AS SEEN ON TV
Reporting in the face of danger
Two more journalists met their bloody end in opposite corners of the Philippines less than 24 hours apart. Up north in Ilocos Norte Jovelito Agustin, an anchorman for local station DZJC was gunned down. Agustin was with his nephew when he was attacked. He died in a hospital while his nephew was wounded.
Agustin’s death came in the heels of another mediaman killed down south. Desidario “Jessie” Camangyan of Sunrise FM was shot by armed men while hosting a singing contest in Davao Oriental. Camangyan’s assassination is perhaps the most brazen media killing in recent years. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the assassinations—- Camangyan’s in particular—- which was carried out in front of a crowd.
“It is difficult to believe that the killer is unknown when Jessie Camangyan was murdered on stage at a public event,” IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said. “There is no excuse for local authorities to delay in bringing the perpetrator and whoever may have ordered the killing, to justice.”
RP, still unsafe for journalists
RP teeters on the top of a list of countries considered dangerous to journalists. According to media group, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Philippines is second to Iraq in terms of the number of journalists killed. Other countries on that list are Algeria (3), Russia (4), Colombia (5), Somalia (6), Pakistan (7), India (8), Afghanistan (9) and Turkey (10).
Many of the nations making the list are also at war, in stark contrast to the Philippines which sits in relative peace. A media practitioner covering clashes in Iraq for instance may die in the cross fire, while in the Philippines a media practitioner can get killed merely for exposing corruption, or demanding accountability from public officials.
A greater irony lies as the Philippines claims to have the freest media in Southeast Asia. Where a country takes pride in its working democracy—- particularly freedom of speech and expression—- it also tries (but fails) to conceal its weakness—- its inability to defend such democratic attributes as evidenced by a pile of unsolved media assassinations where perpetrators remain unpunished.
The Life-threatening Beats
Politics remains the top killer beat for journalists in the Philippines. The number of media practitioners killed in relation to the political stories they cover is high at 60 percent.
Corruption (including exposes of corrupt practices or corrupt personalities) came in second at 38 percent followed by Crime (25%), Human Rights (7%), and War (1%).
Agustin had previously received threats to his life, being critical of a local politician in Ilocos Norte. Last month, armed men fired guns at his home.
Camangyan on the other hand also criticized politicians and illegal loggers in his daily radio program, and investigators theorize this could be one of the reasons why he was silenced.
Who is most prone?
A study by the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) on media killings in the Philippines show commentators and columnists are the most vulnerable, accounting for 34 percent of the number of media practitioners killed in the country since 1992.
Commentators and columnists are journalists who have exposed corrupt practices or have aired their opinions on the issues they tackle in their broadcast programs or newspaper columns.
The same CPJ report also shows that print columnists, reporters and writers are more prone to assassinations at 31 percent, compared to their counterparts in radio and television which account for 22 percent of the total number of slain media practitioners from 1992 to 2010.
Other media practitioners exposed to certain risks include Editors (10%), Publisher/Owner (7%), Photo Journalists (4%), and TV Cameraman (1%).
Justice delayed and denied
While condemnations from government leaders would run high following these assassinations, there had been very little accomplishment on the judiciary and law enforcement side.
For Camangyan’s killing, the national police vowed to get down to the perpetrators via what it calls a “high level investigation”. The establishment of task forces or special investigative bodies ensue these high profile killings as plain law enforcement cannot deliver results by itself.
This is why there is a perceived culture of impunity as suspects in various media killings continue to evade justice. A CPJ report of Philippine media killings scores impunity at a high of 92%, with only 8% of all the cases considered partially solved.
Another tick on Noynoy’s “to do” list
More than an added task for law enforcers to solve and the judiciary to resolve, the killings of Agustin and Camangyan pose as a reminder to the incoming Aquino administration, that apart from corruption, jobs, education or peace and order, the killing of journalists must be addressed with equal urgency.
Putting to conclusion the sheer number of cases of media killings left unsolved by the Arroyo administration would be a show of force for the new president whose campaign promise was his utter resolve to stomp corruption.
The fallen media would have been his army in his battle against corruption, as many of them died exposing the corrupt. The new Aquino administration should honor them with justice.
