EYE ON ETHICS

By the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility

The media are not only failing to regulate themselves; more importantly, some media organizations are actually depending on the government to intervene, in effect eroding the very principle of self-regulation itself.

The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines, KBP) Standards Authority released recently a decision on the Aug. 23, 2010 hostage-taking incident, which included the imposition of fines on member-networks for violating the KBP Broadcast Code. Before it issued the decision, the KBP also revised Article 6 (Crime and Crisis Situations) of its Broadcast Code to help media organizations avoid making the same mistakes they made during the Aug. 23 hostage taking incident should something similar happen in the future. (See sidebar “Approved Amendments to Article 6, Crime and Crisis Situations, KBP Broadcast Code”.)

On that date, Rolando Mendoza, a former police officer, took hostage 25 tourists from Hong Kong and some Filipino staff who were in a tourist bus about to leave Manila’s Fort Santiago the Luneta Park. The incident ended with nine individuals, including Mendoza, dead.

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The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines, KBP) approved the following amendments in a general membership meeting on Oct. 20, 2010. The amendments, which are in bold face, are meant to address issues and concerns about media coverage raised in connection with the Aug. 23, 2010 hostage-taking incident.

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GMA-7 skirts fee but also under fire
KBP fines ABS-CBN 2, TV5, RMN for hostage crisis coverage

By Ed Lingao
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

TEN MONTHS, nine lives, and a flurry of finger-pointing and paper work later, the controversy over the media coverage of the 2010 Luneta hostage-taking incident by the country’s biggest and most influential television and radio networks has come down to feeble fines of P30,000, and a virtual slap on the wrist.

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“TV5 is disappointed in the KBP Standards Authority Decision dated 15 December 2010, and the KBP Board’s Order dated 12 April 2011, particularly because it, among all other networks covering the hostage taking crisis, had applied self-imposed restraint in its coverage, as evidenced by (i) its refusal to cover and interview the hostage-taker, despite the latter’s request; (ii) the fact that its news crews stayed well behind the police lines as instructed by the authorities; (iii) its decision to air the arrest of the hostage-taker’s brother – not in real time, as was done by other networks – two hours later, as part of the late evening newscast; and (iv) its reticence in airing its footage on the SWAT Team’s practice assault. TV5’s coverage was strictly in line with its duty to inform the public of newsworthy events, and patently did not reveal information, vital or otherwise, that the hostage-taker – who, in the elevated bus, had a 360-degree view of the scene – did not himself have.

“Nevertheless, as a current KBP member, TV5 was constrained to accept the Decision and Order, and had in fact complied with the penalty provision thereof last 29 April 2011.”

Christine C. Ona
Legal counsel of TV5 (Associated Broadcasting Co.)

What follows is a statement from GMA Network, Inc. (Channel 7)  in response to a query from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism about the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines, KBP) proposal to craft a Broadcast Code that will bind all radio and television agencies in the country. GMA-7 withdrew its membership from the KBP in September 2003 after a tiff over commercial loading limits set by the association. Angela H. Javier-Cruz of GMA-7 mailed this statement to PCIJ.

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