Pointblank
Chilling to the nerves
Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's address before the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas in Baguio City last week prompted the resurrection of this column. For me Pres. Arroyo's message lashing at the media was chilling to the nerves. It merely shows how adversarial the President could be on just about anybody criticizing her administration. Her glaring pronouncements against the media in that gathering of broadcasters could all the more confirm our doubts on her Executive Order 454 which transfers National Telecommunications Commission under the supervision and control of the Department of Transportation and Communication. The said EO could be a move so the government could have control of the private broadcast media.
It is simply unfair for the President to blame the media for whatever bad publicity she is getting shortly after she assumed office last year until now. She should understand that the media merely reports what is going on in government and in our society in general. Besides, it is the beauty of the freedom of the press-to have the good and bad news made known to the public. It is the public then that would decide on what to believe in.
Suggesting that the media should only report the good news is highly unacceptable. It would be tantamount to losing our democratic freedom.
The president's low popularity rating as well as all the controversies hounding her administration are not the makings of the media. She and her ilk were the ones who made those controversies. The media merely reported it. The media merely acted as messengers.
Understandably, the media is very influential in setting the day's issues. But being the highest official of the land the President should not be onion-skinned. As long as what she is doing is right I think she doesn't have to worry. Besides she has all the resources to redeem herself if she believes she is right. Unfortunately, it seems that she is not confident with what she's doing that is why she becomes so defensive.
Was it the media that caused Pres. Arroyo's husband and son to be dragged into the jueteng issue? Was it the media that caused her involvement in alleged cheating in 2004 elections? On the latter issue, she publicly admitted right? Now, could she blame the opposition for wanting to oust her from position?
Turning the blame on the media is not the solution to the current political turmoil engulfing the country. Instead, the President should consider this a challenge to her administration, how can she unite our divided nation. For how could she be a good leader of our country if she could not be a uniting factor for the Filipinos?
Freedom of speech and of the press is enshrined in our Constitution. It may be true that other media practitioners or organizations go out of bounds, but nobody, even the President, can dictate the media on what to write and what to report. Reminds me of some people here in the local scene who considers you an enemy if you write negative stories about them.
Lastly, the late Samuel Eli Cornish, a former U.S. Clergyman and newspaper editor, has this fitting quote about the importance of press freedom: 'If the Press, a 'FREE PRESS,' be a foe to the tyrant-if its blessings be so great and innumerable, the Question naturally presents itself, why may we not have one of our own?'