The Elements of JournalismBagano, Joana 01/19/11

Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel’s “The Elements of Journalism” may be about the American

press but the elements are certainly not exclusive to the American setting.

The Philippines, although branded as the second most dangerous country for journalists, has

maintained its own press and still has a citizenry interested in news.

In its first chapter, the book says the underlying principles are the same whatever technique is

used in getting the news. The principles don’t also change whatever the place.

Comprehensively discussing each element, Kovach and Rosenstiel approached the discussion

with concrete examples. The Philippines has its own share:

Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth. People don’t need the fact; they have to know the

truth about the fact. A Philippine counterpart to the book’s example occurred in 1992 during the

Little League World Series championship where the Philippines’ Zamboanga team won 15-4

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over California’s Long Beach boys. The scores were factual however it was not known that our

team had cheated. Their players were overage and did not come from a single city. The

Philippine Daily Inquirer with its Zamboanga correspondent Armand Nocum unearthed this

deeper truth.

Journalism’s first loyalty is to citizens. Rosalinda Pineda-Ofreneo’s “The Manipulated Press”

reveals that after the Second World War, the United States linked with press bosses in the

Philippines. The Elizalde family who owned the Evening News was also leading in the Philippine

sugar industry. The industry was tied to the U.S market through the quota system, thus

benefitting sugar export trade. This made our press loyal not immediately to the Filipinos but to

Uncle Sam.

Its essence is a discipline of verification. According to a medical report, President Benigno

Aquino III, then presidential candidate, had history of psychiatric illness. When ABS – CBN

aired the document on TV Patrol World, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility

rebuked the network saying ABS-CBN made a mistake of putting emphasis on the contents of

the document rather than on the denials of Ateneo De Manila University priest Father Carmelo

Caluag and the president himself.

Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover. A column written

for the Philippine Daily Inquirer by former SC justice Isagani Cruz outraged the LGBT

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community in mid-2006. According to the community, the column entitled “Don We Now Our

Gay Apparel” was bigoted and discriminatory of gender orientations, especially gays. Cruz

defended himself and cited free speech to articulate his hatred toward these homosexuals.

It must serve as an independent monitor of power. Not only should it monitor those who are

used to the public eye, it should also give voice to the voiceless. Under the name Radyo Natin, or

Our Radio, MBC has launched more than 400 low-power FM stations in late 2001-2002, with

another 400 in the pipeline. It aimed to reach every consumer in the country according to an i

magazine article by A. Lin Neumann.

It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise. Citizens nowadays do not only

want to know, they also desire to be involved. The Philippine Star has allotted in one of its

opinion pages a half-page for a forum. This forum, entitled Inbox, is for citizens to voice out

their views on the question of the day. They can also give a comment on anything they wish to

address.

It must try to make the significant interesting and relevant. Evening news programs tend to

sensationalize and prioritize stories that attract people but have no great value. The Hayden Kho-

Katrina Halili scandal acquired misplaced interest not because it was significant but because it

was allotted much TV time by local stations, especially GMA 7 where Katrina is a talent.

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It must keep the news comprehensive and in proportion. A letter to the editor of the

Philippine Daily Inquirer dated November 29, 2010 said the broadsheet violated the first point of

the Journalists’ Code of Ethics about not suppressing the facts or distorting the truth. Jun Daryl

Zamora, who wrote the letter, said the PDI deprived the public of adequate and well-explained

information about the pro-life stand in the RH bill controversy thus showing their bias against

this side. Zamora went on to suggest how these biases can be put behind: (1) well-contextualized

quotes from credible sources, (2) the equal presentation of both sides of an issue and (3) by

clarifying data given them by sources, thereby avoiding misinterpretation and

miscommunication.

Its practitioners have an obligation to exercise their personal conscience. Whoever practices

journalism, whatever background and specialization, is obligated to exercise personal

conscience. Former Manila Standard Today columnist Malu Fernandez was forced to resign

after she was accused of being elitist, bigoted and insensitive with statements in her June 2007

People Asia Magazine article ‘”From Boracay to Greece!” In the article she mentioned that the

thought of being trapped in an economy plane with OFWs made her want to slash her wrist.

This example entails responsibility and accountability to oneself as a journalist and as an

individual.

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Citizens, too, have rights and responsibilities when it comes to the news. Journalism is no

longer exclusive to those who have a degree. Citizens have become independent presses in

themselves, putting up news blogs and news forums all over cyberspace. This means more

responsibility. Citizens ought to know that if they claim to be journalists, they should abide by

the principles professional journalists follow.

An example of citizen journalism is blogging. Like irresponsible journalism,

irresponsible blogging is costly. The case of the Glorietta 2 “bombing” last October 19, 2007 is

an example. A number of bloggers got too excited about spreading the news to the point of

naming terrorist groups who might have been behind it. Many believed them. Foreign

investigators later concluded that the blast was caused by an accident and not a bomb.

Media controversies and issues are not constrained to a single location. These happen on a daily

basis around the world. How do we all go about this? Part of the book’s subtitle says it in a

nutshell: “Newspeople should know and the public should (know what to) expect.” There can be

no excuses.#