In the run-up to the holiday work slowdown were some uncomfortable reminders of how easy it is for those in power to reach out and touch your news desk.
The most recent was a message from Sen. Francis Tolentino, author of a bill to make two years of military or police training a requirement for graduation from college and that we reported in Pilipino Star Ngayon on December 22 as: 'Senador gusto ng sapilitang 2-taong police, military training sa kolehiyo' (Senator wants two years of forced police, military training in college).
In the afternoon, he sent a message requesting a change in the headline, arguing that we were suggesting that students would be forced, like at gunpoint, to join the training and that “mandatory” would more accurately reflect the intentions of his bill.
Because language is a tricky thing, we agreed that “oblige” would be a workable compromise to describe a proposed policy that would force students into going through the training if they want to graduate but without using actual physical force.
We are, after all, open to correction and feedback and if a revision will make a story more accurate and easy to understand, then we’ll go with that.
Another one — and one that we did not at all entertain — was from an ad agency that won an award for basically framing a gimmick for a Netflix film in 2021 as legitimate news and getting newsrooms to play along asking us to take down an Interaksyon story about their newest stunt for Netflix.
What rankled was their assumption that someone had “seeded” — fed as a PR story — the story with us and that they had a right to tell us how public reactions to their promo to free a lucky winner from ever taking the MRT-3 again should be reported “with a more positive slant so MRT-3 management won’t be offended.”
Told that their request would have to be referred to an editor, the agency rep tried to helpfully add: “Who is your editor? Maybe we can help you explain why we want it taken down.”
They were worried, it turns out, that train management might not let them run their promo anymore for suggesting that people would play a game to win (I guess, a car) the means to stop taking the MRT-3.
Takedowns do happen and have long-lasting effects on a news website’s credibility and on staff’s trust in their newsroom management and in themselves, so having an ad agency casually suggest one and act as if they are entitled to even suggest how a story should be handled post-publication was a bit much.
I get that the news business is now mostly just PR and goodwill and client servicing, but it’s always sad to be reminded that our primary directive seems to be to not offend and to not rock the boat.
And that these reminders often do not go through proper channels like a letter to the editor or similar official communication but are passed on through text messages and DMs.
Alongside these attempts to manage the news, proposed legislation at the House and the Senate to criminalize “fake news” in an industry that is already pretty fake and controlled as it is.
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The Commission on Human Rights is calling for the decriminalization of libel and has expressed concern over the libel conviction of Baguio City journalist Frank Cimatu:
“Instead of suing for libel, the most responsible way for government officials and politicians to deal with criticism is through open discussions and the exercise of transparency.”In case you followed the, ahem, Philippine STAR Wars, a rejoinder and final word from our website’s editor-in-chief that we hope will be the last episode in this mess.
CPP founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison died this month. A piece on Rappler on the life of supposed luxury he was leading while in self-exile in the Netherlands.
Registration under the SIM Card Registration Act starts tomorrow, December 27. A quick guide on how to comply and a podcast episode of Unyon at Opinyong Legal with lawyer Floyd Tiongson and Computer Professionals Union’s Kim Cantillas on why registration itself isn’t a good idea.
The first few weeks will likely see glitches and problems, though, as has happened in similar registration drives like for COVID-19 vaccination.