Newsrooms that tuned in to the late-night airing of the recording of the president's meeting with officials again fell into the trap of assuming that everything he says, while not necessarily true, bears repeating.
It can be argued, of course, that we also fell into the trap of watching a taped meeting for information about quarantine classifications that took him about a minute to read out and then had to be clarified in a release from his spokesman, but we have less control over that.
In 2019, as the president set to announce names on his supposed "narco-list" to supposedly warn voters against electing alleged narco politicians, media groups urged colleagues to "exercise utter prudence and fastidious judgment" in handling that disclosure.
They said then that "absent convincing proof of the Administration’s claims, or cases it has filed or plans to file in the courts, such naming and shaming redounds to mere trial by publicity of political rivals, and a publicity stunt for the public and the news media’s transient amusement."
Almost all of us listened then.
The names the president announced this week were of lawmakers allegedly involved in corruption in government infrastructure projects in their projects although he himself said that there was no actual evidence and that the list is not Gospel truth.
It's a tough call to make and maybe newsroom managers figured it was in the public interest to receive information that is legally just gossip.
Maybe we thought it would stir up a little bit of drama before the year ends. More likely, and it's certainly a valid argument, people figured politicians get accused of corruption all the time anyway.
In any case, course corrections have since been made.
The day after the airing, ABS-CBN News said it would withhold the names until the lawmakers responded or until formal charges were filed.
ONE News, earlier Wednesday, said it was taking down an infographic of the names of the politicians and will hold off on publishing the names again "until charges are properly filed, or until probable cause is established."
The lawmakers have, of course, denied the allegations and have said they welcome investigations since they have nothing to hide.
Some also thanked the president for his disclaimer that there was no evidence against the people on the list, although they were also privately less thankful that the names were read out at all.
There was not a lot of harm done against the lawmakers named — at least compared to the harm that some of the "narco politicians" named in the president's lists met — but it was a slip at a time when we can afford them least.
As we close the year, Cabinet officials have been doing cartwheels to justify what is essentially the illegal use by the Presidential Security Group and at least one Cabinet member of smuggled and unauthorized vaccines at a time when the vaccines the government confidently promised us would be here by now clearly are not.
READ: 'Bad precedent': Experts seek unlikely accountability over unauthorized vaccinations
Most mind-boggling of all is Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana's declaration that the vaccines were smuggled but that no charges are forthcoming because it was done to protect the president.
In second place is presidential spokesperson Harry Roque's twin defense of the vaccine being donated — but not covered by the policy against receiving gifts because they were just "tokens" — and, anyway, taking unauthorized vaccines isn't illegal, only their distribution and sale is.
It is past time, and I'm glad that many in media are already doing it, to say, even if couched in journalese, that this is bullshit.
In the same way that the confusion caused by a travel ban being announced on Tuesday only to be withdrawn and then announced again that evening was bullshit. Roque's insistence that it is not a ban but "restrictive travel" is also bullshit, but sort of expected from him.
Maybe the mood is changing. Maybe we've finally seen enough to shake our suspension of disbelief and our, as ANC's Christian Esguerra says, aversion to conflict and our readiness to play nice with the authorities. *
Maybe, because we're trained to think in terms of stories and narratives, there really is no other way to respond to what they're selling us than "man, this doesn't make sense."
A new year is about to start and although there is little hope that it will be much different from this year, I hope we enter it with fresh eyes. Angry ones, even.
Or, to misappropriate from Hunter S. Thompson, "the right kind of eyes [with which] you can almost see the high water mark — that place where the wave finally broke, and rolled back."
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*I may have already linked to this before, I’m just enthusiastic about things. I’m the Fearless-era young Taylor Swift of Philippine journalism.
**I have been thinking about news things a lot because it’s my job. Earlier this year, possibly only by default, I was designated head of the news section.
I didn’t get to announce it or anything because the pandemic happened but with my work year over, I think it is safe to say it. If for nothing else than accountability. I think we did alright.