Members of the Dumaguete media have expressed different reactions on the propose ordinance regulating the reading or broadcasting and printing of libelous, unverified and anonymous text messages, phone calls, and Web posting to the public using radio airtime, television shows and newspapers.
The proposed ordinance authored by Board Member Arnie Teves was passed on first reading during the regular session of the Sanguniang Panlalawigan early this week.
BM Teves clarified that the ordinance does not aim to curtail the freedom of the media but only to safeguard the welfare of the public, including the members of the media, from libelous and malicious text messages and phone calls.
He said the proposed ordinance will help prevent the media practitioners, especially radio announcers, from being harassed due to unverified information.
The president of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) Negros Oriental chapter Roy August Bustillo said the Philippine Broadcast Code of 2007 states the prohibition or limitation that should be followed by the broadcasters. There is no need to make a local ordinance to that effect, he said.
Dumaguete Press Club President and anchorwoman of radio DYWC, Iris Indira Requiron, said the media is the only vehicle through which people can be massively informed of what their government is doing. Even the Ombudsman receives anonymous tipsters.
According to Alex Rey Pal, publisher of Dumaguete Metropost and correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), the proposed ordinance authored by Teves is a good law to ensure decency but it is unfortunate that it has to be a politician who thought about it. Media outlets should take full responsibility for the text messages they read or print. Too often, media practitioners say they are simply reading the text messages and people are emboldened by anonymity but the choice to read the message falls on the broadcaster.
John Dx Lapid of The Freeman said he is in favor of the ordinance as regulation of whatever is broadcast on radio and written in the newspaper is part of the ethics of every media practitioner. It is necessary to regulate text messages read over the radio not just by an ordinance but by the station itself or the KBP. However, the ordinance, if passed, can also be used as a tool of abuse against the media.
Irma Faith Pal, managing editor of the Dumaguete Metropost and professor of the College of Mass Communication of Silliman University commented that the proposed ordinance may be laudable but it is already a given in journalism ethics that media practitioners are required to check sources and verify facts before publication or airing. The media must also make sure these anonymous messages do not malign others without basis.
“We don’t need a law to implement what’s already enshrined in our code. We just have to police our own ranks”, she said. (PNA/Maricar Aranas)
