MANILA, Philippines–A flurry of protest statements were issued by media organizations on Wednesday after Supreme Court public information officer Theodore Te suddenly banned television and radio reporters from the live airing his press conference on Tuesday.
Te had refused to begin his press briefing until the live feed broadcast cables were unplugged from the cameras, saying media could not live-stream the news event “without his permission.”
“The court has never allowed live coverage of its proceedings and I read that to include the press conference. In exceptional cases perhaps yes, but I don’t know what would be exceptional,” the public official said.
Te, who was appointed chief of the high court’s Public Information Office in January last year, later sent reporters several text messages explaining that his policy to prohibit live coverage, while not a rule of the Supreme Court, was “part of how this PIO understands its role in presenting the court’s message requirements.”
Two media groups covering the Supreme Court beat—the Justice and Court Reporters Association (Jucra) and the Justice Reporters Organization (Juror)—quickly issued statements deploring Te’s announcement.
While saying he had not yet read the statements issued by Jucra and Juror, Te issued his own statement late Wednesday afternoon.
“In the interest of clearing things, I state categorically that there is no ban on live coverage of media conferences by the Court nor the PIO. I am enough of a lawyer to know that such a ban would not survive the laugh test, let alone constitutional scrutiny. My track record as counsel for journalists on press freedom cases should speak for itself when it comes to my support for and belief in press freedom, which is almost absolute,” he said.
He also invited the beat reporters to a “dialogue” on Thursday.–Jerome Aning