61. These colors don't run (pro-China stories)
A hard push for the Philippine position in the West Philippine Sea
Welcome back to Slow News Days, a hopefully weekly newsletter on journalism and journalism-adjacent topics in the Philippines.
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The Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea has set forth an interesting proposition: That Filipinos “defending and making excuses for China's aggressive behavior should deem you unpatriotic, and a traitor to the Philippines and to our people.”
To be sure, most of Philippine media has for years been framing the West Philippine Sea issue in the context of the 2016 Hague ruling and international law.
Most have also been taking cues from the Department of Foreign Affairs on messaging — for example, by not calling the sea disputed because that has long been settled by the arbitration case.
BUT NOT ALWAYS: Chinese Embassy focuses on ship photo to dismiss reported dumping as fake
An expansion of Tariella’s idea — voiced by columnist Philip Lustre Jr. citing an unnamed Chinese Filipino friend — though shows the slippery slope that we may be setting ourselves to slide down.
Chinese Filipino communities, Lustre says, quoting his supposedly real friend, should condemn China’s activities in Philippine waters to prove that they are Filipinos and not “citizens of convenience.”
By shifting responsibility to civil society groups, columnists and media to prove their patriotism with declarations and overt demonstrations of Filipino-ness, we give actual state officials whose job it is to stand up to China a free pass.
Rather than policing speech or compelling patriotic speech, it might be better to look into who has actually been in bed with China and its state firms — especially those involved in building up Chinese installations in our waters.
RELATED: Pro-China 'political elite' in the Philippines enables Chinese aggression in WPS — expert
“Condemn China or you are the enemy” is not that far removed from 2016’s “condemn drugs or you are the enemy” and 2017’s “condemn the communists or you are the enemy”.
One of the academics (?) who would fall into the category of China apologist and mouthpiece for conflating appeasement of with “peace with China” is even comfortable with calling criticism of his position “the New McCarthyism.*”
The West Philippine Sea is ours, and our reporting while I was Philstar should bear out where I stand on this (nobody asked).
But our reporting would, I hope, also show why sticking to the government line for patriotism’s sake should make one feel at least a little discomfort.
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* Ironically, the SMNI network that feels fine with quoting Austin Ong and entering partnerships with Chinese state media has no problem with engaging in “the New McCarthyism” against activists and journalists.
Some advice from veteran Johanna Son that she learned from Amando Doronila, who died in July: “Keep writing, even when you are a veteran journalist or an editor. Seniority or experience in journalism doesn’t mean you should ‘graduate’ from, or stop, reporting or writing.”
I hated having to write for lack of staff to do it, but tried to do longer-form stories when I could because I’m a believer in writing better to edit better (and reading better to write better).Further on the “New McCarthyism”, Altermidya’s Neil Eco writes about how red-tagging has affected him personally:
”My grandmother just died but I am unable to go home to mourn properly. I cannot go back to my hometown of Catarman, Northern Samar because there is a possibility of getting arrested, abducted, or killed; these are real threats faced by individuals like myself who are red-tagged.”Radio reporter Jose Rizal Pajares was arrested in Iriga City for allegedly violating the Data Privacy Act by reading the police blotter — a public document that journalists usually have access to. He has been released after being held in custody for three days but still faces charges.
At least 10 — possibly as many as 50 — staff members of state-run Radyo Pilipinas have been told their contracts are ending on August 31. Contract of Service workers do not have security of tenure, are paid less, and do not have access to benefits.