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The Japan Foundation was establishe d in 1972 as a special legal entity under the auspices of

the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the purpose of promoting mutual understanding and

friendship on the international scene.

It was a specialist organization for international cultural-exchange in Japan, and it carries out

a broad variety of cultural-exchange programs with personnel exchange as its basic premise,

ranging from such academic pursuits as Japanese studies and Japanese-language education

to the arts, publication, audio-visual media, sports and general life culture.

Its activities are financed by operation profits on gove**.rr, endowments, aid from the

government (including the ODA budget), and funding and donations from the private sector.

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Journalism Asia Sscolo ounnrrn 2001Published by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility Vol. 1 No. I

2 G0UilTAYmfp0RI$Jounnalists lrom the negion as$ess media'$ Gurnent statu$in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, $ingapot'e inl ttre ilritlp,liiies

r8 ru0rurTg$ffis39 Paying the Pipct,Rehman Rashid writes about the Malaysian governmentt censorship of the online publicaionMalaysiakini

4l A 255-yean-otd dneamThe Indonesian press' long journey into freedom, by Atmakusumah Astraatmadja

48 New nedia and otd in EI|$A tlLuis v reodoro andy"z.es the impact of the 'texting'phenomenon

during people power II

4 What pnice Ineedon?Vergel O. Santos, a Manila media cridc, assesses the cost of the explosion of freedom in the Philippine press

46 PnolileRamon Magsaysay Awardees: Atmakusumah Astraatmadja, Indonesian iournalist and press freedomadvocare, and Raul Locsin, editor-publisher of the Manila newspaper Businessworld

PRES$ FREEIII|M

Thke Indonesia. Subjugared by coionizers, then by narive aurocrars,it has raken 255 years before its press gers any measure ofFreedom -and it may;'et get a shockingly huge measure of it. (See "A255-year-old dream," p. 41)

Or lakg Singapore. In all its rhree generations as a nadon, only in recentyears has it begun to realiy dally with, the bold Western idea of freedom ofexpression. It probably reckons that, with its prosperity, it may now be ableto afford that. Even so, it is proceeding with great .rt!. frt ty, it has beenexperimenting with.a^Speaker's Corner, a patch of park from which anyonemay speak his mind freely, und.ueatened with repiaisal.

Never colonized, Thailand has had a tradition of &eedom that has carriedover to its press. But having had its share of local strongmen, too, the ThaiPress has had lts uneasy penods.

. Its,Indochinese neighbors, for their pan, have been too busy fighting offinvaders and colonizers, not to mention having their o*.r irri."irtr..li toeven think ofpress freedom - until now.

On the other hand, the Philippine press wonies about ia freedom all thetime, having on95 191 it completely and seemingly in constant danger oflosing it again. (See "\X{hat price freedom?", p. 44)-

, This is pan of the territorythat/,4, carefi.rl not to bite offmore than it canchew proposes to focus on as a staft - Southeast Asia. As shown, rhe sub_

1egi9n b1 itself is a hand-firl; to its governments, ia peoples, and its press,lieedom is a m1ntery. How does ir *orld How can ii work for them?'

JA does not have the answer, but it hopes ro be able to help find them bvserving as a medium for selievaluation and selFreguiation for rhe pres, ofSourheast fuia - and, hopefully, of all fuia larer on - before some sneakyoutslc'er Deats them to lr.

ffi WwffiWffiffiw ffiffiwffiffiWWTHrs. rs the first issue of Joumalism ,4sia (/A), a quarrerly forum on issues,trends, and subjects that bear upon the relationship between the media andthe public in Asia. The first publication of its ki.rd in th. ..giorr, JA has hadto wait for its dme. It has had to wait for that confluence o?circumstanceswhich makes for a propitious birth. This may well be rhar rime.

Asia has found itselfswept along in the global twin tides ofsocial, poiitical,and economic libera.lizarion and the communication revolution. Thesephenomena are pushing nations roward ever-increasing degrees offreedomand opennes. and have in fact inspired a blooming oit],.-media.

But while the state of a nation's media may serve as an indication of howfree its citizens are, whetler in fact democracy works to that extent is anothermatter. The debate will continue, andrll intends to offer itself as an orga-nized forum for that debate in the hope that some practical enlightenmJntwiil come oi,rt of it.

JA recog'rnrs that press freedom itself is an especially conrenuous concepr.The contention naturally is between the journjist, who wishes he muld sayas he pleases short of screaming fire in a crowded cinema, and the officialauthoriry, who wishes he couldhake the lournalist sav no more than he -rhe authority - himself pleases. i

In some iocieties, tto,bh tho.. rhat have had a long er<perience with de- :mocracy and wor-rld like ro rhink rhey have acquired a iuperior sense oFcivicresponsibility, some balance or compromise hasb..n ,tr.-r.L, but that does notmean rJre rension between press fieedom ard official power has ceased. It isnot-all thar.simple; neither is it all that eaqy, pardcularly for tle press. l

I[ for all the freedom the \Testern pi.ir hr" iong enjoyej, some of its ,pdactitioners remain concerned about is frailry, imagiie the press in much of r

Journalism Asia is published by the center for Media Freedom and Responsibil i ty (c[/FR) Irom its headquarters at the Ateneo professional Schools,130 HV de Ia costa st., Salcedo vil lage, Makati city, Phil ippines. For inquiries, ring lodz) a+o-oeagia+o-ogos&gq-l. iq&gq-j326 or email cmfr@surfshoo.net.oh

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Antosr r\ro years after the fall of PresidentSoehar to f rom power in May i998, Dr .Charles Himawan revealed his worrl'that inthe currently euphoric spirit for reformasi inIndonesia, "the enthusiasm to promote free-dom of expression has given birth to a free-dom from responsibiliry."

The apprehension of Dr. Himawan, a pro-fessor of law at the Universiry of Indonesiaand a member of the National Commissionon Human Rights in Jakarta, was caused br'the excessive rejoicing of society in generalover the restoration of democracy after fourdecades (since the Guided Democracy pro-claimed by President Sukarno in the late1 950 's . )1

However, such an anxiery regarding pressdevelopment dvtngreformasi in Indonesia hasalso been expressed by a number of mediaobservers. They criticize the Indonesian press,at least part of it, for its lack of professional-isrn, or for its tendenry towards sensational-ism. Some observers claim that oress freedomis perceived by a new generation oFlournalistsas a license to orint lurid stories and outra-geous headlinei if tto, letting fiction pass asfact. Still others say that there are too manytabloids which contain pornography or eroticarticles.

Dr. Todung Mulya Lubis, a lawyer by pro-fession and a newspaper columnist, said re-

cently that many new publications are nottoo concerned with qualiry ^cc\racy and bal-ance in reporting, or even with the possibilirythat the story may be misleading. "So far thereis no 'fit and proper test' for reporters, so hood-lums and brokers might also find their wayinto the press," he added.2

A survey by the largest national newspapetKompas Daily, indicat ed that 54.3 percent ofrespondents believed that the press played a-role in making things worse, while only 37.1percent thought the press had played a posi-rive role in Indonesian affairs.3

The mushrooming of media watchers in thecounrn' may have been a reflection of publicanxien' in facing the "power" of the press,rvhich can be misused or corrupted in themidst o[ the press freedom euphoria. Thereare no\\ ' approximately 25 media watchgroups in ten cities and towns, from Surabayain East Jar-a to Makassar in South Sulawesiand \ledan in North Sumatra.

This anrien' ri'as evident during the de-bates ot'er rhe draft Press Law in CommissionOne oi rtre House of Representatives beforerhe bill s'as finallr- passed by pariiament inSeptembe r 1999.

'Accuraq'and balance" in news reports weretough topic. debated in the Commission. Anumber of members of parliament insisted that"accuracr- and balance" must be explicitly pro'

vided for in the press bill which was preparedby the then Ministry of Information.

The idea, however, was strongly opposedby members of the Indonesian Press andBroadcast Society (Masyarakat Pers dan Peny-iaran Indonesia, MPPI) who attended the

Commissiont debate at the request or approvalof then Information Minister MuhammadYunus as governmentt source of information.

MPPI was of the opinion that the stipula-tion about "accuracy and balance" were nor-mative guidelines for a journalistic work, andis normally part of the press code of ethics.Only after strong urging from MPPI activistsdid members of Commission One and thegovernment (Ministry of Information) final-1y agree to eliminate that particular clause fromthe press bill after debating the issue for onehour behind closed doors.

Originally, the bill also contained other nor-mative ciauses which are normaliy found inthe journalist's code of ethics-for example,that the press shall not conduct "trial by pub-liciry." Following pressures from MPPI activ-ists, the clause was also removed because itsdefinition was too vague or too extensive andsubject to various interpretat ions.

But the Press Law still contains traces ofthe"anxieties" of the politicians and the bureau-crats over press freedom. Through this law,they want to mainrain control on the media

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: . Paragraphs (1) and (2), which mandate that-. iolators could be penalized with a maximum::ne of Rp500 million (more than US$50,000rr rhe Present rate).

The rwo paragraphs stipulate:( 1) The national press is obliged to report

:eu's and opinion by respecting rel igious:orms and the public sense of morality andihe presumption of innocence;

(2) The press is obliged to service the fughtsoi Reply. (There are rwo interprerations as torhe meaning of the word "to service." Onesays that "to service" merely means "to payheed to," but another says that it means "to

print" or "to broadcast" the rights of reply.)If regarded only from the media point oF

view, the stipulations in the article will be per-ceived as detrimentd to press freedom. But thepeoplet representatives in parliament and thebureaucrats in the government have differentreasons for insisting that the article be retained,and that is, to protect the public from possibleunfairness or negligence by the media.

CorurlrclNc TMPACTSThe euphoria over press freedom in Indone-

sia during the past three years could triggertwo conflicting impacts: positive and negative.

The first-rhe positive impact-providesopportunities for the media to develop profes-sional journa.lism, in line with the universally-accepted standards for journalistic works. Thesecond-the negative impact-is that the eu-phoria may lead to a failure to appreciate rhelirnits provided by the press code ofethics.

V4ratever our complaints about the Indone-sian media, they have enlightened their audi-ence and changed them into a more well-in-formed sociery. People have become aware thatwhat happened in government in the past couldbe corrected and is even punishable.

The survival of freedom of the oress - andof expression - in lndonesia wiil depend onthe level of understanding of democracy bysociery at large as well as those in power. It isdemocracy that necds thc su1'rporr oF rcsporr-sil'rlc prcss frccdom and lrcc cxprcssion.

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Resoonsible media are those which wouldadhere to the universal standards of journalis-

tic works and of the press code of ethics.However, in the current euphoria over free-

dom of expression in Indonesia, some seg-ments of sociery do not seem to fully under-stand the very close relation, in fact the inter-relationship, between freedom of expressionand that of the press. Freedom of expressionis the umbrella of freedom of the press, andthe existence ofpress freedom is indeed meantto assist society in echoing and ampli$'ingtheir views and aspirations.

TennoRrzrruc tHE MEDIAIn several cities, including the capital ciry of

Jakarta, there have been cases in which a largenumber of demonstrating. sometimes terror-izing, masses have pressured the media to printor broadcast their statements or even to pub-licly apologize or compensate for a mistake ina news report. These groups seem to preferusing pressure and physical force instead ofintellectual arguments in solving their "con-

flicts" with the media.There is a case in which the demonstrators

demanded that the private radio station" Rasi-tania FM in Surakarta, Central Java, apoio-gize for broadcasting an allegedly blasphemousreligious talk show. In Surabaya, East Java,mobs caused the Jawa Pos daily to cancel thepublication of one issue. And in Padang, \W'est

Sumatra. the students and alumni oF a uni-versiry ransacked thc oFficc ofthc weekly tab-loid Bijah and destroyed its computers.

The new Press Law states that imorisonmentoFup to rwo years or a fine of a maximum ofRp500 million awaits "anyonewho acts againstthe law by deliberately taking action whichcould hinder or obstruct the implementationof Article 4 Paragraphs (Z) and (3)."

The two paragraphs state:(2) Towards the national press there shall be

no censorship, banning or prohibition to pub-lish or broadcast.

(3) To guarantcc prcss frccdonr, thc Ir:rtion-al press has thc right to look f<rr, acquirc anddisseminare ideas and inFormation.

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However, both the media and sociery donot seem to have paid much attention to thePress Lads stipulations thus far. Both seem toprefer a more "pragmatic," direct solution.But the "easy," short-cut solution has alwaysput the media in the more disadvantageousoosition.

In a country which only recently regainedirs Freedom of cxpression, society seems to seea free press as a powerful but aloofinstitutionthat it has "to conquer." Sociery does not yetfeel that a free press is indeed part of its own"family of freedoms" which cannot be sepa-rated from one another and whose task is es-sentially also to promote, defend and securerhe orher freedoms in a democratic sociery.

This sad phenomenon, if I am right in myobservation, indicates that the creation of me-dia laws and regulations which guarantee free-dom of the press is not sufficient if not ac-companied by long-term enl ightenmentthrough educational campaigns in sociery toconvince the citizenry that a free press is aimedat the interest ofthe public in general.

EoucnrrNc tttE PUBLTcThe education of the general public this is

what Indonesia's f i rst independent PressCouncil is doing in Indonesia. Since the es-tabl ishment of the Press Counci l in Apri l2000, members of the Council have traveledto at least f ive out oF30 provincial ci t ies out-side Jakarta (Mcdan in North Sumatra, lJan-jarmasin in South Kalimarrtan, Denpasar inBali, Surabaya in East Java and Yogyakarta inCentral Java) to propagate the meaning ofpress freedom and free expression and to edu-cate people on how to seftle conflicts beweenthe rest of sociery and the press-by takingadvantage of the rights of reply, or by goingthrough the courts for redress, but avoidingthe use of ohvsical force.

Atmakusumah Astraatmadja is chair of lndonesia s Press

Council and executive director of the Dr. Soetomo Press

lnstitute.

