Apparently believing the pen is mightier than the gun, the Philippine Press Council (PPC) yesterday encouraged personalities unfairly treated by the media to write letters of complaint to their editors.
"We believe most editors to be fair and that they will publish readers’ or news subjects’ rebuttals, especially if they will bring us closer to the truth," PPC chairman Gary Mariano said.
"If complainants still feel that they are being ignored by a newspaper, or find the newspaper’s response to be unsatisfactory, they may elevate their case to the Press Council," he added.
Mariano said the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) has the authority to decide on ethical complaints raised against its 94 member publications nationwide.
He explained the PPC is composed of senior editors and members who are committed to protecting readers’ rights, foremost among them being the right to air their side.
"We are authorized, at the very least, to compel the respondent publication to print the rebuttal," said Mariano, a professor of mass communications at De La Salle University in Manila.
He said similar citizens’ press councils were already set up in this city and in Cebu and Palawan to attend to complaints of abuses in the media.
"We offer the press council as an alternative to lawsuits, which nonetheless remain an option for aggrieved parties," Mariano said.
Mariano emphasized, however, that "definitely nothing justifies killing journalists."
He also called upon law enforcement agencies to arrest those behind the killings and prosecute them.
Mariano said the PPC and the PPI have been disturbed at the likelihood that the murders were motivated by grudges over some issues that the victims may have expressed in the pursuit of their jobs.
"Our democracy protects journalists in the free exercise of their social duty of providing citizens with the information they need to make informed decisions, as well as to remain free... free from oppression, injustice, criminality, corruption, poverty and other social ills," he stressed.
Mariano emphasized the duty of a journalist is to uncover and report the truth and facts, including the right to express "stinging" opinions.
"While we hold that the truth may hurt, we concede that inaccuracies can hurt even more. After all, journalists are not any less human than the people they cover," he said.
Mariano clarified the PPC is not insinuating irresponsibility on the part of media practitioners.
"What we wish to underscore is that differences with journalists, who are unarmed and should remain unarmed, can be settled civilly," he said.
Mariano also exhorted media practitioners to continue the quest for truth, amid the threats to their lives while observing the highest professional and ethical standards.
He also urged news executives to address readers’ and subjects’ concerns with dispatch, "in order to dispel any notion of editorial arrogance and indifference."
Mariano noted a pending bill filed by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. that would mandate publications to print or air the side of individuals or firms that have been hit by the media.
The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) led by its executive director Cecile Guidote Alvarez also condemned the wave of journalist killings in the country.
"Like members of the media, artists are also strong advocates of our civil liberties, our freedom to speak out and be heard, our freedom to express ourselves," Alvarez said.
"We join the Filipino community in condemning these violent acts," she said.
Alvarez said the NCCA will conduct a two-day summit focusing on the problem of violence against journalists.
She said more than 800 cultural workers from across the country will be coming to Manila for the summit.
Alvarez said a dialogue will be held between artists and members of the media and officials from the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines.