Wenceslao: Press freedom: my take

EVERYTIME Cebu media celebrates Press Freedom Week, I always feel something is missing in the ritual. No, that something is often mentioned indirectly or in passing, but it has not been given the importance it deserves. I am referring to the word responsibility. Or why not make it Cebu Press Freedom and Responsibility Week?

I was a staff member of our student publication in college during the waning years of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. By waning years I mean the early 80s. I also got friendly with some media people then, particularly in Visayan Herald (which has long ceased operation), and worked part-time in dyLA. I, therefore, know what media is like during a period of repression.

Press freedom was genuinely the problem at that time, although the struggles that we participated in paved the way for the expansion of the democratic space that was constricted when Marcos declared Martial Law on Sept. 21, 1972. The toppling of the dictatorship by the 1986 Edsa uprising and Corazon Aquinos assumption of the presidency widened that space further.

Since then, press freedom has not been much of a problem. While a president or two post-Marcos did attempt to dictate their terms on the media by either filing nuisance libel cases against some media people and even encouraging a boycott by advertisers of recalcitrant media outlets, these never made a dent on the kind of freedom already in place.

Instead, we are seeing many instances of irresponsibility in the practice of the media profession. And the problem is, most media organizations and media leaders only grudgingly acknowledge this for two reasons: one, because of the mistaken notion that advancing the cause of press freedom is more important than pushing for a more responsible media and two, because of the worry of destroying the camaraderie among peers.

Dont get me wrong. I am not for the intervention of outside forces, like the government, in running of the affairs of media. That would be damaging to the cause of press freedom paid for in blood, sweat and tears by sectors who struggled for the acquisition of the democratic space we are now enjoying. What I am asking is a more vigorous push for media responsibility.

When I was younger, I idolized many media practitioners, most of them on radio. While many of these practitioners were most probably not saints as persons, but they brought public discourse of issues to a higher level. Because they were well-informed and well-prepared, their resort to the use of insults and personal attacks were minimal. And even the hurling of insults and personal attacks werent vulgar and crass.

I am not trying to be holier-than-thou. I admit to being shallow in my columns at times and of being too passionate in defending my views. But being vulgar and crass is not in my resume.

Again, I consider the push for media responsibility more important in the current period than advancing press freedom. Or to put it in another way, the threats to press freedom do not come from extraneous forces but within ourselves.

By the way, I agree with the criticism hurled at Sen. Jinggoy Estrada for pushing a magna carta for journalists. It is an attempt by government to interfere in the affairs of media and is a threat to press freedom. But the push to professionalize the media profession should also make us ponder. Is it a recognition that we have been remiss in this regard?

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Wenceslao: Press freedom: my take