ABS-CBN explains news blackout on Ces Drilon
By Alcuin Papa
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:15:00 06/10/2008
Filed Under: Media, Kidnapping, Ces Drilon kidnapping
MANILA, Philippines -- The biggest story last Monday did not appear on INQUIRER.net or the pages of its parent company, the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Other major news groups -- print, broadcast, online media -- didn’t carry the story either.
Broadcasting giant ABS-CBN maintained it had good reason to ask media outfits to hold the story on the alleged abduction of its senior correspondent Ces Oreña-Drilon in Sulu by armed men said to be members of the Abu Sayyaf group.
“The request was made primarily for the security and safety of Ces and her companions. At that time (Monday), we did not know what their situation was. We don’t want to speculate on any information that would jeopardize their safety,” said Bong Osorio, ABS-CBN head of corporate communications.
He also said the “gentle request” was made for other news agencies to “embargo” the story on the disappearance of Drilon and two cameramen.
Osorio also said the companies thought it was “okay” for other media outlets not to heed their requests. “They got the stories from interviews with other sources. That’s OK. We are just sticking to our official statement on the matter.”
He said asking other media to embargo a story on the abduction of their staff was not company policy. “It will be on a case-to-case basis.”
Osorio also thanked other media outlets “who allowed the requests to happen.”
Early Tuesday morning, Osorio’s office released a short statement saying Drilon, Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama were missing in Sulu.
Media critics and practitioners are divided over the decision of media outfits to grant the request of ABS-CBN to hold the story last Monday.
Vergel Santos, veteran journalist and media critic, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview that the request of ABS-CBN “was actually an attempt to manage the news.”
“It was a sensitive story but public interest was already there. It should not have been managed,” he said. He added that coming out with the story would have alerted people in the area of what was really happening.
“People there can be lulled into a false sense of security. The complete story had to be given to cover all possibilities and lessen speculation.”
Santos added that other media outfits should not have granted the request of the network to hold the story. “The other outfits should not have heeded the request. But it should have come out with the story with a special sense of responsibility. And everything should have been confirmed first.”
Luis Teodoro, journalism professor at the University of the Philippines and columnist and media critic, disagreed.
In a phone interview with the Inquirer, Teodoro said ABS-CBN was well within its rights to “protect its own reporters.”
Teodoro also said that the abduction of Drilon had not been imbued with “public interest, at least for now. Let’s see what happens.”
“The question is: Did media do the right thing in heeding the request? I think that would have been an individual call of editors. I think their decision (to hold the story) was correct,” said Teodoro, adding that coming out with the story might have put Drilon in more danger.
Jose Torres, chair of the National Union of Journalists (NUJP), said the group supported the news blackout on Drilon’s abduction.
“If that story came out, it might have angered the abductors and the captives could have been harmed,” said Torres, who wrote a book on the Abu Sayyaf titled “Into the Mountains.”
But he hastened to add that heeding the request of ABS-CBN should have been good for the “initial hours” after the abduction. “There was some confusion on who was really responsible. Anyone could have taken advantage of the situation.”
Torres, who is also chief of GMANews.tv, agreed with Santos in saying that people in the area should have been informed of the events in their area for their own safety. “If the information is all clear, then that should have been the time the story should been out.”
“It’s really a question of balance on the part of the editors and a question of ethics. Lives and the people’s right to be informed should be balanced,” he said.
With media outfits heeding the request of ABS-CBN, Torres said he hoped that in future abductions, ABS-CBN would also heed requests from the victim’s families to hold the story for the sake of the lives of the victims.
“After all, reporters aren’t any more special than everyone else. We are all also workers and employees,” Torres said. With INQUIRER.net
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