3/17/2012 1Atty. James Beirne Contempt

Submitted by PinoyWatchDog.com

3/17/2012 2Atty. James Beirne Contempt

It came as no surprise to PinoyWatchDog.com that the management and owners of Balita Media fired its editor, David Casuco, following a confession he made at a press conference arranged by the Media and Business Club of Los Angeles last Wednesday. In an organization that values secrecy over openness, Mr. Casuco’s honesty had no room to blossom.

Journalist Casuco knew what he was getting into when he decided to attend that press conference. He knew that the President and Executive Editor of PinoyWatchDog.com would make an announcement that would impact his patrons, the Balita/Beirne Group. He knew that Mr. Al Aquino would announce he would file a complaint with the State Bar of California in connection with Atty James Beirne’s hundreds of contempt of court violations.

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But he attended anyway, not heeding his bosses’ admonition that he would feel unwelcome in the hostile atmosphere of a PinoyWatchDog.com-run press conference. But he came, nonetheless, and was glad that the hostility was more imagined than real. Mr. Casuco even sat with his best friend, Larry Pelayo, our editorial ombudsman, and longtime friend and veteran reporter Mylah de Leon of Asian Journal.

3/17/2012 4Atty. James Beirne Contempt

Today, David Casuco, a friend and an admired peer, is probably licking his wounds after having been unceremoniously asked to quit by the publisher of Balita Media because he committed the ultimate sin of telling the truth. Balita considered the truth to be ‘ratting’ on them. Opening a can of worms, so to speak, in a public forum for which everything would be recorded and any image presented could be replicated. And they were. Every word, every nuance of his face, every mumbled teary expression, indeed, were videotaped. Not only by PinoyWatchDog.com, but also by two other legitimate photojournalists who covered the event.

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It became a gut-wrenching decision for the editors of PinoyWatchDog.com whether to ignore the revelations completely or to publish them verbatim. At deadline time, we decided to do the latter. Because failing to do so would constitute self-censorship. We knew that our decision to publish David Casuco’s revelation could cause him his job. But we also have a responsibility to our readers to report a legitimate event. So, on the eleventh hour, we voted to use the story on the front page. By doing so, PinoyWatchDog.com upheld its primordial mission to print news that is true and documented.

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David Casuco has made a great sacrifice by choosing truth over lies, and in the pursuit of honesty, he lost his livelihood, temporarily. But we salute him and others who sacrifice everything for these principles of truth in journalism. It is the mark of God-fearing men.

Sadly, there are others who do not uphold the principles of truth in journalism. Hence, while they may cast us as trouble-makers and instigators, we accept the title if that would be the cost of serving our community by publishing only the truth instead of slanted falsehoods that seek to promote scandalous enterprises. All hail David Cusuco for standing as a saint on the side of truth against the evil of lies.

3/17/2012 7Atty. James Beirne Contempt

IS BALITA-BEIRNE GROUP HEADING FOR MELTDOWN?Submitted by PinoyWatchDog.comhttp://www.pinoywatchdog.com/2012/03/05/is-balita-beirne-group-heading-for-meltdown/

3/17/2012 8Atty. James Beirne Contempt

fin.

3/17/2012 9Atty. James Beirne Contempt