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Tup THar media are no longer talkingabout the quanti ty of media freedomlThe priori ty r ight now is on quali ty -the leve l o f p ro fess iona l i sm and med iagovernance. For seven decades, the Thaimedia have been struggl ing against theauthorit ies who have sought to controlf r e e d o m o f e x p r e s s i o n .

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w h i c h h a s w i t n e s s e d 1 7 c o u p s s i n c l1932, i r has been a daunt inq task . Theconstan t th rea ts aga ins t m-ed ia camemainly from the regimes that came intopower in Thailand over that period. Butthe med ia communi t ies s tood f i rm andhave overcome al l the odds. In the oast25 years they have strengthened th. iro-cess of democratization. Despite the upsand downs of Thai democracy, the coun-try conrinues to have one of the freestmedia in the region.

_ In the past, pressure from the powers-

tha t -be on the med ia was omniDresenr .

Today, although there have been casesof media int imidation, these have beenisolated cases occurring in dif ferent lo-cal i t ies and circumstanles. Howerrer, theheav ie r p ressure today comes main lyf rom a pub l ic wh ich has nur tu red a de-mand for qual i ty and has extremeiy highexpectarions of the media.

The economic and f inancial cr isis of1997 affected al l areas of Thai society.There have been s ince then fa r - rang ingeconomic and pol i t ical reforms that havestrengrhened good governance and trans-parency and accountabi l i ty in a counrrvtha t used ro opera te under rhe pr r ro . r -c l ien t re la t ionsh ip and in a cu l iu re o fcomplacency . These changes have in -c reased pub l ic par t i c ipa t io -n in democ-racy and in debates on public pol icies asnever before. Vorer turnouts in both lo-ca.l and national elect ions have increased.Mushrooming new non-governmenta l

and grass- roo t o rgan iza t ions have a lsoencouraged d i rec t pub l i c par t i c ipa t ionhorizontal ly, which is a departuri frompaqt ver t i ca l ac t i v i t ies .

The new Thai Consti tut ion, which waspromulgated in 1997, is a wate rshe d inThai pol i t ics. The charter incorporatedr h e i d e a s a n d s u g g e s t i o n s o F o i d i n " r yFo lk rh roughout the counr ry . ln the pas t68 years since Thailand chanqed f ioman absolute monarchy to a conJti tut ion-al one, the mil i tary leaders and dictatorsofthe past had drafted most ofthe coun-try's charters without any consultat ionwith the cit izenry,

\fith a total of 37 articles that guaran-tee ind iv idua l r igh ts in a l l a reas Inc lud-ing media freedom and freedom of ex-pression, the 1997 Charter is consideredthe most comprehens ive in p ro tec t inghuman rights. For the f irst t ime, the elecltronic media, which had been under the

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In an emerging democracyiand, the med ia has severa lroles to piay. Apart from the

owners because they are very dif ferentgroups with dif ferent levels of profes-s i o n a l q u a l i t i e s a n d p h i l o s o p h i e s .

Pre-crisis media owners were confinedto investors who were former journal ists.Most of them had fought for years againstto ta l i ra r ian governments . In the ear ly1970's when dictators were f inal ly too-pled, these journal ists began to .njoy th.new media freedomthat enabled them toventure in to var ied bus inesses , bo th inthe Thai- and English-language newspa-pers. \With the exception of one or rwom e d i a e s t a b l i s h m e n t s , a i l n e w s o a o e ro w n e r s i n T h a i l a n d a r e f r o m r h e - s a m .generation. In fact, i t was the mosr excit-ing t ime in Thai journal ism.

Before the 1997 crisis, this senerarionof owners was ser ious about p - ro fess ion-a l i s m a n d t h e c o d e o I e t h i c s . T h e y w e r eal l for democracy because i t was fragi le.They Felt rhey had to str.ngth.n --ediaF r e e d o m a n d a t r h e s a m e t i m e t o o r o -mote democracy . They cou ld a f fo r i todo so because rhey wer€ r ich, powerfuland successful. The journal ists workingfor them were young and restless. Theyreceived good salaries and al l ofthem hada common goal: to work around the clockto promote democracy.

In the pos t 1997 c r is is per iod , Tha imedia owners have fragmented into twogroups . The f i rs t g roup is made up o fthe same o ld inves tors , the same fo rmerjourna l i s ts , bu t who cou ld no t ba lancethe i r checkbooks . Dur ing the boomingeconomy, they were the bubbie makersprope l l ing economic ind ica tors to rhehighest index. Their media reports andanalyses showed oprimism. \X/i th sharepr ices soar ing , shareho lders and thesepropr ie to rs benef i ted . Then, sudden lv ,t h e e u p h o r i a b e c a m e h e l l w h e n , h . e o u -e r n m e n r d e v a l u e d r h e b a h t i n J u l y 1 9 9 7and he lped t r igger the As ian economiccrisis. I t was a trying t ime, when mediaowners and journal ists were confrontedwith a t ight credit si tuation after theyhad overspent .

In the press, with the increase in thepr ices o f impor ted newspr in t and thechange in the exchange rares) the mediaowners no longer had the same f inancialresources. Some of them had to qraduallvchange the i r approaches and

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p h i e s . A p p a r e n r l y , s o m e o F t h e m , i n o r -der to survive, were more wil l ine to com-p r o m i s e a n d r o b l e n d i n . T h e y - w e r e n o tas dedicated and firm as rhey used to bebefore the f inancial cr isis. The survival of

l ike Thai-importantdissemina-

t ic,n of truthful information and views,the public expects the media to promoted e m o c r a c y b y p u b l i s h i n g d i v e r g e n rviews without favor and fear. Secondlv,t h e m e d i a m u s t f i g h r c o r r u p r i o n . A f r ; rthe economic c r is is , th is respons ib i l t vseems [o have increased. Da i l r .exoosureso f g o v e r n m e n r w r o n g d o i n g s

- a n d F i n a n -

cial mismanagemenr have become sal ientquali t ies of the Thai media.

Before the 1997 economic and f iq;rn-cial cr isis, the Thai media were cri t ical ofrul ing governments. In ger-eral, the Thaimed ia d id no t t rus t whatever qovern-menr was in power . That was *h f *hen-e v e r t h e y f e l r t h a r r h e o p p o s i r i o n w a snot per fo rming we l l , the med ia wou ldtake up the role of the opposit ion. SomeThai newspapers even wanted to topplethe government. However, in the post-c r i s i s e r a , r h e T h a i m e d i a h a v e ' . r n d " . -gone great changes. A dozen papers haveshut down because of f inancial dif f icul-t ies. The newspapers that survived thec r i s i s e m e r g e d w i t h n e w o w n e r s a n dd i f F e r e n t e d i t o r i a l p o l i c i e s .

New veorn owNERS AND po l tc tEs\(ho are the media owners in Thailand?

They are men and women l ike you andme. But a d is t inc t ion musr be made be-tween pre-c r is is and pos t -c r is is med ia

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Jommiss ion (NBC) ro oversee the mon i l:o r ing and a l loca t ion o f the a i rwaves"3roadcasters are now free to report thereri 's without interference from the oow-: r s - r h a t - b e , e s p e c i a l l y s e n i o r o f f i c i a l s i n:he state-control led media establ ishments.

The cur ren t governmenr has a po l i cy: h a r s a y s r h e p u b l i c s h o u l d k n o w ' w h a rihe government knows. To demonstrateiha t po in t , the government has been pro-n o t i n g r h e u s e o F r h e O f f i c i a l l n f o i m a -t ion Act, which was promulgated three'ears ago. Thailand is the f irst counrryin Southeast Asia to have this access toinformation law. Japan has i ts own ver-s ion , a nar iona l in fo rmat ion d isc losurelaw enacted in May 2000. The Informa-t ion Ac t has a l ready t rans formed Tha isociety, with i ts strong cuiture of secre-cy, lnto a more open society. However, i tis st i l l di f f icult for government off icials,who have been trained to keep secrets,r o r e v e a l i n f o r m a t i o n r e q u e s r e d b v r h ep u b l i c . A r o u n d 8 0 0 . 0 0 0 p e r s o n s h a v eused the Act in the pasr three years, mosrof them for personal affairs. The publics t i l l n e e d s t o b e i n f o r m e d t h a r i t h a s t h eright to obtain data and information thatwil l help i t make decisions and take parti n r h e d e v e l o p m e n r o f r h e n a t i o n .

their dai l ies became their main concern.They were looking for more cash inflowand competing For advert ising revenues.

The second group o f owners i s con-f ined to bus inessmen and oo l i t i c ians .They have injected much-needed capi-tal into dying newspapers. Foreign in-vestors have also been invited to investin ai l ing newspapers. \7ith a new pat-tern of ownership emerging in the postcrisis period, the Thai media and theired i to r ia l our looks have a lso chaneedmarkedly. Hence, the one-dimensiJnalThai media, which used to be hosti le togovernment, has suddenly changed andbecome more plural ist ic.

There are currenrly three kinds of Thaimedia. The f irst is the pro-governmentmedia, which is something new. Past at-tempts had fai led when the governmentin power tr ied to publ ish the f irst state-owned newspaper. However, in the post-crisis era, certain newspapers have decid-ed to adopr a pro-government editorialpol icy. In the past al l media establ ish-ments , par t i cu la r ly p r in t med ia , werehosti le to the government. Now the pro-government med ia a re cons idered themains t ream media . New ant i -governmentmedia have also emerged. They print sen-sational editorials on rhe front pages andat tack the governmenr on every i ssue.

Tue e tecrnoNtc MEDTAIn the pasr , rhe Tha i med ia re fe r red

only to print media because the electronicmedia were st i l i under the control of rhegovernment and the armed forces. So thejournal ists f ighting against suppressionby the governmenr in power were con-f ined to print journal ists. The new con-s t i tu t ion guarantees the bas ic r igh ts o fbroadcasters. Since the promulgation ofthe new charter, broadcasters have be-come more independent in express ingtheir views and direct ing their programs'conten ts .

Before the new charter, print and broad-cas t journa l i s ts had a c lear d iv is ion be-tween those who were indeoendent andthose who were nor . That d iv is ion has d is -appeared, with broadcast journal ists nowworking together to ensure that their con-st i tut ional r ights wil l nor be violated.

The Thai Journal ists Associat ion, thebiggest media organizarion in Thailand,has amended i ts charter to enable broad-cas ters to become fu l l TJA members .Since i ts inception, TJA had consideredbroadcasters as propaganda tools of the

state. However, rhe new TJA admissioncri teria now recognize the free spir i t ofelectronic media.

But the l ibe ral izat ion of electronic me-dia carr ies certain r isks as i t al lows indi-viduals to buy into shares ofTV srarions.For instance, a telecom rycoon, ThaksinShinawatra, has already bought a major

stake in the country's f i rst independentTV, popularly known as iTV (Indepen-dent TV) .

As a leader o f the po l i t i ca l par ty Tha iRakThai, Thaksin's pol i t ical ambit ion hasalready clouded the editorial judgmento f i T V s i n c e t h e r r a n s a c t i o n i n J u n e2 0 0 0 . F r o m N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 0 o n w a r d ,there have been several cases of interfer-ence by Shin Corp. 's executives, whichmanages iTV. Thaksin's entrance inrothe Thai media has caused great publ icconcern about the role of TV in shapingpublic opinion and in pol i t ical campaigns.

Dur ing the th ree monrhs o f October

to December 2000, when Thaksin tookful l control of iTV internal r i f ts amongtop pol icy makers and the editorial staffplagued the stat ion such issues as the di-rect ion of iTV n€ws coverage and i ts ed-i torial independence. On December 28,a toP executive was removed and re-as-s igned to an inac t ive posr a f te r iT \ 'b roadcas t po l i t i ca l ra l l ies by Thaks in 'sarch-r ival, the Democrat Parry. Thai RakThai party leaders consrrued the cover-age as support for Prime Minister ChuanLeekpai, who is the main r ival of Thaksin.But the executive defended his decision,say ing tha t i t was th€ du ty o f iTV topresent news from al l angles and in goodfaith.

Meotn t ru ly ton t toNMedia int imidation has taken two dis-

t inc t fo rms - one th rough the use o fforce and threats of physical harm, andthe other through the harsh applicationof a rcha ic and dub ious laws. Cases o fmed ia in t im ida t ion in 2000 increased to15 from six cases in the previous year.Most o f the cases invo lved prov inc ia ljournal ists and broadcasters working fortelevision. Int imidarion could be eitherv e r b a l o r p h y s i c a l a b u s e i n c l u d i n g t h euse of force, including the use of weap-ons l ike hand-grenades and hand guns.For ins tance, Amnard Chongyody ing ,editor of Parhnua Raiwan, was shot andser ious ly in ju red by an unknown gun-man in Ch iang Mai on Apr i l 18 . Th iswas one of the most serious cases of at-tempted assassinations of journal ists whohave exposed cor rup t ion and mal fea-sance in their local i t ies. In rwo other in-stances, grenade lapnchers were used toth rea ten med ia p rac t i t ioners . On Apr i l15, 2000, the off ice of PhimThai Dailyin Prathum Thani was attacked by un-known assai lants with f irearms. Journal-ists from the mass circularion Thai Rathand Matichon Daily were also threatenedwith physical harm because of their re-.por ts focuss ing on conf l i c ts o f in te res tin local communit ies.

Inf luential personali t ies regularly abusethe med ia . On October 11 ,2000, a eor . -e r n m e n t o f f i c i a l h a d o n l y r h e h a r r - h e s rwords for the Thai media. On I. , lovem-b e r 1 5 , 2 0 0 0 , a g r o u p o f i h t i g . t l r q q c li ts way into the off ice of l)huchakarnDai ly and a t tacked i t s secur i ty guardsbefore venturing into the editoria.J roomand damaging computers and other ap-pl iances. Five days later, a woman broad-

: . :r : .r of iTV was harassed by a group of- ; : : .pa igners wh i le she was cover ing a po-. : . ;a l ra l l y .

