wars, children

“The Night Has Eyes” , artist unknown, National Vietnam War Museum donated by Mac Shafer of Shafer Oil and Gas Properties in remembrance of his parents Marilyn and Arthur Jack Shafer, from nationalvnwarmuseum.org

Posted by Student # 20

Unedited by blog administrator

Either that (sic) the Inquirer had a poor choice of quotes or just plainly making fun of others for their mistakes. Today, (this blog post dated Aug. 19 – blog administrator) part of their streamer (sic) quotes an AFP official as saying, “The fallen fought hard until they captured Abu camp.” Surely the fallen soldiers didn’t turn into zombies AND fight hard until they captured the Abu Sayyaf camp, right?Aug 19, 9:29 AM —

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Posted by Camille Mendigorin – On Using a Single Source for News Reports

|Reporter Ina Reformina provided an update on the current situation of the armed conflict in Sulu for TV Patrol last August 9. The news story has AFP Chief Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. claiming that Jemaah Islamiyah official Dulmatin was reported injured during a clash with the AFP soldiers. However, such was only based on an intelligence report. Though the news story has (sic) clearly stated that this claim is still yet to be confirmed, the report only rested on a single source – the AFP. It is understandable that a war or an armed conflict is difficult to cover. At times, reporters only depend on the AFP for the updates. Same is true for the report by Reformina. The whole news story only rested on the interviews and statements of Esperon and another military official. Though it is difficult, if not almost impossible, to get the other side of the story, that is getting statements from the Abu Sayyaf group, the reporter may have opted for interviews of civilians from the involved locality so as to confirm the reports of the AFP. But no interview of any civilian was featured in the entirety of the report. Moreover, the news story also claimed that the armed conflict in Sulu has registered a total casualty of 41 members from the rebel group while 12 have been reported as wounded. However, the figures are only based on the statements of the AFP and no dead bodies were shown as proof. Article 3.1 for News and Public Affairs of the KBP Television Code stated that “News reporting shall be factual, fair and as objective as possible.” This means that news reports should be based on facts and should present both sides of the story. The said provision further added that “Unconfirmed reports shall be identified as such and verified for accuracy at the soonest time possible.”Aug 17, 12:49 PM — [

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Posted by student #14 (Unedited by blog administrator)

I was in a friend’s house for lunch today (Aug. 17). His mother let me sit first as she prepared the table. I helped by clearing everything on it. I picked a half-folded tabloid at the center of the table and set it aside. Since not everyone was ready yet, I took the tabloid again and read. Much to my surprise and dismay, three photos in the Front Page took away my appetite.

“Boy Bitten by a Lizard” by Caravaggio c..1593-1594. Oil on canvas. The National Gallery, London, UK, from abcgallery.com

First, a traveling bag with legs sticking out from it; second was a whole body shot of a little girl and the third, a close up photo of the FACE of the poor child. She’s dead. Her body was found inside the traveling bag as it was noticed by three garbage boys. They thought they won some kind of a jackpot. The story said that the child was probably around 8-12 years old and she may have been dead for at least a day. Evidence of strangulation was seen as her neck bore a wire when she was found. The police are still in the process of identifying the child.This is by far the most disturbing photo I saw (sic) in a tabloid. I know that tabloids really sensationalize their stories and photos to attract attention. That is why I thought I shouldn’t be giving much attention to such publications. But I didn’t know that they would go too far. So I felt it was my responsibility to blog about such disturbing action. The tabloid was PM. its front page bore a close-up photo of the face of a dead child, no blurs whatsoever. The tabloid clearly violated ethical standards on publications of pictures of victims especially minors. I believe that even though sensationalism is rampant in the country, this kind of abuse must be penalized. I practically screamed “Oh my God!” when I saw the photos. Of course, I had to explain to my friend and to his family that what PM did was a grave abuse of its power and a definite inconsideration (sic) of the victim, its (sic) family, and the public. Again, this tabloid should be punished.Aug 17, 6:40 PM XXXXX