Sotto wants online media protected, too

MANILA, Philippines - Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto wants to include members of the legitimate online media as among those who should be protected from revealing the “sources” of their information.

Sotto is seeking an amendment to Republic Act 53, otherwise known as the Act to Exempt the Publisher, Editor or Reporter of any Publication from Revealing the Source of Published News or Information Obtained in Confidence.

RA 53 was passed in 1946, and authored by the senator’s grandfather, the late senator Vicente Yap Sotto.

Also sometimes referred to as the Sotto Law, RA 53 was enacted when news dissemination and investigative reports were not as sophisticated as they are today. 

In the age of modern technology, Sotto also noted that various social networking sites are already being used for faster dissemination of current events.

“Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds and with it, the expansion of coverage of mass media where news and investigative reports are not only broadcast through the print media but also through radio, television, cable and the Internet,” Sotto said.

“The law was conceived at a time when today’s technology was unthinkable. Nonetheless, the purpose of the law protecting and enhancing the freedom of the press, so as to inform the public of current events and issues that affect their lives, remains relevant and important,” he added.

Sotto filed Senate Bill 41 at the start of the 15th Congress to conform to the fast-changing technology and further protect freedom of the press.

He proposed an amendment to RA 53 to include responsible personnel from radio, television, cable and Internet-based media from the exemption provided by the law.

In his proposal, Sotto wants an amendment to Section 1 to also cover the station manager, producer, news director or duly accredited reporter of any print, broadcast or electronic mass media, including but not limited to newspapers, magazines or periodicals of general circulation.

Sotto said such persons representing radio, television and cable entities, Internet sites and other electronic media outlets cannot be compelled to reveal the sources of their news items obtained in confidence, unless the court or any of the two chambers of Congress or any of its committees finds that such a revelation is demanded by the interest of the state.