' : Jg ing f rom the s ra t i s r i cs , i r i s no sur -

::"s: that broadcasters have easi ly become:;:sets of harassment and int imidation.- : is trend wil l continue as the elecrronic: :ed ia become more independent and:-1i ' a more proactive role in shaping a.-. ' r publ ic agenda, which was done in::-: past by the print media sector.

Serond these ins tances o f med ia ha-: r i sment , cer ta in fo rms o f lega l in r im i -:a r ion have a lso taken p lace . Archa ic: . : r r i -p ress laws, wh ich are supposed to::r 's [gsr annulled because they have: .en ru led as uncons t i ru t iona l by the

gove rnment ,These incidents indicate that the bu-

reaucra ts , espec ia l l y in the po l i ce andarmed forces, are up in arms against theburgeoning media freedom in Thailand.A l though the major i t y o f them havecome to accept the role media play in anopen society, they have a dif f icult t imead jus t ing to the new env i ronme nr .

Two rReruos rN THE THAI MEDTAThere are two major trends in the Thai

media. First ly, one of the most danger-ous trends in Thailand that has occurredafter che 1997 crisis is that there ar€ moreu n p r o f e s s i o n a l o w n e r s . I f t h e m e d i aowners are corrupt, can their newspapers

said than done . To help the media to sur-v ive the cur ren t economic tu rbu lence,cooperation between editorial and man-agement people is crucial. As develop-ments in the med ia in the pos t 1997have demonstrated, the media need tobe professional ly managed. To keep rhenewspaper operationai, the dai l ies mustmake a profi t to enable a healthy news-paper to continue.

Final ly, the press culture of individualm e d i a e s t a b l i s h m e n t s i s a l s o p i v o t a l .Somet imes, cer ta in papers w i l l to le ra tecer ta in th ings inc lud ing be ing so f t onbus iness in te res ts o r rece iv ing favorsfrom pol i t ic ians. Some papers are moremalicious while quite a few dai l ies havea reputa t ion fo r independence and in -t e g r i t y . A d d e d t o t h i s c o m p l i c a t i o nwou ld the owners o f e lec t ron ic med iaoutlets who have pol i t ical ambit ions andl i n k s w i t h p o l i r i c a l p a r t i e s .

Furunr cHALLENGEsAs democratization progressed in Thai-

land, the media have changed their fo-cus fromstruggl ing for freedom to thato f serv ing as mul t i -purpose watchdogs.For one th ing , the t rad i t iona l ro le o f d is -seminat ing in fo rmat ion and prov id inganalysis have already been overtaken bygrowing e f fo r ts to combat cor rupr ionand to ob ta in sens i t i ve in fo rmat ion tharwould normally not be avai lable.

\( i th the rapid changes due to the glo-ba l i za t ion process , the med ia have toserve as an early warning system to thepub l ic because i t i s vu lnerab le to ou t -side pressure. The media need to paint abig picture of the individual 's l i fe andof col lect ive l ives as well , without whichthe unders tand ing o f soc ie ta l changesand dynamism wou ld no t be poss ib le .To do so, the media need to be accuratein i ts reportage and analysis. I f the latesre lec t ion he ld in January 2001 was anyindication, the media fai led to provide

s u f f i c i e n r i n f o r m a t i o n a n d v i e w p o i n r st h a r w o u l d e n a b l e r h e p u b l i c r o u n d e r -stand better i ts environment and i ts fu-ture implications. Fulf i l l ing the new roleo F t h e m e d i a i n t h i s n e w e n v i r o n m e n rwil l need more than just codes of con-duct because the more basic values l ikecommon sense and sound judgm€nt aresti l l lackine.

Kavi Chongkittavorn is managng editor ofThe Nation

and chairman of Southeast Asia n Press All iance

(SEAPA) .

nerv charter, have been invoked in viola,i ion o f f reedom o f express ion . But bu-reaucra ts cont inue to use loooho les inrhe laws to enForce anr i -p ress measures .

For ins tance, on January 28 , 2000, thevernacular daily, Thai Post, was warnedby the Special Branch of the pol ice notro sensational ize the hostage-taking atRatchabur i Hosp i ta l invo lv ing armedB u r m e s e t e r r o r i s t s . A n o t h e r c a s e i n -volved the provincial str ingers of Mathi-chon and Khao Sod dailies, who were re-iocated to inactive posit ions fol lowingtheir exposds of the educational systemin their respective newspapers on June9 , 2 0 0 0 .

The conserva t ive Nat iona l Commis-sion on Radio and Television on August1, 2000 ordered a local radio stat ion toskip the broadcast of INN News Net-work because of i ts "negative" conrent- a blatant violat ion of consti tut ionalr ights. Then, the Supreme CommanderHeadquarters ordered the censorship ofthe popular current affairs TV program"Karava Phaendin" or "Respecting theH o m e l a n d " o n N o v e m b e r 1 3 d o ngrounds that i t was too cri t ical of the

perform their function truthful ly to in-fo rm and educate the readers? For in -stance, can corfupt newspaper owners,who make dubious deals with pol i t ic iansor peop le in power , repor t on cor rup-t ion among the power groups? In Thai-land, stories are now being shaped notso much by reporters in the f ield brt byarmchair editors and news editors.

I t is crucial for values such as good me-dia governance to take root among edi-tors, who sometimes can be very igno-rant of what is going on. Good medianeed good pub l ishers w i th fa i r m inds .Otherwise, the posit ive development ofThai media wil l be very dif f icult be-cause there wou ld be very b road grayareas. And in Thailand, the gray areascan be very elast ic and can stretch veryr o n g .

Secondly, recent developments suggesttha t there must be a ba lance be tweenbus iness and pub l ic in re res ts . In thepost-economic crisis period, the econo-my has no t ye t comple te ly recovered.Therefore the media need to be vigi lantand not allow any interference from busi-ness or Bovernmenr circles. This is easi ly

Gc&ffi Kxffiwwmo Mmffi KKffiww87 Luts V. Teooono, pnrLreerrues

IN JeNuanv 2001 , the hottest show in Ma-nila was not Miss Saigon but the impeach-ment trial of PresidentJoseph Estrada. Asidefrom the shock value of the hundreds ofmillions of pesos in illegal funds that seemto have been delivered to, deposited in theaccounts of, or spent by the Phil ippines'pro-poor president in his effort to prevenrhis slide into poverty, one of the revela-tions of this trial was the vast amount ofmon€y from illegal gambling supposedlyturned over ro an Executive Branch offi-cial for the corruption of the Phil ippinemedia. Indeed, one Manila columnist hassuggested that the media could yet turnout to be the biggest beneficiary ofthe ille-gal numbers game known as "jueteng."

For this as well as other imolications onthe stare of the Phil ippine meJia, the crisiswas far more than the amusing circus someforeign observers have said it is. This crisisbrought into the starkest relief some of themost fundamental issues of leadershio anddemocratic governance in the Pi i l ip-pines, and with them what has happenedto the Phil ippine media, part icularly thePhil ippine press, since 1986. I cannot de-scribe everything that has happened in the

Philippine media since that time, and thissituationer will necessarily have to be lim-ited to the last two years, which happen tocoincide with Joseph Estrada's assuming thePhilippine presidency. I am sorry to saythat while there is no lack of good news,too much of the news is bad.'When

the political crisis exploded in thelast quarter of 2000, publ ic opinion sur-veys as well as counrer demonstrations wereamong the means the government used tocombat the broad movem€nr for the resig-nation, ouster, or impeachment of JosephEstrada on charges ofgraft and corruption,bribery, betrayal of public trust, and cul-pable violation of the Constitution. Quiteapart from their intended messages, how-ever, there was another, equally disturbingmessage in the results of the surveys. Themessage was that, in addition to a leader-ship crisis, there is also a crisis of informa-tion in the Philippines.

In almost every suffey conducted in thePhilippines, a large percenrage of respon-dents claim to have no information aboutan issue no matter how current. That wasthe case in the October 26-30 Soc ia l'Weather

Stations opinion survey in which

26 percent of the respondents claimed notto know enough to say anything about Mr.Estrada, his resignation, ouster or impeach-ment, or even about the jueteng (rhe illegalnumbers game in which Estrada was im-pl icated) scandal. These respondents l ivein the same planet, but are ignorant ofwhatt going on in it.

Yet information is not only crucial in theoutcome of the present political crisis; it isalso critical in democratic decision making.\(hat the present crisis is demonstrating isthe uncomfortable possibility that the in,formed citizemy rhat is the basis of authen-tic democratic governance does not exist inthe Phil ippines.

If so many Fi l ipinos do not know theConsti tut ion, or even what to expect ofPresidents-if so many are simply ignor".rtof the facts and totally clueless as to theinterpretat ion of events that affect theirlives-a failure of cerrain institutions in-cluding mass media ro educate the citizen-ry seems to be the only logical conclusion.If true, this only reinforces the widespreadbelief that both the school system as wellas the media urgently need reform.

Indeed what media have demonstrated

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isrrada trial: a test for media

:n rhe unfolding ofthe crisis ofconfidence,-eadership and governance is the impera-: rve fo r Ph i l ipp ine mass med ia ,o , . fo r -:hemselves, given their oft-repeated claimro rhe miss ion oFre forming Ph i l ipp ine so-ciery. Reform, like charity, should begin athome, especial ly i f one is engaged in anenrerprise as crucial to the health ofecono-mies, the stability of political systems andrhe imperatives oF democratic qovernanceas journal ism.

ARErul or coNTENTtoNIn the Philippines, journalism has been,

since the late 1890s, an arena of conten-rion between the forces of liberation andchange and the forces ofcaptivity and stag-nation. For over a hundred years this con-frontation has continued in Philippine jour-nalism.

Philippine journalism has two traditionsor streams, each of which has gone by dif-ferent names in the last 100 years. The tra-dition ofacquiescence is supportive ofwhatis, or what exists-whether it be Spanish

colonialism, Americaq conquest, Japaneseoccupation or homegrown tyranny. Thetradition of protest initially demanded re-forms in the late 19.h century, and rhenprogressed into a demand for independen-ceand sweeping social change.

The latter tradition is what wenr by rhename "alternative press" during the lateMarcos period. I t was presumed to be anew phenomenon, but wasn't . Indeed,during the most acute periods of the phil-ippine crisis, that press has resurfaced toprovide Filipinos the information they needto understand evenrs rhar rhe tradir lon o[acquiescence is either too rimid or too in-volved with to be able to adequately inter-pfet, or even to want to feport. The Mar-cos period was a warersh.d in rhe .esu.-gence of this tradition.

The true history of the Philippine pressis indeed that of the alternative press, withi ts immense cont r ibur ions to rhe 200- yearFilipino struggle for national independence,soc ia l change, democrar izar ion , ,nd jus r ice .In

' l986 the a l te rna t ive press i t se lFcons is t -

ed of two tendencies, however. There wasthe, for lack of a better word, progressivetendency, with its radical critique of phil-ippine society, and its vision of an alterna-tive economic, political and social sysrem.There was also the liberal tendency, withits reformist outlook and its basic faith inthe justice and wisdom of the existing sys-tem. In the years after the 1986 EDSA (peo-ple Power) Revolt, this latter tendency,though retaining i ts I iberal outlook, becameitself as much a part of the establishmentas the conservarive press, which during theMarcos period had been so supportive ofthe regime.

The liberal as well as progressive tenden-cies stiil exist today, though the liberal ten-dency exiscs only in a few of our broad-sheets and among individual pracritioners,the rest of its partisans, like the old Malaya(Free) newspaper, having metamorphosedinto firm supporrers of the establishment.

CerusoRsHtp IND sELF-cENsoRsHtpThe conservative wing of the Philippine

press, to which the other broadsheets basedin Man i la overwhe lming ly be long, hasbeen driven into further timidity and col-laboration. Since early 2000, there has beena growing number of reports of columnsbeing censored, as well as insrances ofself-censorship. The Philippine Center for In-vestigative Journalism's Sheila Coronel alsosaid during a press forum last August 2000that there was increasing resistance amongeditors to pubi ish pieces cri t ical ofgovern-ment, pafticularly PCIJ reporrs. Last No-vember, a Manila based broadsheet ceasedpublication because i ts owner was wirh-hoiding newsprint. This was his responseto the displeasure of Malacanang over hispaper's publication of the PCIJ reports onMr. Estrada's unexplained wealth, his realestate company, and his half dozen or sohundred mi l l ion peso mans ions .

Most of the broadsh.ets have shown andcontinue to show their support for the gov-ernment of President Estrada in many, of-ten obvious, ways. One newspaper's ban-ner stories for nine consecutive days lastsummer were all on Estrada. This newsoa-per last year f ired 20 editors For beine iooindependenr and rep laced rhem wi rh o th -ers it hoped would be more pliant. Anoth-er has several columnists uniformly prais-ing everything rhe government does iaily,even as it concentrates on fashions and othertrivia as the stapies of its news, includineits front page, reporting. Still another haigovernment officials for columnists, andmakes it a point to publish governmenr-issued press releases on the front page. Thesame newspaper nowadays simply refusesto report what's going on in the impeach-ment tr ial , which makes ir Iook l ike a news-

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paper from Mars, not of this earth.A study by the Center for Media Free-

dom and Responsibi l i ty of f ive Manilabroadsheets including the Big Three ( interms of circulat ion, these are the Phil ip-pine Daily Inquirer, the Manila Bulletin,and the Phil ippine Star) revealed thatfrom March to June 2000, they fai led toprovide the contextual information need-ed for readers to understand the crisis inthe Muslim areas of Mindanao. Severalcommentators also fomented anti-Musl imprejudices through hate art icles that iden-t i f ied terrorism with Muslims as an erhnicgroup. These were in addit ion to thesenewspapers ' overwhe lming dependence(800/o of the t ime) on government sourc-es , and the i r concent ra t ion on news s to -r ies that admittedly sold more newspapersbut did not enl ighten readers on a com-plex and destructive confl ict.

