MANILA, Philippines?When reporting about a ?Kapamilya? caught in a personal tragedy and a legal fix, how did ABS-CBN fare in the eyes of media industry critics?

For Vergel Santos, veteran journalist and chair of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), the broadcast giant showed ?a fraternal bias? for its top news anchor Ted Failon in its coverage of his wife?s violent death and the ensuing police investigation.

ABS-CBN seemed to have adopted a policy of questioning everything that the police said, according to CMFR Executive Director Melinda Quintos de Jesus.

This led to a ?polarization? between Failon?s family and the authorities. ?So the viewer could not decide what made sense in the incident.?

Luis Teodoro, former dean of the University of the Philippines? College of Mass Communication, shared the view: ?It was a bit overdone especially on the part of ABS-CBN. There were stories that were repeated.?

Failon (born Mario Teodoro Failon Etong) was tagged as one of the suspects by the Quezon City police early in its investigation into the death of his wife Trinidad Etong.

Trinidad was found shot in the head inside the Etongs? Quezon City home on April 15. She died in the hospital a day later.

Suicide or foul play?

The probe has since centered on whether her death was a suicide, as maintained by Failon, or a result of foul play. Two private forensic experts tapped by Failon to join the police autopsy have supported the suicide angle.

Failon was charged, along with a sister-in-law and four househelpers, with obstruction of justice after investigators learned that the bathroom where the shooting allegedly took place was cleaned up within hours after the incident.

Maria Ressa?s statement

Reached for comment Thursday night, Maria Ressa, head of ABS-CBN News and Public Affairs, said she did not think her network went overboard with the coverage.

?We just followed what the police did. They made the story and like everyone else, we followed what the police said.?

She said it was the police that drove the story from being a suicide to a murder case.

Ressa also said the fact that Failon was involved in the story was ?both a disadvantage and an advantage.?

Failon being an ABS-CBN talent was a disadvantage, she said. On the other hand, it was an advantage because he chose to trust his own network with his statements on the incident.

?Like everyone else, we were outside of the story and struggling to cover it as it changed day-to-day,? Ressa stressed.

?Definitely, ABS-CBN failed this test,? Santos told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

Santos said the network could have shown ?more detachment and more professionalism. And this should apply to other media entities.?

Failon?s mother studio, for example, was ?so concerned about getting across the story that he tested negative? in the paraffin test, Santos noted.

Teodoro said the ABS-CBN coverage appeared skewed in favor of Failon since he?s one of its top-rating talents and because he ?is one of media?s own.?

Test for media

?The coverage raises questions on whether we can extend that same attention if it (involved) other people. It was a test for media to provide the appropriate coverage without any kind of special treatment,? Teodoro said.

The media in general, however, scored on the ?positive side? when it vividly exposed the way police conducted its investigation of the Etong shooting, Teodoro said.

He was referring to TV news footage capturing how an arrest party from the Quezon City police violently dragged Failon?s sister-in-law, brother-in-law and members of his household to the prosecutor?s office for inquest in connection with the obstruction charge.

?It showed that we still have problems with the police,? Teodoro said.

?The coverage showed unusual assiduousness of police in that arrest,? Santos added.

Overacting cops

De Jesus also scored police for ?playing to media? early in the coverage of the incident, noting how it ?overacted? when it took members of the Etong household in custody.

?That is inexcusable. Police should have used restraint in dealing with a grieving family,? she added.

?It was a challenging situation, given that there was no clear statements on what happened, even from the family. But media should stay with the facts rather than opinions of investigators,? De Jesus said.