Fishtory

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Media Criticizes

I was able to hear the senate hearing today with media guests on AM radio regarding the role of media during the Manila Penn siege. I heard Ms. Ressa of ABS-CBN criticizing the authorities for arresting people in media with "absolute lack of evidence" that the media people are obstructing justice or abetting the rebellion.

Sadly, Ms. Ressa pretends to not know nor notice that indeed there are media people (most probably from ABS-CBN) there at the Penn precisely to obstruct police operation or help in the Trillanes "rebellion" (knowingly or unknowingly). She prefers to go "technical" about the matter, probably trying to court the loyalty of her colleagues at ABS-CBN. It was not only Ressa at the Senate hearing, other media people are also there who one after the other bashed at the authorities for the handcuffing of media people.

Incredibly, while no one among the media people at the Senate hearing bashed Trillanes for putting civilians in harm's way and for using the mass media people as shield against authorities while at the same time claiming bravery and idealism, they went on bashing and presenting their opinion against the authorities. Ressa now forgot that they are still news reporters and still need credibility to collect and deliver the news! Now that they are in the news, they begin, amazingly, to divulge whose side they are on! They are now openly attacking government authority!

Here is a clip from breaking news at inquirer.net:

MANILA, Philippines -- Media representatives have criticized the mass arrest of
journalists who covered the siege at the Manila Peninsula Hotel November 29 and
the confiscation of their equipment and footage.

At the Senate hearing investigating the incident, media executives and staff also raised the alarm that this foreshadowed more repression.

Maria Ressa, head of the ABS-CBN news and current affairs group, noted that the arrests were made despite an “absolute lack of evidence” that those who had covered the event were either obstructing justice or abetting the rebellion.

Roy Mabasa, president of the National Press Club, said the police flouted its own rules on arrests, when they handcuffed the journalists even as police did not have “personal knowledge” of their involvement in the crime. “It was a sweeping action made only on possible suspicion,” he said.

Tony Lopez, chairman of the Manila Overseas Press Club, said the arrests were made when the “hotel was already clean of rebels.”

“I don’t know why the arrests were made when no martial law has been declared. We have seen 15 coup attempts -- small, medium, large, real and imaginary…but no journalists were arrested,” he said.

Lopez said he believed that a higher authority gave the order to arrest media practitioners and that “it is now unwritten policy that journalists covering rebellion or rebellion attempts will be arrested.”

Ressa said that “the arrest of journalists herald a more dangerous time ahead.”

I cannot fathom how Ressa could either be so arrogant or so stupid to throw her credibility away. Now, especially when media is involved, who can we believe to cover the news?

Why it will happen again?

Not again. This is the natural reaction of everyone who first learned of the Penn Siege about a week ago. Although almost everyone believes that PGMA is a lying cheat, nobody, except those who plainly want to grab power for themselves, supports a coup or another people power on the streets at this time. The reason? There are just no alternatives!

So "not again" is on everyone's mind when news are first broadcast on radio. "Not again" is as natural a reaction as can be. In fact, "not again", although unspoken (and consciously made to remain as such), can be heard clearly in the natural gasps and sighs of many commentators even on AM radio.

A caucasian commentator, a supposed Asia expert, interviewed in CNN described the events that happened in Manila as like a "soap opera". It is like saying that the nation where "soap operas" dominate primetime TV, is so much endeared to such shows that it is the natural course of politics and general life of the Filipino. We are described as a bunch of people with "short memories" and "tolerant" of these kinds of activities that leads nowhere. The commentator concludes that indeed "it will happen again".

That commentator is right on one thing, yes, this senseless coup attempts will happen again, but not because the Filipino love "soap operas" and definitely not because we "tolerate" these senseless and illogical attempts. The reason here is plain and simple: Our mainstream media is so corrupt that they pretend they do not know what really is happening about. Many in mass media are indeed participants, if not coup plotters themselves. Many in mass media try to spin things up and pretend that the Filipino has indeed a "soap" culture to explain things and justify their actions. (No, they would not admit that they are the ones trying but still failing to inculcate this "soap" culture.)

Trillanes and friends have a very clear strategy in mind. They know they failed in Oakwood because not enough media and civilian participants are with them at that time. They came in better prepared last week, with Bishop Labayen, Former VP Guingona, Bishop Tobias, Fr. Reyes and many media people in tow. Surely, the authorities would not hurt this people. But they made one little tiny mistake: Where in oakwood they have planted explosives, this time they could not do that, perhaps rightly guessing that the bishops and priests with them would not approve. And then, they forgot about Tear Gas. The result of this mistake is as how we saw it, police was easily able to subdue them.

One might argue that media is not part of the plot. Indeed not all of them, but many are. Now many local commentators ask how can media be obstructing police work when they were there first. They do not say that they are not only there first, they were there waiting! They were there even before anybody knows that Trillanes and friends are going to the Penn. Surely they were tipped or bade to come by the coup plotters themselves. Again, one might argue that they were asked to come and as reporters as they are, they would naturally come, and that does not necessarily mean that they are part of the coup attempt. Sure. They were there and only the most stupid reporters wouldn't know why they are there for.

There is one very sad thing though. There are still some respected people in mass media, particularly TV and Radio. I can name a few... there is Jessica Soho, Maria Ressa, even Angelo Palmones and Tina Monson Palma... Surely these seemingly neutral people are not stupid and they know who among their peers are paid and corrupted hacks and are part of groups with vested interests not in line with the interests of the rest of the country. Sadly, the likes of Soho, Palma and Palmones would remain silent while Ressa would focus on Police intimidation.

It seems to me that no one in our mass media, dare or care to police their own ranks. They know the truth yet they wouldnt dare tell us. And for that reason, Oakwoods and Penns will happen again (and again). Meanwhile, their perpetrators are not rebuked, they even end up as senators. Such is the power of media.