Some of the practi t ioners responsible forthese horrors are in the payroll of govern-ment and other allied interests, aliho,rghothers simply share the governmenr's ideo-logical biases. But what drive Phil ippinenewspapers are their commercial and po-litical interest5-1n191s515 tied up with gov-ernment, interests for the preservation ofwhich government favor or disfavor is vi-ta l . In 1999 the Ph i l ipp ine governmenrshowed how crucial government approvalor lack of i t can be in the Manila Timesllbelsuit and the withdrawal of movie ads fromrhe Inquirer.

The demonstration effect of these moves'was not lost on the press, the vulnerabilityof which rests on its ownership by variousprivate groups with diverse political and eco-nomic interests. Fear-of government dis-pleasure, of advertisers, and of financiai loss-es-made an already timid press even mor€timid, even as, themselves sharing the ideo-logical assumptions of a political and eco-nomic system of which they are a part, indi-vidual practitioners as well as entire newsorganizations never quite succeed in exam-ining the roots of the Philippine crisis.

No special laws regulate the Philippinepress, and whatever laws do have a bearingon its performance are fairly liberal. Butwhat do regulate it are extra legal forces-the power of government over the busi-ness enterprises of media owners, the pow-er of the advert isers, and the ideologicalshackles that often unbeknownst to manypractitioners shape their responses to pub-lic issues and thus make the educative tasksof journa l i sm in a soc ie ry in c r is is ex t reme-ly difficult.

-What the Philippine experience has sopainfully demonstrated is that a free pressis not achieved simply through the absenceof official regulation, and that a free presseven when achieved does not necessarilylead to a society of just ice, freedom anddemocracy. Theoretically private ownershipis the guarantee of a free press, and with itresponsible and accountable practice. Butin practice press freedom is often compro-mised by the interference of owners withinterests to protect, and who compel theireditors and reporters to report events fromthe perspective of those interests.

And that's the bad news. Together withsuch factors as the continued use of theEnglish language, this situation should helpexplain why, despite a relatively well de-veloped media system, too many Fi l ipinos

are too uninformed to-have intelligent opin-ions about such issues as Mr. Estrada's im-peachment, or to have any opinion at all. Imust say that the language issue is an a{di-t ional hindrance to the dissemination ofinformation via the media. Only a thin layerof the populat ion is reached by our mostlyEnglish-language press. But this is anotherkettle of fish aitogether.

The good news is that, even in these cir-cumstances there are encouraging develop-ments , among them the ex is tence andgrowth of a corps of dissident practitionerswho see the limitations of their own cover-age, who daily test the political, economicand ideological limits erected by the c,wn-ership system, and who hunger for a trulyrelevant journalism that owes its allegiancefirst and last to the people and the questfor a free society.

These dissidents are distr ibuted every-w h e r e i n P h i l i p p i n e n e w s p a p e r s - i nManila as well as in the communities, andas reporters, columnists and even editors- seeking the information that would help

Filipinos understand their own society andits problems, and engaging newspaper de-cision-makers in daily struggles to get rhenews out to a people hungry for informa-tion, and what is equally important, inter-pretat ion. Successors to the alternativepress practitioners of these many past de-cades, they are the reason why, despite thepolitical economy of the Philippine press.critical articles and news vital to oublic un-ders tand ing o f recent evenrs s r i l l manageto be published even in those newspaperswhose policies, ideological inclinations andpolitical acquiescence to whoever and what-ever's in power make them virtual govern-ment mouthpieces.

These are the practitioners upon whom hasfallen the responsibiliry of deepening the Fil-ipino peoplek understanding of the issues ofbad government and all its attendant hor-rors including cronyism, corruption, gross in-competence) and official lawlessness.

Among the practitioners who are doingtheir share in providing Fi l ipinos with in-formation are some who don't beiong tonewspaper staffs, but who are in organiza-tions like alternative news agencies and thePhil ippine Center for Investigative Jour-nalism, whose successive reports on JosephEstrada and famil ies' involvement in 66corporations and a real estate developmentfirm, as well as the construction of thosehalf dozen or so mansions which cost hun-dreds of millions each, have been cited of-ten and in fact are part of the documenta-t ion of the impeachment complaint thathas been filed in Congress against Mr. Es-trada and which is currently being heardin the Senate.

But PCIJ reports cannot reach readersunless newspapers publ ish them. Despitewhat happened last year to theManila Timesand the Inquirer, and despite their ownvulnerabi l i t ies, a number of newspapersdid publish those reports-or, as in the caseof the Inquirer, reported on those reports.The Inquirer itself, for all its imperfections,has been providing readers information onthe current crisis vital to public understand-ing of the issues involved in the accusa-t ions of corruption, bribery, violat ion ofthe constitution, and betrayal of the pub-iic trust that have been leveled against Mr.Estrada, as well as the entire jueteng scan-dal from day one to the present.

In performing this invaluable service theInquirer is the most well-known and themost widely cited, but it is not alone. ThePhilippine Post, for example, thanks to itseditors and reporters, generally did the pro-

11 r - 'r.'ell both in its reportage as well as deeply involved in the democratic process.rr- - ::1r. Both the news column s of Tb- This is a task more difficult than it sounds,

,i;"' n :iell as its opinion pages have also human affairs being exrremeiy complex, andI r- ::erriding the information as well as the process of communication being inher-n':- : :-rarion that people urgenrly need ently dif f icult as well as especial iy suscepti-r --.;; rimes, and there is the Pinoy Times, ble to manipuiation.rn : r , : ' :ous Fi l ipino-language tabloid which In this connection, relevision may be do-r : - : ;r founder Eugenia Apostol estab- ing the job better nowadays. There is a per-r-: : in 1999 in the wake of the Manila ceptible growrh in publ ic awareness of the- ,r::-i,tquirer crisis. From Businessworld issues of the impeachment trial, among oth-

' - : : rme the qua l i t y repor t ing and com- er reasons because the maior TV s ta t ionsTri i : .rs readers have come to expect of i t have been simpiy focusing their cameras,. ' : . : rhe editorship of Ram6n Magsaysay on the impeachment procedures, without" , ' - : ,- : i i for Journal ism Raul Locsin. At the benefi t-or disadvantage-of often:r-: . i : :osr indeed, Businesslx/orld publ ishes biased mediat ion by media practi t ioners.:.r '" .;. rranscript of the impeachment pro- Only half-facetiously would I suggest thar- j : : . : lgs as a service to the public. this may indicate that the public would be

l-^-.se are the newspapers which, as in- better served if the media practitioner were- :-: lons and through the efforts of dedi- kept our of the communiiat ion process al-

- i :- : pracri t ioners, are providing their read- rogerher and simply al lowed the cameras, -, :-^.e information they need to make sense to rol l and the microphones ro ampli fy- : .-- : cr isis. to Form intel l igent opinions, whar's being said.

; : :o acr as free men and women on the: .- :rcal stage, whether i t be by signing Dlsronrtxc pERcEploN:.: . : ions or attending demonstrat ions to But as we al l know, the basic responsibi l-: , : :-ss rhe.ir views and to contr ibute to the i ty of the journal ist is to get the informa-: r , - .sses o fdemocra t iza t ion . t ion ou t , and, to the ex ten t poss ib le , to

lur there are individual practi t ioners disseminate information that is accurate,: :r-- in the most t imid and most acquies- fair and complete. Too many journal ists of-: : : of our newspapers who nevertheless course distort publ ic perception of eventsi - :-eed in gett ing the news out. For them through distorted report ing. I t is not an:-,. task of gathering information and ger- exaggeration ro say rhat most of the Ma-: : .s ir out is a day-to-day struggle with ni la-based newspapers are doing exactiy.:irors and even with owners-a veritable that, which parrly explains why ihere are:-. : :r i l la war that is extremely f luid and com- too many uninformed and misinformed:.:r, and characterized by small victories, people in this country, but who neverthe---: .rrow escapes and many defeats. les" have ready-made opinions on every-

Fcrn*ztNc rHE pREss t"i??"ur"uu

thev do nor have a moroDo-In the pol i t ical cr isis of 2000-2001 rhe ly over the pr.rr.

'B,.r, that they

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:olarization in the press and the rest of me- in the majority should make us wonder if,iia as expected, with those newspapers that like Philippine society and politics, the pressra'e historically been fence sitters, timid, and media too need reformation, p.rh"p,:nd incapabie of taking any firm position even radical transformation. This is becauiecn anything shaping their coverage so as in the presenr circumsrances they are notrot to displease Mr. Estrada, and those doing their task part icularly well , in manyn'hich for some reason or the other-per- cases indeed part ly succeeding onlyhaps tradit ion, perhaps ordinary human through the efforts of dissident practi t io-decency, or because they have little or noth- ners commirred to getting the news to theing to lose-doing all they could to get the public. The disturbing thing is that mediainformation out. performance was not only a factor crucial

This is not a mater of newspapers' being to the survival of the damaged and politi-either anti-Estrada or pro-Estrada. This is a cally, economically and moially damagingmatter of reporting what happens each day, Estrada presidency. It is also crucial to theof selecting what facts to include and em- sustainability of what remains of philip-phasize, and of angling stories according to pine democracy.one's best lights, as well as of interpretingevents to the best of one's knowledge, abil-ities, and conscience, because in the end this Luis v. Teodoro is the editor of the phitippine Journatismis what journalism is-a complex enterprise Review.

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Mar-aysn rN 2001 is deeply divided. TheMalays are politically divided against eachother, and the other communities are cultur-ally separate from the Malays. This is notentirely negative, however. The Malays' cur-rent conflicts are driven by a need to decon-struct, repair and re-assemble a cultural iden-tity more equal to the challenge of survival.Interculturally, a certain degree of'racial po-larization' may even help preserve Pax Ma-laysiana, allowing our disparate cultures toco-exist undisturbed.

Communalism offers a paci$ring sanctuaryin which to dissipate the irritations arising fromthe preferential pol icies underpinning (orundermining) Malaysias unique social con-tract. Although rightly credited with havingenabled the creation of modern Malaysia, thearchitects of these policies a generation agodid not intend them to last forever - but nei-ther couid they have anticipated how diffi-cult it would be to dismantle them. The te-nets of the New Economic Policy, institutedin 1970 in response to racial violence and pro-jected to hold until 1990, remain in force adecade later. tX/hen it took office in 198 1, theadministration of Prime Minister Dr. Ma-hathir Mohamad seemed chosen by historyto shepherd the nation beyond the NEP In-stead, Malaysia has entered the 21st Centurywith matters unresolved.

At heart, therefore, Malaysia's many mod-ern dilemmas are those of a nation countingon generational solutions to ingrained politi-cal, religious and communal problems, andthe Mahathir Administration has simolv last-ed too long lor such a nation ar i ts peak-phaseof growth.

A New LtaeRALrsrYIronically, the Mahathir Administration was

a prime stimulant of this growth. Its adventin 1981 initially heralded a new liberalism,beginning with the media. Younger and moreambitious editors were at the helm of themajor newspapers, wooing younger and morecritical readers. There were glimmerings of' inves t iga t ive journa l i sm' . Op-ed pageswaxed occasionally bold. The first privatetelevision license was issued. As the MahathirAdministration began contending with itsrelentless series of internal and external cri-ses, howevet the reins were pulled back -

hard. In a 1987 action against civil tension,the licenses of four national newspapers wererevoked, throwing hundreds of Malaysianjournalists out of work, out of journalism,and in many cases out of the country and formost, out of contention.

The Malaysian press was subsequently re-constituted under new corDorate and editori-al management. The principal national En-glish-language daily, the New Straits Times,fell to the editorship of Abdul Kadir Jasin.The fourth NST Grouo Editor-in-Chief insix years, Kadir was to last 13 years in the job- by far the longest such tenure in the news-paper's modern history - before rising in2000 to the chairmanship of Bernama, thenational news agency. En route, Kadir wouldparticipate in an unprecedented management

stock markets.A certain corporate liberalism came into plar-.

spearheaded by then finance minister Anr-arIbrahim, en route to his becoming depunprime minister in 1993. The reins on themedia were loosened again - at least in beinshanded over to the newly cash-flush priraresector. The NST MBO was one means. An-other was the granting of a rare newspaperlicense to the Berjaya Group of Vincent Tln.a businessman closely associated with Anwar.The Sun, launched in 1993, was Malaysiasfirst new national EnglishJanguage daily sincethe 1971 debut of the Star.

(This hardly heralded any greater editorialfreedom, however. The Sun's founding editonwere fired within eight months of launch.apparentiy for being equivocal in their sup

port for Anwar in his campaign againsr

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buyout ofthe NST in 1993, ending up partowner of the sprawling publishing conglom-erate in a deal worth RM800 million (then

USD300 million) and emblematic of the big-ticket privatization exercises of the time.

For rhe 1987/8 in rerna l -secur i ry c r is is wasfoliowed by energetic policy re-engineeringto encourage re. , l5i; capital inflow and reor-ganize its deployment through 'Malaysia,

Inc.' mechanisms of government-designat-ed private-sector corporations. The 1990sbegan booming with massive national invest-ments in private-sector infrastructural devel-opment, and consequently bul l-running

Ghafar Baba for the depury presidency of theruling coaiition's leading parry Umno - a postthat carried with it the depury premiership ofthe government. The Sun was shut down, re-designed, repositioned and relaunched un-der new editorial management.)

Anwar, acutely measuring the deficien-c ies o f the Maharh i r Admin is r ra t ion , s t ruc-tured an antithetical political strategy basedon generational transition, introducing thenotion of the 'New

Malay', cult ivat ingyouth and women, espousing global ism,moderate religion and social liberalism. Pub-

r r --: : lourished in the f irst half of the, r: : . .s. \ew magazines and periodicals

Lr L-:: : :adier l icensing, improved print ing, : : - , :-cgies, better distr ibution sysrems

"n : '

":lrhier markets. The electronic and

i -r n::.:.jr media developed apace; television-.rr: : : . ls and radio srat ions mult ipl ied. Al-:"t : -::: rhis expansion did not substantial-, ;-:": rhe politics of the Malaysian media,- : . : jer rhe stage for the rapid take-up,-:-: :r id-decade, ofrhe Interner.

