Media is either being under the gun or under the lens – Ed Lingao of the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism differentiates these two worlds where media in this country can be found. Talking about Shooting the Messenger: the curious case of press freedom in the Philippines, Ed Lingao discussed two worlds of media: Media under the gun and Media under the lens.
In the first world, Lingao emphasized the culture of impunity and said in the country nobody gets punished. Take it as an example, he said, Erap was convicted and jailed in his mansion but then granted clemency and Gloria enjoying her 9 years of power as president and now as congresswoman. “All politics is local,” he quoted. Lingao explained that most of the media killed are from the local and most of them are linked to local politicians. He said while there is a weak national governance, there is as well strong local personalities.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines has counted 140 medial killings since 1986. “We have a lot of media killings and we want accountability from the government but we also want accountability from this industry,” said Lingao.
The other world where media can be found is under the lens. In his presentation Lingao subdivided this into two, the national media and the community media. Ratings driven is one of the survival of media specially on the national, according to Lingao. He said the line “this is what the public wants” has been a line of reason by media for their news which tends to focus on entertainment and crime. Lingao added the public viewers have always been the reason for the media for the kind of news, any show or production it airs. “this became a norm already,” he said. Packaging versus content has also been a difficulty in the media. Lingao said, presentation of oneself (reporter) is what matters over the content of the news it implies. He asked, what values can it deliver to the viewer if presentation is the dominating content?
Lingao related bombast and tabloidish news over the media. The opening billboards of the different stations, he said, is a very good example of this. In his presentation he implied reporters and anchors projecting poise and pomposity making the newscast entertaining. Here he pointed out “news has a mixture of entertainment.” Community media on the other hand faces the matter of ethics and economics. He said there are some in the local media are who are not really acting as media. He explained that in the local media the issue of low pay-overwork system is really visible. Reporters become sales executives, he said, or the other way around.
Over the years, he said media has matured but has commercialized. Media he added learned to probe, unfortunately commercialized, because politics has not matured and even regressed which often resulted to conflict. “Journalists are not safe already to the people they cover,” he claimed. Even in these two sides of the coin, Lingao said nothing justifies the media or the reporter. He said they want to put everybody accountable for this however it might increase the danger. In conclusion, Lingao said, there is a need for media to police its ranks.
Source: www.nordis.net
In the first world, Lingao emphasized the culture of impunity and said in the country nobody gets punished. Take it as an example, he said, Erap was convicted and jailed in his mansion but then granted clemency and Gloria enjoying her 9 years of power as president and now as congresswoman. “All politics is local,” he quoted. Lingao explained that most of the media killed are from the local and most of them are linked to local politicians. He said while there is a weak national governance, there is as well strong local personalities.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines has counted 140 medial killings since 1986. “We have a lot of media killings and we want accountability from the government but we also want accountability from this industry,” said Lingao.
The other world where media can be found is under the lens. In his presentation Lingao subdivided this into two, the national media and the community media. Ratings driven is one of the survival of media specially on the national, according to Lingao. He said the line “this is what the public wants” has been a line of reason by media for their news which tends to focus on entertainment and crime. Lingao added the public viewers have always been the reason for the media for the kind of news, any show or production it airs. “this became a norm already,” he said. Packaging versus content has also been a difficulty in the media. Lingao said, presentation of oneself (reporter) is what matters over the content of the news it implies. He asked, what values can it deliver to the viewer if presentation is the dominating content?
Lingao related bombast and tabloidish news over the media. The opening billboards of the different stations, he said, is a very good example of this. In his presentation he implied reporters and anchors projecting poise and pomposity making the newscast entertaining. Here he pointed out “news has a mixture of entertainment.” Community media on the other hand faces the matter of ethics and economics. He said there are some in the local media are who are not really acting as media. He explained that in the local media the issue of low pay-overwork system is really visible. Reporters become sales executives, he said, or the other way around.
Over the years, he said media has matured but has commercialized. Media he added learned to probe, unfortunately commercialized, because politics has not matured and even regressed which often resulted to conflict. “Journalists are not safe already to the people they cover,” he claimed. Even in these two sides of the coin, Lingao said nothing justifies the media or the reporter. He said they want to put everybody accountable for this however it might increase the danger. In conclusion, Lingao said, there is a need for media to police its ranks.
Source: www.nordis.net
