EYE ON ETHICS

The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) noted in its monitoring of the news coverage of the 2010 campaign and elections that despite the early preparations and efforts to improve the quality of reporting, the Philippine press still has the tendency to prioritize the exclusive and the sensational over the significant to the detriment of the ethical principles of truth-telling, fairness, balance, and public accountability.

The recent incident which involved one of the biggest multimedia networks in the Philippines sparked a debate among the media and the public on the use and protection of (anonymous) sources, corroboration of facts, and the possibility that the media are used as propaganda tools by candidates during the campaign and election period.

Read below the CMFR statement which scored the faulty news item presented by ABS-CBN 2, and the network’s response.

A Costly Mistake

Statement of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) on the ABS-CBN April 8 Story on the “Caluag Document”

ABS-CBN erred in the manner in which it aired that fake document on the mental health of Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. The error was not so much driven by bias as by a desire, common in the media, to scoop its competitors.

The most glaring error of the network’s April 8 “TV Patrol World” report was its emphasis. Instead of putting the denial by Ateneo de Manila University’s Fr. Carmelo Caluag in the story’s lead, it relegated the denial—and Senator Aquino’s reaction—at the end of it after a long description of what the supposed document contained.

ABS-CBN has suggested, through a statement by news and current affairs head and ANC managing director Maria Ressa, that time constraints compelled it to add on the denial by Fr. Caluag to a report it had already completed. It seems that ABS-CBN was convinced that it indeed had an exclusive, prepared the report before it sought confirmation of the document’s legitimacy from its alleged author, and thought that rather than take the time to redo the story and postpone its airing, it had to air it immediately over its early evening “TV Patrol World” news program before its competitors got hold of the same story. And yet both the standards of accuracy and fairness should have compelled ABS-CBN to hold the story for later airing if it indeed lacked enough time to redo it before the broadcast time of “TV Patrol World” last April 8.

ABS-CBN has compounded the error by refusing to name its sources, apparently because of an agreement to keep the sources’ names confidential. While best practice demands that press organizations honor such agreements, ABS-CBN could have made entering into such an agreement premised on the legitimacy of the document. The fraudulence of the document is reason enough to release ABS-CBN from whatever confidentiality agreement it has with its sources, unless revealing their names will endanger them.

Despite claims that certain media organizations are biased for or against Aquino and Manuel Villar, CMFR’s monitor of the media coverage of the elections has so far not seen any institutional bias on the part of the major TV networks for or against the candidates for president. But lapses in best professional practice such as what occurred on April 8 do reinforce public suspicions of bias. Loss of credibility and public trust are too high a price to pay for an exclusive that, as it turned out, wasn’t really one.

ABS-CBN Statement in Response to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility:

We thank CMFR for acknowledging the impartial reporting of ABS-CBN.

We disagree, however, with its reading of intent and motive behind the story of the fake document on Sen. Benigno Aquino III.

We were not motivated by the desire “to scoop” nor did we prepare the story earlier. The time-frame was decided by the fast spread of the document on the web and on text and, more importantly, by the timing of the denials of Fr. Caluag and Sen. Aquino, which happened while our flagship newscast was already airing.

We acknowledge we could have done a better job, but the priority was to air the denials as soon as we got them because if we didn’t, non-professional journalists – the greater part of the Public we serve – would continue to believe the document is authentic. We err on the side of Truth.

The key idea behind our decision is a paradigm shift in the way the role of the journalist is changing.

Professional journalists and media institutions are no longer the gatekeepers of old. Technology has changed our world, and we journalists must factor that in our decision-making. If we don’t report it, it would still spread as truth until media organizations expose it as false. That is our role in our new world. ABS-CBN has done several stories of internet hoaxes like the Villar mansions–spread as fact, complete with pictures–all of which turned out to be fake.

We are surprised that CMFR is urging us to name our sources.

Good sources are not authorized to speak for their organizations. They tell journalists what’s really happening. It’s up to us to sift through and decide whether true or false. At times, sources feed you wrong information, but that’s information as well! It gives you hints about what’s really going on behind the public line. In this instance, we revealed the document was given to us by sources from the Nacionalista party. That is all that’s necessary to understand what’s going on behind the scenes. Everything else is positioning and deflection.

Journalists try to avoid value judgement about sources. After all, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

One thing is clear: if we “exposed” our sources, no one would ever trust us again.

Maria Ressa
Head, News and Current Affairs
ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation