EDITORIAL – Nothing is absolute if all things are equal

It has been hoped by many that the country can move forward again after its latest political hiccup in the form of that stupid Trillanes caper at the Manila Pen. But no, there is no moving forward. Our honorable senators are seeing to that.

The Senate has embarked on yet another probe related to that incident, the arrest of several mediamen during the police operation that saw the surrender of Trillanes and his band of disoriented supporters.

Egged on by some self-righteous mediamen who have unilaterally foisted themselves as the sole ethical conscience of a misunderstood profession, the senators can only dance along with gusto, for once getting a free publicity ride instead of paying for it.

Lest the public be misled by all this mumbo-jumbo about the inviolability of press freedom, no such animal exists. All freedoms apply only where they do no impinge on the freedom of others. Nothing is absolute if all things have to be equal.

Let the public be informed that the media are still bound by the laws of the land. They are neither immune nor exempt from the application of laws crafted for the common good, not the exclusive privilege of a select few.

The media are not all-powerful beings, constitutional guarantees to press freedom notwithstanding. They cannot impose themselves where their presence is neither necessary nor wanted.

Let the self-righteous members of the press be reminded that access to information is not limited to what the media insist it should be. In the case of Manila Pen, truthful news coverage did not necessarily hinge on the presence of mediamen inside the hotel.

In fact, CNN had a fairly more accurate and dispassionate coverage of the incident than the local networks even without having to send anybody over, proving that a good story depends on professionalism and skill, not physical presence that produces nothing but incoherent noise.