.- ::r came the twin calamities of the Asian: --.;:ia.l Crisis of 1997, which ravaged the: i:.:'sian economy and took apart the debt-

., : :: ;onglomerates created by privatisation,-: : ,j-ns'ar's precipitous fall from grace in

i ': :. n'hich hammered the political estab-:.:--.nt and sent his ,uppori.r. flocking to

:: - -:iernet for sanctuary and expression. This:ir::-ized PC penetration and Inrernet us-,l. ::: -\lalaysia just in time to take advantage. : ::,r'ernment policy decisions encouraging:.-

" detelopment of information technology

r : : :he ' knowledge-based ' economy, o f

:--r rhe Internet was seen as an important

l,{alavsia's divisions are now better repre-., ..J in the public domain than ever before,: -: rhev are only emphasized by the gulf be-."n=tn tie establishment and the 'alternative'

-: ndependent media. (For one example, thel':position Islamic Party's Harakah online:.:itslerrer and the offrcial New Straits Times:.r.ilspaper differed one-hundredfold in rheir:::'*'d 651i1121.s of a recent Opposition rally.)l.l:iavs.ian media consumers find both ex-:::mes fairly incredible, and such publications.:: read more as political organs than journals_: record.

Despite (if not because of) the radical cor-rorare resrructuring of the New Silaits Times, i n c e t h e w a t e r s h e d o f 1 9 8 7 / 8 , t h ernce-premier newspapert daily circulation has:ropped by some 30o/o, to under 140,000.lthe NST was overraken 6y the Star in 1995,ris l50th anniversary yeaq and is today even-,irreatened by The Sun. The lively seven-year-old parvenu is barely breaking even after itsrocky beginnings, but is winning over thevoung urban intelligentsia for a circulation ofsome 82,000 and climbine.

Mulrryeorn cULTUREThe Sun recently came under the editorship

of Ho Kay Tat, whose previous renure *itirthe six-year-oid business wee$y The Edge af-firmed that journal's reputation for high edi-torial standards and production qualiry. Hohas not left his former paper, however: hisnew position is a result ofthe recent ̂ ggrega-

tion of The Edge and The Sun under the own-ership of entrepreneur Tong Kooi Ong, latelyof the Phileo Allied financial group. Althoughclearly in tune with multimedia culture -readers are routinely referred to Internet sourc-es - The Sun, alone among Malaysiat majornews organizations, has yet to develop a'Webpresence ofits own. (The Edgehas had an on-line edition for some time.)

The Star, one of the papers banned in 1987,now circulates some 250,000 and is the lead-

ing EnglishJanguage daily in Malaysia bothin print and online. As such, it has assumedthe dutiful gravitas of a bastion of the estab-lishment, a far cry from its earlier, gadflyingyears. The circulations of EnglishJanguagepublications are dwarfed, however, by thoseof the Malay-language press. Leading Malaynewspapers Unsan Malaysia and Beita Har-ian rcutinely claim circulations of 350,000or more, yet they cater to very specific com-munal readerships and draw but a fraction ofthe English-language media's advertising rev-enue and multi-ethnic audience.

Nnnnow vlRrersBeyond these principal pillars of the Malay-

sian press is a penumbra of popular periodi-cals in the vernacular languages, and variousacademic, special-interest and NGO journals.Tirrnover is high, as rhese publications rypi-cally cater to narrow and limited markets. Themore stridently political of the mosquito pressrun the risk of being swarted, as happened inthe past year ro fringe Malay-language tab,Ioids Ehslusif Detih and NWasikh. Usually,the official reason for such shutdowns is con-travention of licensing regulations.

This has also spurred the shift of 'alterna-

tive'journalism to the unlicensed ranges ofthe Internet, although the populariry of someof these websites among Malaysia's estimated1.5 million Internet users has conduced muchmore to advocacy than reportage. !(hile es-tablishment and opposition media alike sim-

ply post their agendas in cyberspace, inde-pendent professional news-sites such asMalaysiaKini.Com are compelled towards op-positionism not only by their principles offairness and balance, but by the insistenr zarpopuli of the Internet. Reportage is constantlyelbowed aside by commenrary, as indepen-dent journalism is bufFeted in rhe Internettbarnyard of free opinion.

Sdll, Malaysian media consumers have nev-er been as well supplied as they are today.The range of available news and opinion haswidened significantly in a relatively shorttime, increasing the breadth of national dis-course, if not its depth. The absence of acredible middle ground in the MalaysianPress in any case reflects the nation as a whole.As Malaysia struggles ro rebuild confidencein institutions battered by the turbulent 20years of the Mahathir Administration, rhereis awareness that such national recovery, ifitis to take place at all, must do so not just inparty politics but across the board. Recentappointments to the judicial and legal ser-vices, the creation of a national human rightscommission, and a burgeoning of NGO ac-tivity asserting civil society's claims on gover-nance, may indicate rhe tentative beginningsof such inst i tut ional convalescence. ThePress, as is its wont, may follow more pur-posefully than it leads.

UNceRrRlru rurune\(/ith recent political history having obliter-

ated the previously charted course to leader-ship succession and administrative rransitionin Malaysia, the immediate future portendssome uncertainry; perhaps crisis, more likelyopportuniry. Regardless of rhe political climatefrom moment ro moment, the bioloeical cer-tainry of a post-Mahathir era has

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dominate the thinking of young and aspira-tional Malaysians.

It remains to be seen if rhev include oro-spective media managers who believe ihatwithout accurate information delivered withno modve other than to record and inform,journalismt subsidiary objectives to'educate','entertain'

and/or 'reforrri are irredeemably triv-

ialized. A return to the straightforward,old-fashioned 5

'!7s of journalism would rep-

resent a substantial advance for the MalaysianPress, now that the partisan fringes are sewedwell enough.

Rehman Rashid wu editor of the online publiation Agenda

Malaysia.

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Singapore's Speakert Corner: alternative to free media?

TUE rpma "media watcli' came into oublic usein Singapore only in the year ZOOO. The ad-vent of the Internet and the use of this medi-um by individuals and groups ro monitor themedia have contributed towards increasingawareness of the discrepancies, inconsistenciesand media accountability in the Republic.

Many observers consider this developmenttimely, especially now that the governmenthad taken the initiative to "liberalize" themedia by mandating the issuance of two newlicenses, one for print and another for broad-cast. Media monitoring also puts pressure onthe proponents of the existing media regimewho have been used to the practices ofinfor-mation management and control but who arenot held accountable to the public in any way.

In the media context of the past, what exist-ed were "media complaints and moans" by

affected groups. Strict governmental regula-tion and a culture of restriction practiced byself-appointed media gatekeepers kept alter-native reportage our of the mainstream me-dia. These complaints involved cases of underreporting, slanting of stories, or avoidance ofcertain topics and opinion leaders.

Howeve! these "complaints" hardly made itinto the public domain, as there was no spaceor venue through which to make them pub-lic-not in Singapore-due to tight mediacontrol by government. This was coupled witha genuine fear that the government wouldretaliate against those who speak up. As a re-sult, observations on media lapses circulatedonly within the arena of affected interesrgroups and not very far beyond.

Some media discrepancies, however, did getmentioned in writinss in academia-related

:

fields such as political science and sociology.This was possible because there was some tol-erance of diverging views by the ruling re-gime if it remained at the level of academia.

More discussion on media-related tooics en-sued when media and communication studiesdeveloped in Singapore in the 1990s. Staningwith courses in the polytechnics, the field got agreater expansion locally when the School ofMass Communications was set uD at the Nan-yangTechnological University. Bui on the wholethese observations of the media remained atthe level of academia and within the academiccircuit. Those involved in the oromotion of anindependent press in the regional and interna-tional circuit would have come across these Sin-gapore based academics, but hardly any localjournalists. The few who took part would beeither apologists of the status quo or would

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i,r1: .: 'io a Media Group at the Feed-"Iuruiriir - : : -i: the Ministry of Community:,p.'", :r ::--.:rt. Under the stewardshio of aJ- :- - - ' : . :- appoinred chairman, interestederr:mr :'1:; .: rhe public can discuss issues re-ril::r :: :::-Jia and provide feedback to gov-i:rr n r: . ,:;ncies and the media groups. How-" r" -r :reIer been recognized as a robust, r ,r * : ::: serious and effective media mon-

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, -:.:.:net however, changed this situa-, :- .r-, : : :al lv in the 1990s and has sown

'r r :: :.: :i media monitoring in Singapore.'' ' - :, -:'. the Internet ofFers direct access to' : : - r .:. domain via websites and large mail' :..::.r until recently had been absent.

: :--\\' sPace. where media discrepan-: !::-s. complaints and alternative view-

: - ': :;r1 be made public, is now available.I - :::sint, the Internet is used to highlight

, r"' iinds of media issues and four web-, - >:nqapore- related mattcrs are insrruc-, .-- :his point.

-: such website is called the Singaporer' - : -'.,.- (www.singapore-window.org). This

i ' :': : :. i.ssentially carries reports from all over' : ; , rld and from different rypes of news

-.:*:r i : . I ts aim is to provide balanced re-. : : . :hat come through from Singapore's- ir j:ream media. In presenting different

,'.', i riSingapore from different media agen-, :: xd sources, it shows up the differences- -:r angles of reporting and the issues that

- '- ::I;en up. OccasionalIy, ir issues re-written:: =.. releases from opposition parties and po-

: -. , \GOs.

lorcsnoNwEestrEs1.::other website is Singaporeans for Democ-

: --,- tuwu). gn. apc. orC/sfd/). Opposition politi-:-=:-s. especially those from the Singapore Dem-':::ric Parry and its associated Open Singapore-.ntre,

have their press releases and reports of-:::ivities highlighted frequently there. The Sin-n:poreans for Democracy website is also more:.io'in that it allows issues to be raised by indi-'.:duals, whether on minoriry rights or politicai)iues in anonymous terms.

Both websites-Singapore W'indow andSingaporeans for Democracy-are based out-'ide Singapore and run by volunteer editors.These volunteers are secretive about their iden-rirv and prefer to remain anonymous.

Sintercom(eaeu w. sintercom. org), or SingaporeInternet Community, goes a bit further indeveloping what it calls "not the Straits TimesForum." The Straits Times Forum is the lead-ing English broadsheet's letters page and ittknown not to run letters rhat are politicallysensitive, and even to edit the letters it does

print. Until recently this has not been able tobe proven and highlighted in any public way.So what the Sintercom website does is to printletters sent by readers who can demonstratethat their letters have been edited to makethem more politically acceptable. Essentiallythis involves putting the original letter sentby a reader rc the Straits Times and the actualedited version published in the Straits Times.The readers of the website are then encour-aged to draw their own conclusions. Occa-sionally letters that are not published are alsouploaded. This website is run by volunteersand has its own server based in Singapore.

Over the last six months this initiative to-wards media monitoring has gone a little bitfurther with the Think Centre's website(www.thinhcentre.org). The Centre has intro-duced a new section called Media !?'atch. Thissection displays reports on media watch issuesfrom around the Southeast fuian region andSingapore in particular. (For an exam:le of aspecific Media Watch incident see the specialreport in this issue of Journalism Asia on thecensorship ofa radio program by a local radiostation). It also highlights how bookshops andIibraries also practice censorship when it comesto publications dealing with political content.The Thrnk Centret website also features oth-er sections such as a Human Rights'Watch, anElections \Watch and a Policy'Watch. As partof its services, a volunteer group of writersand editors generate original content and re-portage on local activities. Its website is basedin Singapore, hosted by a local commercialweb hosting agency.

Moverurum oF DEVELoPMENTColleaively, these websites circulate press state-

ments, announcemen$ by various inrerest groupsand amateur repofts on events not carried by themainstream media through their large e-mail listsand load them up onto their websites.

V/hat is interesting for Singapore is that theseinitiatives have created a momentum towardsthe development of a press council or nation-al watchdog group. One initiative is the set-ting up ofan organization called the SingaporeMedia'Vatch Community. This is a networkof 12 rc lJ representatives that includes se-nior retired journaiists, academics and experi-enced civil sociery activists who are proposingto establish an NGO specializing in mediamonitoring. At the time of this writing, theproject was taking the form of organizing aprivate limited company that will engage inresearch, dissemination and organization ofevents singly or in collaboration with othergroups on media-related issues. The primaryavenue of engagement would be via a websitethat will solely focus on media monitoringand related activities.

These developments have managed to bringthe issue of media monitoring one notch high-er in Singapore. They are accelerating thespeed with which more media monitoringinitiatives in the Republic are occurring anddeveloping in the short- and medium- term.

James Gomez is the executive director of Think Centre.

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THIs rs my personal take on the subject of re-poning on the Philippines for Newsweeh.

\Triting for foreign publications has ia brightand not-so-bright sides. I have been a Philip-pine correspondentfor Newsweehfor more thaneight years and, before that, I reponed for a fewmainstream American newspapers such as theC hristian Science Mo nitor, Newsday, and the NauYorkTima.

Being a conespondent for foreign publicationshas taught me a number of things. On the pos-itive side:

1. It has made me think regional.2. It has sharpened my sense of the big pic-

ture, and my abiliry to synthesize and o<plainevents in broad strokes.

3. It has taught me to sell stories, and to makea compelling sales pitch for story ideas.

On the negative side:1. Space is limited so we cant say it all.2. There is a tendency to look for angles that

are linked to American isues, interests, lifesryle.3. \fhen the story'sbig, Newsweeh sends the

bosses, the bureau chief and senior coffesDon-dents.

kt me elaborate on these points.The one big lesson I m gratefi"rl for in writing

for Newsweeh is that it has expanded my mind-sg1 - frsrn thinking domestic to thinking re-gional, thinking Southeast Asia and Asia. \Vhy?Two reasons. First, the magazine often does re-gional stories, meaning those that cover issuesaffecting most or parrs of Southeast Asia.

For example, each country correspondent, sayfrom Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia,Vietnam, and the Philippina, repons onAIDS,or labor migration, or cuisine and culture. Or astory on Islam in SoutheastAsia includes repons&om Indonesia, Malaysia the Philippina andBrunei. Or a story on separatist movementswould cover the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Kash-mir, Indonesia.

