(SEAPA/IFEX) – The following is an 8 December 2004 SEAPA capsule report: Philippines shows that press struggle does not end with attaining freedom It’s ironic that the Philippines should rate so low in annual reports on the state of press freedom around the world. Reporters sans frontières (RSF), in its annual world press freedom index […]
(SEAPA/IFEX) – The following is an 8 December 2004 SEAPA capsule report:
Philippines shows that press struggle does not end with attaining freedom
It’s ironic that the Philippines should rate so low in annual reports on the state of press freedom around the world. Reporters sans frontières (RSF), in its annual world press freedom index report, places the Philippines conspicuously lower than most people would expect for a notoriously free-wheeling press. In 2002, it placed 90th in a survey of little more than 130 countries.
In Southeast Asia, there can be no doubt that the country stands alongside Thailand and Indonesia as the few democratic exceptions in a generally repressive region.
Manila has no policy for controlling the press or the flow of information, and indeed, the Philippines has enshrined its respect for free expression in its own Constitution. As a result, independent media have clearly flourished and remain vibrant. The Philippine press has become a powerful, sophisticated institution that – through hundreds of independent newspapers, TV stations, and radio operators from the community to the national levels – permeates and influences every aspect of national life.
At the same time, however, overall press conditions in the country – and its dismaying grade among such international press advocates such as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and RSF – are testament to the realization that the campaign for free expression and a free press does not end with the attainment of freedom. Rather, the struggle continues along a gauntlet of continuing threats to press independence, security, professionalism, social acceptance, and yes, liberty.
Nothing so graphically illustrates this reality as the rash of attacks that have claimed the lives of no less than 12 Filipino journalists this year. According to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), 6 of the 12 cases have been confirmed as journalist killings in the line of duty. So far this year only Iraq – and not even Afghanistan – has seen more journalists killed in the line of duty. Virtually all the Filipino journalists killed were working for small organizations operating outside the capital, Manila. More than half were commentators and correspondents for provincial radio stations. All are suspected to have been killed in line with their work as journalists.
Press advocates now say there is a “culture of impunity” in the Philippines that is perpetuating and aggravating attacks on journalists.
What factors comprise this “culture”?
Most glaring, there is the fact that so far, Philippine authorities have been ineffective in bringing the journalists’ killers to justice. The Philippine National Police says that four cases have led to the conviction of the suspected murderers, although some sources have questioned whether the authorities jailed the real perpetrators. At any rate, nearly 60 Filipino journalists have been murdered since 1986, and the record of law and justice offices in the Philippines are clearly unable to catch up with the mounting death toll.
This is the most conspicuous factor behind the dismal grading of the Philippine press, but press advocacy groups stress that the problem obviously runs deeper still. Underneath the helplessness of government and the futility of their efforts are subtler, more insidious forces that further weaken the Philippine press.
CMFR, which started up a database on the killings in 1991, notes that Filipino journalists face the same dangers as development workers and human rights activists. Invariably, the reporters and commentators killed in the Philippines since 1986 were believed killed in line with crusading work against corruption, illegal gambling, drug running, prostitution syndicates and other crimes. The Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ) – a new alliance formed by the CMFR, the Center for Community Journalism and Development, the broadcasters’ union Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ng Pilipinas, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and the Philippine Press Institute – says: “Filipino journalists have become the objects of the very violence they report.”
Despite this, however, they are up against not only that violence, but also public apathy towards their plight. Outside of journalists and press groups, very few Filipinos see the problem as a societal concern.
Why the lack of sympathy?
It does not help that the free press has a reputation as much for being crusading as being excessive, for being corrupt as much as being a force for democracy. It does not help that, finally and undeniably, there are also the flaws and frailties of the press itself.
For Filipino journalists, the FFFJ notes, “the risks are varied, ranging from poor working conditions and lack of job security to pressures of all kinds from those wanting to use the press for private and personal purposes.”
Salaries disproportionate to their power have bred corruption among individuals and, equally damaging, public perception of institutional corruption. This further deadens society to the plight of their journalists, creating a sad cycle of apathy and a sense of hopelessness, all spiraling down to the oft-cited “culture of impunity” that has Philippine journalists asking so many questions about their own calling and cause.
