Earlier this week — on April 1, although we were being serious — the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines issued a statement calling on colleagues to uphold the values of journalism.
While the statement raised quite a few points, these, for me, are the salient ones:
Echoing or amplifying these statements from government agencies and others in power is a huge disservice to our profession and to the public that we have sworn to serve. Our commitment as journalists should always remain with the truth.
The job of a journalist therefore is not merely to relay statements from the powerful but to sift through information provided by our sources and present information as we understand it even as it may debunk the official narrative.
In truth, it was not prompted by any one incident or directed to any one newsroom. It was a general and gentle reminder to those in the profession who would listen.
When asked about it, I said that the statement applies to the newsroom I work in as much as it does to anywhere else.
And because it often happens that events come along to test you as soon as you declare something, we had a story taken down days later.
It was a story on China loans based on a study by AidData at the College of William & Mary in Virginia that included loans for infrastructure projects in the Philippines.
The findings of the study were properly attributed and the people who worked on the story had reached out to the finance secretary for comment.
When he didn’t respond, they proceeded with the story but noted that the the finance secretary had yet to chime in.
He responded later and the story has since been taken down.
Usually, when government officials write letters or otherwise make it known that they feel a story needs correction or clarification, we write their response as a separate story and give it the same prominence as the one they are reacting to.
I wasn’t involved in the production of the story but I know Prinz and Ian, who did, and they have always been careful about their reports. The rest of us are too, but they were also trained at BusinessWorld , making them even more so.
RELATED: Database reveals secrets of China's loans to developing nations, says study | Made in China: Loan terms with waivers, shrouded in secrecy (2019)
I really wish the story had remained up, but there are things — many, if not most things — that aren’t up to me.
A Twitter user tweeted Prinz about the story:
Bukas rally kayo sir sigaw press freedom nio being curtailed at gusto i-censor.
Karapatan nio mag publish kahit ano gusto nio.
Dapat untouchables kayo.
(Tomorrow, sir, you’ll hold a rally and claim your press freedom is being curtailed and they want to censor you. It’s your right to publish whatever you want. You must be untouchable.)
But that isn’t true. Not even during the ABS-CBN franchise debates was it said that media shouldn’t be held accountable for lapses. It was said, though, that the network could be held accountable without denying its application for a franchise.
There aren’t any plans to revolt over the story that was taken down either.
I am, though, of the belief that stories are an ongoing conversation and even criticism of them is part of that. Publishing responses and making corrections when warranted is also part of that process. Having the conversation cut short serves nobody, I think, not even the finance secretary.
How then to reconcile believing in and backing such a lofty statement with an inability to defend what we feel was a legitimate story? I am not sure. I’m not sure that it’s even possible.
Do I believe any less in what I said? No. Am I sorry that I helped write it? Also no.
I meant it when I said that it was meant to be a gentle reminder to all of us and I think that being loud about our convictions makes it harder to backslide, if only because it is so much more embarrassing when you do.
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Also this week, a story on how the second Enhanced Community Quarantine in Metro Manila (and four other provinces grouped under ‘NCR Plus’) has been for jeepney drivers, who were sidelined for most of last year and are now operating under severe restrictions: In ECQ 'bubble', checkpoints for commuter safety harm hard-up drivers
And a look across the region at how the pandemic has forced everyone online and how that opens up women journalists to harassment: Misogyny in media: Women journalists in Asia face a growing wave of gendered threats
Also more on Chinese attempts to influence media as one does when one is an economic power : As PH, Cambodia struggle for press freedom, China amps up influence
I was part of a forum on this with the International Federation of Journalists earlier this week, so probably more on that when the full report is out
On a more personal but still professional note, I am now chair of the NUJP, a responsibility that there is no choice but to be ready for and also one of the biggest tests of whether I mean what I say