At other times, we report on SoutheastAsian/Asian issues that connect us to the rest of theworld - issues like illegal immigration, the traf-ficking ofwomen, mail order brides, the exodusof in-formation technolory experts from Asia to

the US and Europe.The second reason is more pragmatic than

anything else. I have to knowwhatt happeningin the region to determine what are the slackperiods - meaning when the demand for sto-ries is high, when no trouble is erupting in theneighborhood like bombings in Indonesia orparliamentary conflict in Thiwan. Then I canmake a go for stories that could find space in themagazine.

The other gain from writing for Neu.,sweeh isthat I can take an imaginary helicopter ride andlook at whatt happening in my country from adistance, so I can appreciate the big picture, andnot get too enmeshed in details.

This exercise is helpflJ because it enables meto look at directions and trends, rather than eventsin isolation. It also makes me less emotional whenwriting especially because I care abour my coun-try and I have a stake in its future. I cannot helpbut be involved and be moved by whatt takingplace. I cant help but be angry depressed, orecstatic. Thus, going for the imaginary helicop-

ter ride gives me a befter perspective and a dis-passionate view.

For some foreign journalists who cover coun-tries that are not theirs, this is not a problem.They can be distant and unmoved.

The downside to this alwap-big-picture ap-proach, however, is that the writing tends togloss over details even when theyie vital. Spaceconstraints do not allow us to include fine de-tails.

The third gain from writing for foreign pub-Lcatonslike Newsweeh is that it has taught me tomarket my stories, to be my own sales person.Imagine four, five or six pages of a maga.inedevoted to all ofAsia out ofa total of52 pages,and you can see the intense competition takingplace among the correspondents in convincingeditors of the imponance of their stories. I findmyself forwer in a rac€. Itk helpfirl ro stay com-petitive.

Of course, not everything depends on the cor-respondentt sales pitch. Countries like China,

Japan and Korea do get more attention because

ffinuer: ::- ,:-rmic and political starus in the world:oilmil'xnfir.:,. V}ren stories erupt there, forget themhiris.rrL:,s- Ir ukes a phenomenon like the "IllrtmE l{r-- r',n6, che seizing of foreign hostages,mnc tr,r .=peachment of Joseph F,strada to getlnrucrtri rc :"nendon of the foreign press.

lrflqE3-E\- Co\GRAGEirrn ::e negadve side, the biggest frustration is

ilnqrr' :{'- riace. Stories get too simplified, some-ilflil:: -r:r$-irg dre nuances. Apan from being un-ilim'r r: :vrr in a wealth of deAil when a story is$rfrs. - naore di-fficult stnrggle is to get a story:r- {N' - :::}endoned earlier, the Philippines is not,l!t trlr:1:tr:ianr as China or Japan or Indonesia.-:ru -=s,ir in infrequent coverage, or under-rni=:€€ of the Philippines.

l*:::jr'. cover€e of the US elections practi.,ull,' :,::r..umed rhe entire magazine. If Josephi;n:z,:a nad resigned during rhat penod, News-;,m:r ar:,uld have still used the srory. But I imag-::rc :;: ir *'ould have devoted only a page to it.,rrrr ri is about the leader of a country step-:"rrir.r :-alnrr from office after a historic impeach-n*:: :t-al. rhe first in Asia.

' i sr.andard pracdce in Newsweeh to file sto-*d j::lEer *ran the required number of words,

- ::: rhe editors with as much detail as possi-rrd n- :ier. can better appreciate the conter<t ofr:: ,ir-3'. As you know, editors in New York:;:-: ::rrrire r}re story and send us the "readbach"r :": tdited version for our comments and cor-

-:r,:._ :15.

li. sc'cond downside is the rendency ro look' .r$es that are interesting ro Americans, and

. :: =ow' linked to American issues and lifestyle.

. - . s because .ly'aa,sweeh is an American maga-:--.-. This is how the world of media works. If I.:,.:. rbr a European publication, then I would

rr have ro find news pegs that are ofinterest to: -.-lP€ans.

. pnicularly dread insmnces when American-;:onals are victims in accidenm, taken hosuge,: :-Mucted.".ihen theAbu Sayyaf kidnapped foreign hos-

a--*. mostly Europeans, guess who deluged-;-:rboanga and Sulu? The European press. Of

:. irs€, some from the US press were there, too,: -:.i rhe majoriry were from European media-:ir. bor}t print and broadcast.Siories on Subic and Clark, former US mili-

-::; bases, almost always make good copy. For a--:re, I was watching Subic closely - its trans-.rrrnation, the kinds ofbusinesses that invested-rere, arnong others, because Newsweehwxin-:eresred. Apart from the historicai connection,:.c stories were fi.rll oFco.lor and human inreresr:necause tlrey rold ofa country cutting loose from\{o*rer America.

The third downside parr is thar the foreign;orrespondents come for the big story. I play'econd fiddle.

Other issuesL There is talk about the need for a resional

newspaper, lke the International Haald Tiibunzof Asia or Southeast Asia. However, one suchattempr by a Thai media mogul failed. Thismight make for an interesting cese srudy. \fhydid this anempr Aili

2. 'We

write for the Vest. How about writingfor each otlrer in the region, like Tempo inlndo-nesia, the Singapore Straix Times, the Nation,the Banghoh Pox, etc. nor only stories but opin-ion pieces, essays, commentaries? It should bepart of our being and feeling that we belong tothe region. Ve can develop a pool of contribu-tors/writers who write on Southeast Asia andthe rest ofAsia.

3. '\l'e

need to talk to each other in Asia. TheASEAN news exchange is part of this effon.Journalism Asia will be another.

4. There is lirde aaention to Southeast Asianand Asian news in the Philippines. No pages inPhilippine newspapers are devoted to Aseannews and features.

l'1an't6 D. Vitug is ditor-in-chief of Newbreal ada

cofropondent for Newswek magzine.

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REpoRrens should beware. Getting the names

of people in the news wrong can have near-

disastrous results. It happened to the Jawa Pos

daily (JP)l because of its May 6, 2000 issue. On

that date JP had a report on page 3 headlined"PKB2 Gerah. PBNU3 Bentuk Tim Karifika-

si" (PKB Is Uneasy, PBNU Forms Clarification

Team) with the subhead "Enam Bulan Memer-

intah, KKN Mulai Menerpa Gus Dur?" (After

Six Months In Ofiice, Have Conuption, Collu-

sion and Nepotism Began To Hit Gus Dur?).

This report triggered a bitter feud between NU

and rhe Jawa Pos.The JP story was not itself the problem. The

problem was the "infographic"a JP published

which contained allegations of "KKN" (Cor-

ruption, Collusion and Nepotism) on the part

of PBNU KH chair A. Hasyim Muzadi. The

iatter was alleged to have accepted bribes in the

amount of 35 billion rupiahs (approximately

US$3.9 million) from Yanatera-Bulog (Bulog

Employees Foundation). The fund, according

to the JP infographic, had been drawn from

Yanatera-Bulog to help advance Gus Dur'st

political interests. After that, according to the

same infographic, the Yanatera-Bulog fund was

diverted to Muzadi.The problem was that the infographic had

been based on a news story in Timpo. ln that

story ("Di Balik Pencopotan Itu' [Behind The

Displacement]), the person said to have received

the bribe was identified as Muzadi. But the

Tempo reporterhad named the wrong person. It

should have been Hasyim \7ahid - a younger

brother of President Abdurrahman '\fahid -

instead of Muzadi. As soon as he received con-

cerned inquiries liom the Geral<an Pemuda (GP)

Ansor Suiabaya Branch6, Muzadi, who was in

Medan, Noth Sumatera, immediately wrote to

JP's chief editor. Muzadi complained about the

inaccurate JP report. He also attached a letter

from Tempo's editor apologizing for the mistake.

The GP Ansor Surabaya Branch members

sune to JPt office. This is how the occupation

by its members, specially those from Banser, 7 of

JPs head office began. This analysis intends to

reveal how five newspapers- Kompas, Media

Inr/nnesia, Dua Masyarakat Baru, Republika and

Rabyat Merdzha- covered the ensuing conflict

benveen NU and Jawa Pos.

Members ofBanser as well as other NU mem-

bers visited the JP head office on Saturday and

Sunday (May 6-7,2000). This was followed

by the cancellation of JPk publication May 7

issue. The event attracted media attention both

from within as well as outside the country.

The day afterJP's Sunday edition was not pub-

lished, almost all lndonesian newsPaPers re-

ported the NU-Banser protest and the non-

publication of the May 7 JP issue, either in

their oolitics or national section.The Banser-JP case reached a new level when,

at the end of a meeting with his economic team

Monday (May 8, 2000), President \Wahid con-

nected JPt controversial news to a supposed

campaign to bring down or discredit the gov-

ernment before the People's Consultative As-

sembly began its Annual Session on August

2000.8 The President of the Republic of In-

donesia, who is also the former head of PBNU,

accused JP newspapers of violating the jour-

nalistic code of conduct by using the Tbmpo

story as a basis for its "infographic," despite

Tlmpo's apology for the mistake.After President \Tahidt statem€nt, the me-

dia had to confront thiee issues. The first con-

cerned the mediocre performance of the liber-

ated press, as well as its implications on the

peoplet right to information. The second'ryas

the issue of civil militarism. This refers to the

existence of militia group within almost all po-

litical parties and social organizations supPos-

edly engaged in democratic activities. And the

third was the alleged existence of a political

conspiracy to bring down President Gus Dur

before the Annual Session of the People's Con-

sultative Assembly in August 2000.

The newspapers' "angling" of their stories was

evident. None of the newspaPers under review

took up Gus Durt statement about a political

conspiracy being behind the JP report. Instead

there were two significant tendencies. The first

tendency focused on criticizing the perfor-

mance ofthe liberated press, especiallyJP which

was criticized for violating the press code of

conduct. This focus was emphasized by Duta

Masyarahat Baru, a daily published for the NU

community.The second tendenry was criticism of civil

militarism as demonstrated by NU-Bansert

occupation of the JP head office. Media Inat-

nesia and Kompas newspapers dweloped c**

issue. For several days, both newspapers pri:::-

ed articles questioning and criticizing the air*-

ence ofsuch "militid' groups, generally by quct-

ing and collecting opinions from social o<pa=

and public figures.lJnlike Duta Masyarakat Baru, Media Inat-

nesia and Kompas, Republika and Rahyat.lto'

fuha, did not focus on the implications of d:c

conflict between NU and JP Both presentec

the conflict descriptively and without con-

ment. Perhaps Republika regarded the conflic:

as not very interesting or strategic, which is u*r."

it reported on it only *vice. Rabyat Merdt$;- in which the JP group has shares - did rhe

same thing because it did not want to ge:

caught between NU and JP

JP itself, as the newspaper in conflict ui*.

NU-Banset did not have any story on tlo

NU-Banser "occupation." However, some

n€wspapers which belong to the JP Group"

especially those published in Surabaya, such as

Suara Indonesia, and the online news site

Posmo.com, actively reported the "occupa-

tion." The non-reporting of the feud was ac-

tually not part of the settlement signed bv

both parties. V/hat was specified in the setde-

ment was JPt obligation to apologize on ics

own front page for seven consecutive days.

JP's not publishing a single news story on the

feud was obviously in contrast with Duta

Masyarakat Baru, which posted no less than

18 stories on the issue in a week.

Blrrue or vrotnThe different emphases in the coverage of

the feud berween Banser-NU, as well as the

five newspapers' development of their respec-

tive stories, show that there was a battle among

them over how events would be interpreted to

readers.Robert Entman states that there are four steps

which are commonly used by the media in

their effort to interpret the meaning of events.

The first is "problem identification." This

attempt was evident from the terminolory used

by Duta MasyarakaL which consistendy used

neutral terms or labels to describe NU-Banserb

action- for example, "action/reaction' (13

times) and "the coming of" (6 times), and

NUt "protest" (1 1 times) or "demonstration'

(4 times). Please compare the different "prob-

lem identification" approach used by Duta

Macyarabat, with its use of the term "taking

over/raid," which also dominated the report-

ing ofthe other four newsPaPers. The phrase"taking ovet" was also used in several head-

lines.The second is "causal interpretation," or the

attempt to identify who or what was the cause

of the problem. In this case, most of the media- except Duta Masyarabat Baru - empha-

sized that JP did not print its Sunday, May 7,

2000 issue. The detail regarding members of

Banser in armyJike uniforms, their shouts at

B&$@'rob&

:r -:-:a* ro stop working, and the coming of a- -::iber ofprotesters to the JP editorial office'"::; highlighted by the media. However much.l

r-. accountable for the silly mistake in its re-:,-::. -JP's promise not to r€p€at past misrakes,ii';i nor presented adequately. The newspapers-:ier review presented NU-Banser as rh€ ac-: : : and r-he cause of the problem, while on the- --::er hand, the JP daily newspaper was pre-i..rred as the victim.

The third is "moral evaluation," namely:;:ermining the right and wrong of a prob-..n. In the case of NU-Banser versus JP, the:::edia - except Duta Masyarahat Baru -

: .neral ly considered the "occupation" bySanser as v€ry negative conduct, not only:or being illegal but also for threatening dem-ocratic processes and for violating human:ights.

The fourth st€p is "treatmenr recommenda-iion," which refers to an offering or a justifica-ion for a way to solve the problem and pre-dicting its result. Here, the media which sawBanser as the cause of the problem recommend-ed that NU-Banser members who occuoied

JP's offices be brought to courr so thar similarincidents will not happen again. Besides thislegal recommendation, by relating the issue tocivil militarism, newspapers hke Media Indone-sia and Kompas also recommended the displace-ment and/or re-arrangemenr of existing militiagroups affiliated with political parries and so-cial organizations, be it Banser or any othersimilar formation.

MEonsouolRrwAll of the Duta Masyarahat Baru reports on

the NU Banser - JP feud depictedJP unfavor-ably, while it published no negative commenron NU-Banser. This bias seems to have beencaused by the "primordial ties" which connectDuta Masltarahat Baru with the NU-Bansercommuniry. Duta glossed over NU-Banser'sillegitimate approach to proresring press inac-sraq1r. Dutashould have reminded NU-Bans-er members - despite their anger towardsJP - touse legal means ofredress instead of "raiding"the TP head office.

