IFJ protests alteration of press freedom mural
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has joined groups and individuals that have condemned the alterations of the press freedom mural commissioned by the the National Press Club (NPC).
In a statement issued Wednesday, the IFJ protested the changes made to the mural commissioned from the Neo-Angono Artists Collective by the NPC.
The IFJ, which represents over 600,000 journalists in 115 countries, said it is "concerned at the attack on freedom of expression of a mural that was intended to highlight press freedom issues."
The group pointed out that among the alterations to the mural was the removal of an image depicting an IFJ statement on press freedom. It had been painted over with a "hideous bird-monster in a cage."
The removal of the IFJ statement has angered the artists the most because it was about the effects on press freedom of the Human Security Act, or the anti-terror law.
The other alterations include the removal of the name of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), an IFJ affiliate, from the banners of protesters depicted in the mural.
The 8-foot by 32-foot mural depicting a man reading a newspaper in the middle of a crowd on a busy street as press freedom icons mill around him, illustrates the history of press freedom in the Philippines. It was unveiled by President Macapagal-Arroyo at the NPC building during the NPC's 55th founding anniversary on Oct. 26, two days after it was installed.
The NPC commissioned the Neo-Angono Artists Collective to do the mural for P900,000.
Officials from the NPC have claimed that the changes were made because the artists had failed to meet the condition that the piece was meant to be "apolitical."
But the IFJ said it is supporting the protests raised by the NUJP.
The NUJP earlier said it was "saddened and appalled by the defacement of the press freedom mural."
"The alterations on the mural were not only an aesthetic outrage, they constituted censorship, an act that should have been anathema to any media organization worth its salt, and made worse by the fact that the message that was censored was one against censorship itself," the NUJP said in a statement released by its chair Jose Torres. Jr. and secretary general Rowena Paraan.
The group pointed out that alterations ordered by the NPC "is akin to rewriting a critical yet accurate report to avoid incurring the ire of the powers-that-be or appease a patron."