Blame Digong advisers for his quarrel with media

I don’t blame President Digong for his latest blast at the media which, he claims, have been hitting him below the belt.

Some media entities, indeed, have been nitpicking on the President to the point of needling him into a fight.

No president since Ferdinand Marcos of the premartial law years has received so much gibe as Mr. Duterte, who’s practically new at his job.

Unlike other presidents, Mano Digong was not given a honeymoon period by the media.

But that’s the way it is, even in other countries, because the media play an adversarial role vis-a-vis the government.

Even in countries under a dictatorship, media can criticize the government to an extent.

I find it unfortunate that President Digong singled out the Inquirer and ABS-CBN for the bad press he’s been getting.

I blame the Palace media handlers and communicators for not briefing the President about the dynamics and inner workings of the media.

Mano Digong will have to live and let live with the Fourth Estate—especially the Inquirer and ABS-CBN—until the end of his term.

The President should not listen to his advisers and supporters who prod him to quarrel with the media because it’s counterproductive to his governance.

He has probably forgotten that an adversarial press makes for a vibrant and dynamic democratic society.

After all, the Fourth Estate is an unofficial branch of government, the others being the executive branch, the legislature and the judiciary.

I cannot speak for the Lopezes because I don’t work for the ABS-CBN network which they own.

Truth, fairness and accuracy compel me to come forward and correct the President’s tirades against the Prieto family, the majority owner of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The Prietos do not meddle at all in the paper’s editorial and news operations.

Inquirer editors and opinion writers are given a free hand in pursuing their craft the best way they can.

The Prietos ask—repeat, ask and not order—editors to give a space for their friends who think the paper has been unfair in its reportage about them.

I have had a learning experience about the Prietos more than 10 years ago when I criticized in this column one of their relatives who got into a brawl with an American who happened to be my friend.

The Prietos never protested when I wrote an unsavory article about their relative who carries their family name.