Sensitivities

The recent airing of the video showing blurred images of the child cyber pornography victims in Cordova town by a giant TV network dismayed Capitol officials and those working on the case against the couple who perpetrated the crime and rightly so.

Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, who co-chairs the Provincial Women’s Commission (PWC), said the video was supposed to be used as evidence by the prosecutors against the couple who exploited their children for profit and copies of it were only provided to three agencies.

They include the National Bureau of Investigation, the commission and the US Department of Homeland Security, which alerted the police, NBI and the commission about the existence of the cyber porn den in the first place.

How the video managed to reach a major TV network and its contents showed on national TV with the images of the children blurred one could only speculate.

But even with the pixilated images, Magpale, the commission and social workers assigned to the case were justifiably concerned about the impact it would have on the case.

And this is not even taking into consideration its impact on the children themselves, who were in custody at a non-government organization (NGO) center and may or may not have watched the footage on TV.

It was reported that social workers have begun monitoring the children’s TV viewing after one of them saw footage of their parents and asked for them.

The children, thankfully, are responding well to the stress debriefing but how long they would be that way especially with the prolonged absence of their parents remains to be seen.

As it is, the national broadcast media again dropped the ball on a particularly sensitive issue but it’s not the most infamous violation they committed.

Recently the Kapisanan Ng Mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) imposed fines on three media outlets for their coverage of last year’s hostage-taking situation in the Manila Grandstand.

One can only guess the impact that the broadcast of the children’s blurred footage is on the case.

One also is reminded about the recent suicide attempt of an American and the guidelines in covering such incidents with the particular emphasis on protecting the would-be suicide taker’s identity and making an effort not to sensationalize the suicide attempt in order not to attract more suicide attempts.

Aside from children’s cases which may involve murder, rape and all sorts of heinous crimes, maybe a separate set of guidelines should be drawn up by the national media in the coverage of suicide attempts.

This is not meant to restrict media coverage—the last thing we want is self-censorship with too many lobby groups and politicians dictating on how media should do their work for their own agenda—but to develop sensitivities to public sentiments, culture and tastes.