President Benigno S. Aquino III. MALACANANG PHOTO BUREAU
MANILA, Philippines―Is the Philippine media fixated on exposing crimes but short on reporting their resolutions?
That is what a dismayed President Benigno Aquino III thought during the agenda-setting dialogue in Malacañang Friday when he said that the Philippine media projects the country as “chaotic” due to its imbalanced crime reportage.
“Nakakadismaya nga po kung minsan, dahil nakikita natin na kapag may krimeng nangyari, headline sa diyaryo; kapag naman nalutas ang krimen, kailangang hanapin ang kapirasong ulat sa page 20. Hindi naman kalabisang hilingin na maging balanse sa pagbabalita ukol sa krimen, ‘di po ba?” Aquino said.
(I’m dismayed sometimes because when a crime is committed, it becomes a headline in a newspaper. But when the crime is solved, you have to look for a tiny report on page 20. Is it too much to ask (the media) to exercise balance when reporting crimes?)
Aquino even attributed the spread of text messages alleging that a certain student from a Manila school was abducted and killed.
“Dahil hindi nabibigyang-pansin ang solusyon, hindi maiwasan na may ilang kababayang mag-isip na ang gulo naman sa Pilipinas. Nakakadagdag pa nga po sa agam-agam ang sadyang pagpapakalat ng mga balitang wala namang basehan,” Aquino added.
(Since solutions are not being highlighted, some Filipinos think that the country is in chaos. The proliferation of news articles devoid of basis adds to the public’s confusion.)
The president said that the kidnapping incident spread through text was a hoax as confirmed by the administrators of the school and police authorities.
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