Even while the media whines about some of its members getting killed, it is unquestionably the most pampered if not abusive sector of our democratic society.
Some broadcasters are able to get away with gutter language, some columnists are not only irrational but also reek with irreverence and disrespect to duly constituted authorities, in the process corroding the moral values of the youth and children.
Some have unfortunately degenerated further. They have been conveniently twisting and distorting facts to suit what objectives they are obsessed with, disregarding the truth which media should basically uphold.
This daily spectacle of wayward media as well as the nauseating endless Senate investigations must have prompted the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to sound off an stentorian call in its February 26 pastoral letter. First, it asked both the senators and the ombudsman “to use their distinct and different powers of inquiry into alleged corruption cases not for their own interests but for the common good.” Indeed, after so many senate investigations purportedly in aid of legislation, what specific law has evolved from such prolonged drama?
For the media, the cbcP served the subtle reminder that it must be “a positive resource of seeking the truth and combating corruption.” This, the CBCP emphasized, could only be achieved through objective reporting without bias and partiality and without selective and tendentious reporting of facts.
The CBCP admonition is timely not only because of the present crisis engulfing the country but because of one pending bill in both chambers of congress decriminalizing libel. It means if the bill is passed into law no mediaman would be jailed whatever derogatory remarks he makes, truthful or untruthful, and at most the mediaman would only be sentenced to pay fi nes. but since some mediamen, including those for whom their abusive and foul language does not matter at all, are penniless then they can wreck any person or institution with all indignities and pay no price at all.
This is, therefore, a very dangerous piece of legislation. but come what may there is a need for every decent mediaman to reinstill in his senses his duty and responsibility to exercise the freedom of the press within the confines of decency more than the limits of the law. Rather than celebrate the propensity of some legislators to craft laws to propel their electoral bids without carefully analyzing the repercussions media should condition themselves to restraints worthy of sober molders of public opinion instead of behaving like demagogues and appearing like rogues which media must not be.
