of the people to know", even "die for it". But journalists, he added, need to distinguish the print medium, which is limited only by libel laws, from the broadcast media, which are public domain and thus, need congressional franchise.  "That franchise is a contract of obligation between the network and the government," he said.

   A blogger based in the central Philippine city of Cebu shares Jurado's sentiments. In his 'Blogger Ko Bai!' he wrote that he "felt so sorry and dismayed" over ABS-CBN's airing of the exclusive interview with Bravo. "I am a staunch advocate of press freedom but this time I say that limitations of such freedom must be intelligently discerned by journalists so as not to put the nation and democracy at risk," he wrote in his blog, Third Wave.

   Local media watchdogs, such as the Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) and the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines, defended ABS-CBN's stance.

   CMFR deputy director Luis Teodoro was quoted on ABS-CBN online as saying that the interview "does not differ from interviews with politicians and other public figures who air their views against the government". Instead of glorifying Bravo's image, Teodoro said that the interview tended to show him "as unreasonable".

   Meanwhile, the deputy secretary-general of the journalists' union, Nonoy Espina, said on ABS-CBN's morning show 'Umagang Kay Ganda' (What A Good Morning) that the interview is "part of the journalists' responsibility to bring truthful news to the people".

   "That's our job. We trust our audience to be intelligent enough to discern what is right and wrong," he added.

   For documentary producer and journalist Horacio Severino Jr, it all depends on the treatment of the story. "The network would have had to be judicious about its use of a rebel statement, but I am not in favour of course of a blanket ban on airing rebel statements," he told the Asia Media Forum. (END/IPSAP/LLC/JS/071108)