NUJP statement on media harassment by parties, candidates

NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF THE PHILIPPINES (NUJP)

Statement
May 8, 2010

NUJP statement on media harassment by parties, candidates

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines is alarmed over the increasing harassment of journalists and the curtailment of their right to pursue their profession by political parties and candidates seeking office in the May 10 elections.

This week, gmanews.tv reported (http://www.gmanews.tv/eleksyon2010/story/candidates/190184/reporters-barred-from-interviewing-villar) that reporters who had waited for about four hours were barred from interviewing Nacionalista Party presidential candidate Manuel Villar during a campaign sortie in Pasig City Wednesday night. There were also attempts to limit the questions the reporters could ask at a hastily organized press conference earlier in the day.

In Bulacan, NUJP chapter chairman Dino Balabo reported that organizers of a Liberal Party press conference barred journalists not wearing the signature yellow color of their presidential bet Benigno Aquino III from covering the event.

And the NUJP Subic-Olongapo chapter reported that photojournalist and online news site Subic Times publisher David Bayarong, who was covering a campaign rally of re-electionist Mayor James Gordon Jr. on May 4, was berated by the city executive and his men and then escorted out of the venue. The next day, the Subic Times office was burglarized and Bayarong’s photographic equipment stolen.

We are aware that in the heat of the campaign, passions may flare up. But this can never be used to justify the harassment of journalists or the curtailment of their rights.

If these incidents are an indicator of how government will be run should these candidates and parties win, there is little reason to be optimistic about the outcome of the May 10 polls.

It is NOT the media’s role to make any candidate or political party look good. The media’s only obligation is to report factually to our audiences on how the candidates and parties campaign, the platforms and programs they espouse, and their fitness or lack thereof to govern.

As Balabo aptly said in his statement on the Bulacan incident, the press does not share the color of any one party because it’s only color is that of truth, transparency, responsibility and accountability.

Reference:
Nestor Burgos Jr.
NUJP Chair