However, the other (big) newspapers alsodeserve criticism. They were too busy depict-ingJP as the victim of anarchism or civil milita-rism. They played down the version of the eventprovided by NU-Banser whose members ac-tually felt they were the real victims. The othernewspapers simply ignored JP's role in trigger-ing the events that followed. The newspapersshould remind themselves of the many weak-nesses apparent in media performance. Mediasolidarity took the place ofobjective appraisalin their coverage of the NU Banser-JP case.

iii;,

e,

$t .#.,ii'

'

" i r . :j 1 -

i3,k'

Jawa Pos 's

the biggest daily in eastem lndonesia.

Its publisher, Dahlan lskan, is an lndonesian

media tlcoon who has aken the most aduanage

of media freedom in the Reform era by

publishing a number of newspapers under the

umbrella of the Jawa Pos Group,

PKB stands for Panai Kebangkitan Bangsa or

NationalAwakening Party. PKB is the "oflicial"

party of and for NU (Nahdlatul Ularna) - the

biggest (traditional) Muslim organization in the

country. President Abdurnhman Wahid is the

founder of PKB as well as former chair of NU

for three terms.

PBNU stands for Pengurus Besar NU, or NU

National Board of Executives.

lnfognphic is the term used by JP to refer to its

illustration of the flow of bribe money from

one person to another.

Gus Dur is Abdurrahman Wahid's nickname.

Genkan Pemuda (Youth Movement) Ansor is

one of the NU sub-organizations specifically

aimed at the NU young generation. GP Ansor

Sunbaya was the first to question Hasyim

Muzadi beause the lP daily is published and

mainly distribued in Surabaya. At the same time,

Sunbaya (and Eax Jaua in general) has the

biggest propoftion of NU followers in all of

lndonesia.

Banser stands {or Barisan Ansor Serbaguna

(Ansor Muhi-Purpose Stafrs). GP Ansor formed

a special section team within its organization

called Banser. Banser is often called the NU" militia" because rts mernbers dress in army-like

uniforms and are often used to guard NU

gatherings,

The Annual Session was to be held to to review

and comment on the President's oertormance

during his first year in office.

- ,::::..nstration against "Kompas": Criticizing the free press

A tale ol thnGe ca$e$.By DnnuNee HtnuNnur, TH,TTLAND

Solult Trur newspapers disseminate inaccurateinformation because they dont check the de-tails in their reports. Some also use languagethat can damage the reputations of private in-dividuals. These practices are an indictment ofthe decision-makers in the concerned newspa-

Pers.Many complainm against the press have been

filed with Thai press associationi, and legalactions filed in the courts. The public vigi-lance this demonstrates is not only understand-able but wonhwhile. Inaccurate reporting canviolate the rights of individuals, notably theright to privacy. Moreover, it can affect soci-ety-its attitudes, its opinions, its behavior-indeed the very qualiry of its judgments.

Here are three cases ofsocial and political re-porting from the Mastert thesis "InaccurateReporting and Newspaper Credibility" byApichat Sakdiset (Chulalongkorn UniversiryBangkok, 2000) which illustrate the practicesmendoned.

1Invasion of pregnancy

The Daily News front-paged a story on Sep-tember 5, 1999 under the headline "2-monthpregnant Chintara sneaks into yuppie hospi-tal." The story began, "Shocking news for showbizlll Actress Chintara Sukapat is wvo monthspregnant." It went on ro say that the actress'sister, a nurse at a well-known hospital in theSukhumvit area, had taken the

"irr.r. ,o

"doctor there, and that the news was being keptsecret, particularly the identiry of the babytfather.

"Everybody is stunned," the Daily News con-tinued. "Information on the Internet via apopular website has confirmed the pregnancy.It stirs criticism far and wide. Some believe it tobe true; others do not. Most people observethat the actress has put on weight. This prob-ably led to speculation about her pregnancy.Her love story is reportedly an unhappy one.She has no steady boyfriend."

The newspaper rounded off its report byrecalling the scandalous affairs the actress hadsupposedly had 'with

VI.Ps and actors."Absent in all this was the actress'side. Only

after publication of the story did the paperprint her denial.

The September 6 issue of rhe Daily Neushad a report, also on the front page, headlined,"Chintara denies pregnancy." It quoted her

from a telephone interview as saying the storynot only was inaccurate but had been mali-ciously fabricated. She also said the paper hadno business intruding into her privacy. Herrelationship with other screen actors, she said,was "absolutely solely professional."

On the same day, another publication, Mat-ichon, carried an intewiew with the actress inwhich she denied the Daily News storv.

PotN$ or nl{,qlystsl.The Daily News was the only newspaper

that caried the false story, Two things are clearabout its reporting: first, it did not check itsfacts with other sources. Second, it did not seekout the chief subject*the actress herself.

Matichon, on the other hand, had only afollow-up, and for that it made sure, firsr, roget the story straight from the actress; and sec-ond, not to call too much attention to its storyby burying it on page 20.

2. The Daily News' attribution was inade-quate. The paper cited as its only source ttrewebsite www.sanooh.con, and claimed it to bereliable.

3.The Daily News also went into allegationsof past relationships between the actress andpoliticians, businessmen, and actors in an ob-vious attempt to foment public speculationsas to who could be responsible for the alleged

Pfegnancy.4. An illustration accompanying the story

was also irresponsible. It showed a photo ofthe actress looking as plump-faced as expect-ant women are thought to look like, and in amaterniry dress. The paper said that a reporterhad been sent to the hospital where the actresssupposedly had been admitted and that a nurse

H;.r1"0 to discuss the subject for ethical

OgsenvmottsThe Daily Neus printed a detailed accounr

ofthe actress'explanation, and stopped ali re-porting on the'pregnancy."

The case invoived the use of an unreliablenews source. Information appearing in theInternet is usually unreliable and therefore re-quires screening for accuracy. Because it wasnot balanced by the subfect's version ofevents,or her comments on the story the story wasdamaging to the abtress.

The newspaper put less weight on reportingthe protest of the aggrieved actress than it de-

served. However, it did put the correcr snnlon the front page, as it had done the fals *and presented the actresst side in deriil, as rrelas the views of other people, no matter if cni-cial of the papert reporting.

2Anonymous leaflet

On January 8, 1999 KrungthE Tizrakb rc-ported on the front page ofits political secd(n

'?\t noon on 7 January 1999 an anonyrxilsleaflet attacking Mr. Suthep Thuksuban, N{.in-ister of Communications, is faxed to the Parllrment Press Room." It begins with'Mr. SudcAThuksuban-an all-time lover' and goes on rDatack him outright. First his financial stannHe was declared bankrupt when he first beganhis political career. But now he turns millioo-aire. Then, his private life. He is alegedhinvolved in an affair with Mrs. SrisakulTechapaibul, sister of Mr. Nipon Prompan andwife of Mr. Pornthep Techapaibul. And latekwith Mrs. Anchalee Vanich Teppabutr, PhuketM . P . . . . "

Mrs. Anchalee Vanich Teppabutr filed a libdsuit against the Nation Multi-media GroupCo., Ltd., publisher of lhungthep Tiarahit, arPhuket Coun.

On October 30, 1999, Ihungthep TLrakitprinted an "apolog/' in the same political sec-tion, on t}re same page, that carried the leafletstory. It said:

"Regarding the inaccurate starement reporr-ed by lSungthep Turakh newspaper dated 8

January 1999 which directly insults Mrs. An-chalee Vanich Teppabutr and Mr. TosapornTeppabutr, the editorial staff and all involvedwish to apologize for the false news contenrwhich might have caused damage to the repu-tation of the above mentioned individuals andtheir families. tVe would like to assure themthat there will be no more such mistakes in ourreporting in the future. Adisak Limparungpa-tanakit, editor."

Potrurs ornNru-ysrsl.The lGungthep Turakitwas the only news-

paper that reported the story. The focus of thelibel suit was the last paragraph.

2. It referred to a repoft by the parliamentpr€ss corps confirming that an anonymous leaf-let had been faxed to the Press Room.

3. It extensively quoted rhe part about therelationship between Mr. Suthep Thuksubanand Mrs. Anchalee Vanich Teppabutr. No othersources were cited to confirm this report; nei-ther was any attempt made to get the side ofthe characters involved.

OesrnvmoNsThe failure of the newspaper to get the side

of the people concerned led to the publicationof an inaccurate, and worse, libelous story. Al-though the story involved public figures (mem-bers of parliament) who were therefore fair sub-

rilun inil i:-l:i:ir. rhe leaflet touched on theirin1gle6 rf i j, ':-i ivhich the public has noth-ililtry m rtr *:-.ss it involves the discharge of11111q[1fl!q r*;:,. :-.rbiliry. To publicize someoned!* nt,,l:. .iarrs, and without sufficient ev-ullJlluuuui,:, - : . .-nlr- a serious violation ofhumanrnllWhn, .. .. :.iso a violation of a fundamental

, - ; ^ - : - l -i l i lru ,4r, L

' - - : ' : : . iper d id not immediately make

illtm fi r "--: ';:ong done. Instead, it waited for

irillrn!,1 r:r-: ::--.rrhs until the couft issued an or-

i l l l l u ' ' i - - : x l o g y .

3AIDS scare

n - l+. \999 Siam Rath carcied ther| f ;,ri: :eadline "Panic strikes entire city;'n ( : - . - - - : ion to spread AJDS." l r repor ted3,Lit -:---::; rvas on the loose, motorcyclinglun rrr - --.:-s[ek, injectingAIDS into girls, and:,il: -::.<ss voung women had fallen victim

rr * ::.ztn ft117/1 said the motive was likelylyTi:.1- -:. and that the maniac himself was al r ' : - i : : : A IDS.

,': ::,., ran on the front page for seven'r : , -: r. davs. On July 25 the headline was' ,.:-:.d is latest victim; AlDS-filled nee-

u : :-r:d inro buttock; arresr aftempt fails."'r ' '*.r-: "Psychopath arrested; suspect in

' . . -- ,-;3."r. : -: on rhe Siam Rath x.ory, the Daily"; .-.i irs own take. On July 25 its head-

r' : :. :ire front page, said: "\X/ild search for- - - i :ran - in jects AIDS! Female pol ice on

r'-;- ::,r arresr." The story had a twist to it-r-:" :--.: naniac has injected his victim, he an-r - -.: ro her what he has done: "You are' ..:ccred with AIDS."

'.:: Path was on to it too. On JuIy 26, it' : i: .red: "ldentification of psychopath re-::L::: ex-prisoner just out of jail." The story

' ,---..i on the progress in the police effort to-.-:-:e rhe man and elaborated on his weird_ : -r.ct.

, . rhe same day Matichon headlined: "Lat-: : r:.rim of AIDS maniac: 14-year-old stu-:::-: :ushes to notify police; psychopath near-

:,:pped." It reported an interviewwith Mee-r,r:. a psychologist at the Department of Men-:, Health. According to him, Matichon re-:. red, the attacker must be an AIDS patient:.-:rself, who had probably contracted the dis-:ri from a prostitute and was now out for- , . ' , 6 . .

-\ early as Jlly 25, however, Khao Sod had:.ported an interview with Paisal Thn-ud, pres-.ient of the HIV/AIDS Patient Network of- hailand, in which he denied any report of.:-rch a maniacal rampage reaching his office.

Matichon itself on July 27 had on its frontrage a story based on a letter from UsasineeRewtong, a member of an NGO concernedri-ith AIDS, saying that its story on the inter-view with Kittikorn Meesap was unsupport-ed by evidence. Said the letter: "This man

should not be accused ofbeing a person withAIDS, or a psychopath due to his anti-socialact because there is no widence to confirm this.Such a misleading comment or report may af.fect the knowledge and understanding of thegeneral public of A-IDS issues."

Finally the man fell into police hands, andon July 23 nearly all the newspapers carriedthe story. As it turned out, he was not an AIDSsufferer; out of some compulsion he just foundhimself cycling around pricking girls with nee-dles and telling them he had given them AIDSonly to scare them.

Indeed, blood tests conducted on the vic-tims were all negative.

PotNm orRNeLysts7. Siam Rath covered the story most exten-

sively. It was the first to print it, and went onreporting it for eight days, from July 24 to 31.The story was given less and less prominence,although still on the front page and consistenr

in saying that the syringe contained the AIDSvirus. Even when the man had been arrestedand no AIDS had been found in either him orhis needles, the newspaper continued to referto him in its headline as "Mr. AIDS needle."

On the first day Siam Rath cited some iden-tifiable sources. A man said his wife was one ofthe victims, had fallen iIl, and feared she hadcontracted AIDS. Three police officers-aninspector at Makasan police station, a depurycommander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau,and the director of the Police Hospital-couldnot confirm AIDS had anything to do wirh irat ail.

In any case, the Siam Ratlt reporter himselfwas prepared to believe the worst.

2.'fhe Daily Neus avered this story fromthe very beginning, togerher with Siam Rathand other newspapers. But the part about the

infected needle was mentioned only in its July25 issue. The front-page headline said "Vild

search for syringe man - injects AIDSI Femaiepolice on guard for arrest." The lead referred toa statement given by a victim, whose identirywas not disclosed, that she had been told byher own attacker that she now had AIDS.

3.In Thai Rath, the AIDS aspect appearedonly on JuJy 26 in the headline: "InjectingAIDS into bold young girls." The story didnor speci ly what the syringe contained.

In both the headline and the story, ThaiRath named a source-Police Colonel NioonPummarin-who confirmed rhar inuesiea-t ion had raised the possibi l i ry that rhe rr,". I .r .was an ex-convict.

4. Matichon also reported this story from thebeginning. But the AIDS issue appeared onlyin its July 26 issue, from an interview withMeesap, the health department psychologist.

OeseRvnnoNSiam Rath did not admit any wrongdoing.

