Air presscons live, SC urged

Supreme Court building. RYAN LEAGOGO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Press briefings should never be banned.

This was the firm stand of the University of the Philippines’ College of Mass Communication as it reminded the Supreme Court not to bar media conferences.

In a statement, the UP Masscom said it recognizes that public interest may sometimes mean that not all the news can be released all the time.

Balancing act

Though this requires a balancing of the public need for information with the potential harm premature revelation can inflict on the same public, “a ban on live coverage is an arbitrary and often unnecessary means of achieving that end.”

The UP Masscom statement was released on Friday and was signed by faculty, staff and students.

The statement was in reaction to Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te’s banning of the live broadcast of his press briefing.

Te, however, clarified the issue and said the high court has no policy barring live television and radio coverage of press conferences.

The UP Masscom noted that although Te said there was no such policy, this does not mean that he will not impose a ban in the future.

Ready to oppose

“The media need to be informed that the ban will not happen again, and should press Te into making such a categorical statement. But they also have to be ready to oppose it when it does recur,” the statement added.

The college said the incident should “sharpen practitioner awareness of the essentially adversarial relationship between the media, with their public mandate of monitoring and holding public institutions to account, and government, whose relationship with the press is premised on furthering its agenda—and in some instances, managing information and concealing it from the public.”

Although Te had been a press freedom advocate before, he is now a part of the government that he had warred against in his previous job.

RELATED STORY

Media unplugged: SC bars live presscon