‘No attack on freedom of the press’

I do believe in freedom of speech, but there are areas in which media have,  for us listeners and readers, gone overboard.”

This was the statement of Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, author of the Anti-Tabloid Ordinance pending at the Cebu Provincial Board when sought to comment on the ongoing celebrations of Broadcasters’ Month and the coming 17th Cebu Press Freedom Week.

The PB yesterday unanimously approved a resolution authored by Board Member Arleigh Sitoy urging media organizations to sustain efforts to celebrate press freedom.

“I’m one with you (the media), but I have this mandate to protect the young ones,” Magpale said in an interview.

“So I ask for your understanding.”

Magpale said she was among those who campaigned for academic freedom in her younger days, but some groups requested her to lead the fight against lewd content in the media.

“This is not to suppress  freedom,” she said. “You (media) know that I just want to tone down (lewdness) and protect our children,” she said.

Magpale commended Cebu media for being a great help in governance.

“The media in Cebu is very powerful; more powerful than the media in Manila,” she said.

“I should not be the one to put you down. Far from it. I am just making a request.”

The Anti-Tabloid Ordinance of 2011 is with the  PB’s committee on  laws for further study.

The ordinance seeks to ban the publication of sensationalized, sexually provocative content in local tabloids.

The Cebu Medical Legal Aid group, an adjunct of the Cebu Citizens Press Council, recently issued a statement opposing the proposed ordinance.

“While the proponents are apparently well intentioned, concerned about protecting community values and Cemla rejects obscenity, we believe the proposal is unconstitutional, unnecessary and dangerous,” Cemla said.

“The ordinance may be open to abuse as determination of what is obscene is left to town and city mayors who may have grudges against publications that publish adverse news or opinion.” /Carmel Loise Matus, Correspondent with a report from USJ-R Masscom Intern Giovanni F. Garcia