Press Secretary says 'right to reply' law unnecessary
BORACAY ISLAND—Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said pending bills requiring media to give the side of those subjected to critical reports and criticisms are unnecessary and intrusive on the press.
"There is no need for the law. It's unnecessary," Dureza said in an interview here Thursday night after he spoke before participants of the two-day Boracay Media Summit held at the Boracay Regency Beach Resort.
Dureza, a veteran journalist before he entered politics, said he was airing his personal view because Malacañang has no position on the bills.
Senate Bill 2150 (An Act Granting the Right to Reply and Providing Penalties Thereof) authored by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel is now pending at the Senate. A counterpart bill, House Bill 3306 and authored by Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentebella has also been filed.
Proponents of the bills had said that the law is necessary because some newspapers and broadcast stations have not given equal space to those they have subjected to critical reports or attacks in commentaries.
But Dureza said journalists need not be compelled by any law on ensuring fairness and balance because this is already part of media's work to give equal opportunity to persons subjected to attacks and criticisms.
While there could be journalists and media institutions that do not comply with this basic responsibility to be balance and fair, Dureza said this responsibility should be left to the media owners and the journalists.
"Let them police their ranks," he said.
Dureza said enacting the law would also be an intrusion "on a domain that is exclusively for journalists and media owners."
"There will be compulsion already. This should not be the case because the less compulsion there is, the better for everybody," he said.
Media organizations including the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility have warned that the passage of the bills would severely reduce if not eliminate the editorial independence of newspapers and stations and could also be used to suppress critical reports and reporting.
The Right-to-Reply Bills require that statements or replies must be published or aired on the same page and prominence in newspapers and on the same program in radio and television stations.
The bill also provides that the reply should be of the same length or time and must be free and must be published or aired within 24 hours (House version) or three days (Senate version) after it has been received by the newspaper or station.
The Senate bill imposes a P10,000 fine to editors-in-chief, publishers, station owners and managers for the first failure to abide by the proposed law. The second offense will carry a fine of P20,000; P30,000 for the third offense and P50,000 for each succeeding offense.
The House versions carries an additional penalty of 30 days imprisonment. Under the bills, a newspaper could be closed and the franchise of a television or radio station can be suspended or canceled for violations of the proposed law.
The NUJP earlier said in statement that the proposed laws infringes on independence of the press and would dictate the contents of of a publication or program.
In the same summit, Philippine Daily Inquirer publisher Isagani Yambot called on members of the press to remain independent and continue to be critical of government.
"We must continue the adversarial role of the media no matter the administration," Yambot told the summit's participants in reaction to a comment that the Inquirer is perceived as critical of government.
The summit, organized by the Publishers Association of the Philippines, Boracay Foundation Inc. National Commission for Culture and Arts and the Aklan Press Club Inc., was attended by around 100 journalists, publishers, mass communication and journalism teachers and information officers.
"Our duty is protect the interest of public. The first loyalty of media is to (the public) and we do not owe loyalty to any government," said Yambot.
He said a "watchful media" has become more important because most institutions are now strongly influenced if not controlled by President Macapagal-Arroyo.
He warned that the situation is "heading towards one similar to the time before the imposition of Martial Law in 1972 by the late former President Ferdinand Marcos.
"The infrastructure has been laid down. What remains is the actual take over," he said.
But while being critical, Yambot said the media should not lose its sense of being balance and fair.
"We criticize if government is wrong. We praise it if it is right," he said.