Filipino Journalists Denounce U.S. War

As the Bush government intensifies its air strikes against Iraq, additional opposition to the U.S. war and the Arroyo government’s active support to it came, not from the usual protest groups, but from members of the Philippine media.

By BULATLAT.COM

In a statement titled “Media for Peace,” 430 journalists, editors, network executives and media workers scored the government’s “pertinacious support for Bush's war - a war with dubious motives, stained with the lust for oil and full of inconsistencies and double standards.”

The signatories were presented during a media forum attended by 60 media practitioners held last March 21at the Chicken Bacolod Restaurant in Quezon City.

Among the signatories were five vice presidents of ABC 5 and ABS-CBN’s Luchi Cruz Valdez; Philippine Daily Inquirer editors and columnists Recah Trinidad, Al Mendoza, Juan Sarmiento, Rosario Garcellana, John Nerry and Jun Bandayrel; Today editor Lyn Resurreccion; Sunday Inquirer Magazine managing editor Penny Azarcon-dela Cruz; Philippine Graphic managing editor Inday Espina-Varona; Bulatlat.com editor Bobby Tuazon and Malaya sports editor Jimmy Cantor.

Radio anchors and commentators Deo Macalma, Jenny Flower Simon, Sonia Capio and Ruth Cervantes were also signatories, as well as National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) president Edgar Cadagat. Noted writer Pete Lacaba also signed the statement.

The signatories came from almost all major newspapers and television networks in the Philippines. At the end of the forum, many reporters who were covering the event lined up to sign.

Nine journalists from different publications and networks initiated the signature campaign. When asked what they will do next, Inday Espina-Varona, one of the initiators and Philippine Graphic managing editor, replied that the group would continue to gather signatures as a means of educating members of media on issue.

Important factors

Prof. Luis Teodoro, former dean of the University of the Philippines’ College of Mass Communication and Today columnist, discussed during the forum the problems of media in covering the U.S. war. He said that with the shoestring budget of many media agencies, they are unable to send reporters in the war-affected areas and forced to rely on big news corporations. He cited studies how these corporations rely mainly on government sources, violating the multi-sourcing principle in journalism.

He also cited as limitations of the western media’s coverage the lack of contextualization of events and issues and lack of emphasis on the humanitarian cost of war.

On the other hand, he said the Philippine press is better informed and relatively more balanced in presenting the different opinions on the war.

“Theft”

The participants also criticized the recently exposed “theft” by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation of research documents on terrorism sent by an Associated Press reporter in Manila to AP’s Washington Bureau.

The package was sent via the Federal Express in September and contained, among others, an old FBI laboratory report on the materials seized from a Makati apartment raided in 1995. Convicted terrorist Ramzi Yousef rented the apartment.

The FBI did not issue a warrant for the package nor did it notify AP of its seizure. On the other hand, FedEx, when asked by AP, suggested the package might have fallen off their van and reimbursed AP $100 for the loss.

Inday Espina-Varona, vice president of the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP), said the incident was symptomatic of the worsening crackdown on press freedom in the U.S. and that FBI’s motive was “to censor a story in the making.”

She likewise urged Filipino journalists to remain vigilant in the light of similar attempts in the Philippines to clamp down media and the people’s right to know.

She noted how Philippine police and military field officers have been told to “centralize” all information dissemination in cases involving “terrorism.”  She also criticized how the pending anti-terrorism law limits journalists’ access to information.

She added, quoting from an NUJP statement, “Journalists should not allow warriors of all stripes to gloss over the effects of war. Journalists should not forget, nor let others forget, the plight of innocent civilians who suffer the brunt of war.” Bulatlat.com

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