FOURTH OF FOUR PARTS Students’ Critique of TV Patrol, n5e.interaksyon, ANC, Jiggy Manicad, Tinig
Media Monitor by Anna Paulina Matillano “Last Aug. 25, I watched the cover of TV Patrol about the people signing the petition for the impeachment of PNOY. There was this portion on the news segment where they said that people there didn’t even know why they are signing in the first place. To solidify their claim, they interviewed people who said that they really didn’t know what was happening, and that they just signed. “In the code of ethics, journalists are supposed to show all sides of the story. As I have seen on the news, I am quite sure that not all people were unaware of the situation. But they just only showed those who were ignorant of it.” ********
Media Monitor by seventeen “There was an audio report released by n5e.interaksyon.com entitled “Menor De Edad na rape victim, pinagtawanan lang daw ng pulis?” The news was about a complaint on the Women’s and Children’s Desk (WCD) of Dasmarinas Cavite. It was said that after filing a complaint against the suspect, the police on duty just laugh and disregard the issue. The reason behind this was that the suspect is a relative of Mayor Jennifer Austria-Barzaga, the City Mayor of Dasma. “According to the code of ethics, journalists should treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect. During the interview, Raffy Tulfo keeps on throwing questions to PO2 Mariano. She never enough time to explain their side. An ethical journalist should always give both sides of the story. How can the reporter do this if he wants to emphasize that the police on duty are wrong and that they held liable for that given only the side of the victims. Here’s the link of the audio report: n5e.interaksyon.com/audio-menor-de-edad-na-rape-victim-pinagtawanan-lang-daw-ng-pulis ********** By Kristine “Today, August 26, 2014 a news article was released on ABS-CBN New online. The article is entitled: “Give Miriam a chance, Bernas tells PNoy”. The article is all about an interview done by Fr. Joaquin Bernas on the show “Beyond Politics” in ANC. In the said article, the opinion of Fr. Bernas regarding speculations that the president wants to have his term extension, were stated. “I believe that there was an ethical provision violated here. The article failed to avoid “improper emphasis”. While it’s true that Fr. Bernas said “PNoy must give Miriam a chance”, it’s not really the main point of the said interview and he only said it in a joking manner. The title given to the article was very misleading; if I didn’t bother to read the whole story or listen to the interview I would probably think that Fr. Bernas was somehow endorsing senator Miriam Santiago for the 2016 elections. ( link: abs-cbnnews.com/give-miriam-chance-bernas-tells-pnoy ) ******** Media Monitor by native roses “Above is a YouTube compilation video of Jiggy Manicad’s three failed reports in GMA 7’s ’24 Oras’. “The first few seconds of the video showed Manicad’s first mistake in terms of reporting the right and proper news to his audiences. He said, “Mike, nasa labing libong libong extra nga ang kukunin nga daw…” Even though the video only showed the part where he committed a mistake by not saying the exact and right number of extras or by sharing a very vague information, I managed to find the full version of the interview to see if in some way, he at least tried to rectify his error. The full version of Manicad’s interview, however, justified that there was no correction of substantive errors. “On his third report (according to the order of reports in the video), Manicad said, “Labing walong oras ang inabot bago matunton ang bangkay ng isang batang pitong taong gulang na nalunod sa Pasig River. Aksidente lang umanong nahulog ang ilog sa bata… o ang bata sa ilog.” It was an obvious mistake and even though he corrected himself, the message sent was still unclear to people. I guess in some way, people would automatically get the hint of him correcting himself when he said “…o ang bata sa ilog,” but to some, especially to overthinkers in which I can actually relate to in so many levels, it might probably appear as if it was one way or the other. The river might have fallen to the child OR the the child might have fallen to the river. I know that to some people this is purely illogical, but I think the main job of a reporter is to clarify and give accurate details to his or her listeners to avoid misunderstanding and passing of wrong information. “On his second report, however, Manicad apologized for his mistake and corrected himself promptly. “Yung composition kanina nakita natin yung pagdagsa rin ng mga tae… ah, sorry po… ng mga tao.” His coverage was clear, and to that, I praise him for it is great to correct oneself when one has committed a mistake, honest or not. xxx” *********** Weekly Media Monitor (Aug. 20 – 26) by itsthemediamill.wordpress Article: tinigngplaridel/cmcsc-inherits-debt-from-past-members “On the 20th of August 2014, Tinig ng Plaridel, the official student publication of the UP Diliman College of Mass Communication, published a controversial article entitled, “CMCSC inherits debt from past members”. It reports that the current student council has to deal with the debts of their predecessors, and it is emphasized that two former council members who wish to remain anonymous lent their own money to fund the projects. I found many things about this article that were questionably ethical. “First, the headline. The headline is worded in a way that it makes the previous council look bad. It presents them in a bad light, as if they have neglected their duties and let their successors deal with the consequences. The promotional strategy used in releasing this article was through sharing the link on the Tinig ng Plaridel staff’s individual Facebook accounts. On a platform where posts are only seen for a few seconds, the headline can really cause alarm, especially since the word “debt” has a bad connotation. A journalist, according to the SPJ Code of Ethics, should make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites, and quotations do not misrepresent. “Second, the fact that the two council members’ identities were not disclosed, and their reason in doing so was not mentioned as well. Yes, generally people have the right to choose to be anonymous, however a journalist must question the motives when they choose to. Since this is the student council, politics plays a huge role here. News must be impartial, no matter what color you support. “That brings me to the third thing. Why was there only one source? The previous CMCSC should have been interviewed as well, as to explain what really happened straight from the horse’s mouth. It is a journalist’s duty to present news as accurately as possibly, and the most effective way to do so is by getting all possible information from all vantage points, especially since these are testimonials. “Lastly, I want to point out how the only listed event/project that was explored was Gawad Daluyong. This move, I think, wants to brand Gawad Daluyong as a train-wreck of a project. The article even states that the winners only received a trophy, and not the cash prize that was promised. What’s the story behind Siklab? Was it not also a notable project that garnered a pretty reasonable portion in the pie chart? “As media practitioners, we must make sure that we publish balanced news, no matter what our views are. If we let politics cloud our judgment, then the truthfulness and accuracy of the article might be compromised.” *******************