In its last story on the subject, its headline infact read, "Psychopath arrested: Mr. AIDS nee-dle." But after it had become known thatneither he nor his needle had .\7D5, SiamRath stopped reporting on the subject.

On the othe hand, Matichon admitted itsmistake. It reported the protest by the NGO,the arrest of the perpetrator, and the bloodtests on the victims confirming that they hadnot been infected with the AIDS virus.

Thai Rath and the Daily News did the samething.

Noticeably, Matichon, Thai Rath and theDai/y Netas mentioned only once that the manhad AIDS and was using AIDSJoaded sy-ringes.

At any rate, the AIDS aspect was pure spec-ulation. No serious effort to check it was made.The newspapers did not consult AIDS spe-cialists. Instead, they waited until the NGOprotested. In fact, it was the newspapers them-selves that raised the AIDS scare.

From these three case studies the followinesuggestions may be made:

First, errors in news reporting are usually theresults of 1) an inefficient system of checkinginformation; 2) disregard of the basic principlethat both sides in an issue must be covered andaired at the same time; 3) sacrificing profes-sionalism for profit; 4) reporting speculationinstead ofsticking to facts.

Second, it is every newspapert basic respon-sibiliry to admit errors, in which case it shouldcorrect them immediately and print an apolo-gy or publish the aggrieved person's side exten-sively if not wholly.

To avoid errors, rhe newspaper must insd-tute a system in which professional and ethicalstandards are observed as a matter of course,and staff members are supewised closely byeditors and other senior decision-makers.

' . , . , ] i

Ganhage was onthc lnont and op-Gd pascsol the Manila pre$sBv BnRNnRo Cnnlos BnlQutronR, PHtLteprNEs

Srlvlnqn,q Isr,qNo in Antique, about 290 kilome-

ters south ofMetro Manila, r-urtil a lew months ago

was an unknown island. But thanks to civil society

groups and the media it was tl-rrust into the lime-

light when it was rwealed tlat it would be the next

dumping ground for Metro Manilds tons of uash.

An abandoned mine pit of Semirara Coal Cor-

poration owned by DM Consunji Inc. (DMCI)

in Semirara Island was initially offered by a consor-

tium of DMCI and RII Builders to the Metro

Manila Development Authoriry (MMDA) and

the Greater Metro Manila Solid Waste Manage-

ment C,ommittee (GMMS\XMC) to be the site

of a sanitary landfill for Metro Manilas g"rbage.

The consortium won the billion-peso contract to

ship a third of Metro Manila's 6,000-ton a day

garbage to Semirara.December 2000 marked the beginning of the

garbage crisis with the permanent closure of the

San Mateo landfill in Rizal by the end of that

montir. At that time MMDA ChairJejomar Bi-

nay and GMMSV/MC Chair and Secretary for

Flagship Projects Robert Aventajado still had to

identi$' a willing host for a new peimanent

dumpsite for Metro Manilas garbage.

Uncollected garbage started piling up all over

Metro Manila while almost everyone was busy

following the wists and turns of the Estrada

impeachment trial. Some newspaPers, notably

the Philippine Duly Inquirer, Manila Standttrd

and BusinessWorld, reported the issue comPre-

hensively and exposed a lot of irregularities in

Metro Manilat garbage 'solution.'The other

newspapers, meanwhile, managed to pay some

attention to the looming garbage crisis even if

they were focused on the trial.

The medias relentless coverage of the garbage

crisis helped, first in issuing a temporary restrain-

ing order (TRO) by the Antique Regional Tiial

Court for MMDAs plan to dump garbage in

Semirara, and finally when Estrada ordered to

indefinitely shelve the plan.Some environmental issues raised ifMetro Ma-

nilas garbage would be sent to Semirara, which

would take at least a day from Metro Manila' are

the following:1) some of the trash could fall from the barges

enroute to Semirara and might pollute major sea

routes as well as the shores of Bataan, Corregi-

dor, Manila Bay, Cavite, Batangas, Marindu-

que, Mindoro, Romblon, Aklan and Palawan

2) stormyweadrer might force the barge to dump

the trash in the middle of the sea, or worse it might

capsize and bring tons of uash down with it

3) bad weather might stop barges from sailing

away from the piers causing trash to pile up in

the docks4) trash might be washed away all the way to

Boracay during stormy and windy weather

5) the Semirara pit is near underground water

sources and garbage could leach into the seawa-

tet thus harming sea life6 the oit has an unstable foundation and

landslides could easily happen

7) earthquakes could cause the leakage oftoxic

substances into the water table.

Semirara Island had actually been declared by

the Department of Environment and Natural

Resources (DENR) as a bird and turtle sanctu-

ary. It is part of the cluster of islands that in-

cludes the Caluya group, the Cagayancillo and

Cuyo islands and the.famed Tubattaha Reef

Marine Park, a-World Heritage site that is one of

the Philippines' richest fishing grounds.

Aside liom the environmental concems =:mdf

the press also had imporant stories related r m

Semirara issue. The Inquirer reponed on Daro-

ber 26 (p. .A11) "Semirara security boosted -r,Imnr

dump critics rneal militiaforcd' (subhead in r--ai-lsr

and on December 29 "Top DND officia.i '-reet

disbandment of Semirara militia' (p. A1l . -hc

Nvo reports were about an illegal 1 20-member :;rp

militaly group that was beefed up with 86 =r:mt

people which, it is believed, was being rr..r u

intimidate people against the project. In its De,s'

ber 29 repon rhe Inquirer quoted Ruben C.a::rr,

za, then Depaltment ofNational Defense assl*rr

secretary for plans and programs, as saying *ra: :u

Special Cafgu Active Auxilliary (SC,{A) or$c:sl

in Semirarawas among the 34 5644" n21i6ntlr

tl-rat Defense Secreary Orlando Mercado hac :,r-

dered deactivated effecdve Dec. 1.

On December 23 the Manila Standari ::-

ported in "Nvarez seeks probe of Antique la::c*

fill" (p.1) that opposition lawmaker Heher*:

Alvarez opposed plans to award the garbage m;:.-

agement project to R-II Builders, owned ':'

Reghis Romero who is a presidential friend.

Then the Standard on January B banner;:"P6mlday to dump trash on Semirara

. 4 barges aniue cannot unload. Residents smell

'ouerpowering stench" (su!

head in italics).The reoort bared that the contractors would h

paid almost P4 billion over a period oftwo years tor

handling and shipping out fie garbage to Semira:a

The Inquirer, on the other hand, said in in

January 10 report "Semirara dump deal raises stbli-(p.Al) that the government would be payine

DMCI and RII Builders 1.4 billion pesos for ic.

two-yea-r operation, and that there had been no

public discussion on tle project plan.

.Lnother Inquirer report on January 10 "Semi-

rara folk harassed to accept Metro trash' (p. A14

said that residents who joined protest rallies were

being threatened or harassed by DMCI emplol-

ees through collection ofdebts, rents, etc.

c:Ooot

Scavengers on a garbage mountain'

"lllrm,t- . : neson|anuary9reported"Semi-

mm, :-- - .: :rot yet ready to receive gatbage"

tlltr s, -:: . =:ort said that the writer was able to

flmrlr r( :-rjred dumpsite and discovered that1fi,,r' ' -.. ';st stafted preparing the dumpsitemrlrrlu,r' -,. :: earbage were already sent to Semi-lmumriiL . -. :J DMCI project foreman Ruben-Jr"- .- i .:iirg drat rhey were caughr offguard

,[lllt,rtilil: :": :-::ges arrived because they have notlilrl ,r. .:-: rlre dumpsite. The Times also re-rnnlrlLilr i 1-.,:: D-VCI had not yet complied withrr4,y' - ' : :he conditions DENR had imoosedilf. -- .-:. r'Lng the projecr.

' - - : \ \ aiso reported the pl ight of somei$i, r ..r,: ,ucban, Quezon (the Inquireis"Pasay

-,:-+r dumped in Quezon" Jan. 19. p.r - " i-riao, Bulacan (the Courieis "Bulacan

': : .rng probed" Jan. 9. p. 9) and Mina-. ::nga (rhe Couricr's "Pampanga Folk

, i::o trash convoy'' Jan.9, p.9) which

" ,: :Jr dumped with Metro Manilat trash.'' -: ;;bage problem also prompted a num-

'' - -:-lispapers to come out with special re-'- .:. it. Some of the newspapers that came

L .-: special reports were BtuinessWorld on' ',: - rsr 29-30 ("Garbage Crisis in the New,-- . , .\nold S. Tenorio), the Inquirer from

..-: . .rr J0 to January 1 (three-parr series

. ,-,- rfter mining" by Nereo Lujan) and. : : tiom January B to 9 (rwo-part series, -- :-::a Island sa Antique, pansamantalang

r-.-- r --a ng MM" by Mercedes E. Rullan).--.

Philippine Center for Investigative Jour-."., : PCIJ) also came out with a repon which,::-. :i *re politics and money involved in gar-

-, .au1ing. This report by Marites N. Sison-.--: -rrt in theJanuary25 and26 issues of-Bruz'-,,,-, .',':rt|.

,:-,r'spaper columnists were also able to give- . ::lts on the garbage crisis, although some of

:-:.: suggestions could be challenged by some: , t:cnmentalists.

-,: December 4 Neal Cruz of the Inquirn sug-

::,:ri using trash to reclaim land along Manila-,.,. *hich he daimed was being done in Japan- : rhe US. Cruz in his January 9 column also--. -:1ed that the government acrually violated the

1..:ronal Integrated Protected Areas System Act,, :-ich provides that no portion ofa protected area-<e a watershed can be segregated and made into a:rrrp, when it established the San Mateo landfillr:r a poftion of the Marikina\Tatershed Reserva-:on. Then on January 16 Cruz talked about Sen-.:or f-oren kgrda-kvistes Solid \Waste Manage-rent Act, and his suggestion of giving incentives:or nuning garbage into compost.

On January 10, RinaJimenez-David suggesr-ed that government officials should seriously pur-sue a garbage segregation scheme as had beensuggested by environmental activists for years.

The press with its relatively comprehensive cov-erage ofthe garbage crisis, in the process hopefi-rl-lv also raised the environmental awareness of *repeople and raised the bar for the responsible han-dling of garbage by government officials.

Report$ and comment$

dnamatized media issuesBy V'a. Roselle MtnRNoR. Purlrpprrurs

on Manila homhings

Tul Drcetraep,n 30 bombings shocked thecountry with its suddenness as well as itsg r u e s o m e r e s u l t s . T h e p h o t o g r a p h ssplashed across most of the Manila news-papers' front pages the next day, however,drew readers' protests. The objects oftheirprotests were photographs of the vict imsafter the explosions, which were unspar-ing w i rh b lood and gore .

A l though on ly th ree newspapers pub-l ished such photographs, those in the De-

reotrttrtls, tlcnprriinsn behlnrl rlslEn

cember 31 issues of the Manila Bul let in,the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Toda1,were in poor taste, parr icularly that on theInquirer front page which was in full col-or. The photographs of the sites where thebombs had been planted which the othernewspapers used were either taken after thebodies of the victims had been covered withnewspapers or after the police and medicalteams had already removed the bodies.

The newspapers gui l ty of this practiceusually justify it by saying that they did itas a matter of public interest. This was pre-cisely the argumenr of the Inquirer when itsaid that i t publ ished the protested photo-graphs so the pubiic would fully realize thedamage the bombings had wrought on thel ives of everyone whose loved ones hadbeen victimized. The Inquirer's Raul Pala-brica made the claim in behalf of the In-quirer in his "Readers' Advocate" columnofJanuary 8 ("Bloody front-page photo,"

January B, p. A7).

Palabrica also published in his columnseveral letters readers had sent expressingtheir outrage after viewing a half-page In-quirer photo of a bloodied little girl beingcarried out of the LRT (Light Rail Transit)stat ion to wait ing ambulances. Palabricadisagreed with Inquirer editors on the wis-dom of using that part icular photo, andsaid that he thought i t was in fact inappro-priate. Palabrica also said that other photo-graphs could have been used "that fcouldhave shown] the gravity of the situationwithout having to make the readers losetheir appeti te or ruin their day."

Opr-E's coNrlrcr oF TNTERESTSThe subsequent investigation into who

the brains behind the bombings was wasalso reported by the newspapers. Howev-er, the statements from off icial sourceswhich appeared in the Manila newspapersal l pointed to the 'usual suspects' - Mus-i im terrorists, part icularly the Moro Islam-ic Liberation Front (MILF) and the AbuSayyaf, and the CPP-NPA (CommunistPar ty o f the Ph i l ipp ines-New Peop le 'sArmy) - despite there being no evidenceas yet of their involvement, and widespreadsuspicions that i t could have been the Es-trada government or those loyal to it whowere responsible, since the bombings werereminiscent of the bombings carr ied outby the Marcos mil i tary to just i$' the decla-r a t i o n o l r m a r t i a l I a w o n S e p t e m b e r 2 l ,1 9 7 2 .

The raid on the Muslim distr ict in Quia-po (January 4), which was meanr ro sup-port the government theory, was criticizedby mil i tant groups. But there was no doubtthat the press reports - 2166s1 al l of themwi thout any contex tua l in fo rmat ion -

served once again to reinforce the Chris-tian biases that Muslims are inevitably be-hind al l terrorist acts.

The opinion pages ref lected the wide-spread outrage over the bombings. Butthe Star went overboard in its editorial ofDecember 31, in which i t cal led for "who-

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oore rn very, tory ***--po6r qste. I |nveniw{)rs pdttori?ednnd l r {ked {F toy&u tn$ru l i l to ,dny. Cnpitdli?inSon

yo! to {he levol ofan} orlEr tshl(irj,

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h c r c r n i l r d c d r l ' , : . , h , g p . , d , ! v n i l r , c a d r r J , i f r ( . ^ o . f r , \ . d : , i t \ p ! , { r h\ i l J l y r u n i m i a , i , i h r r , t J l r a e h . r , i l b j r , . l e ( l \ ; r i u n n c t e , ( . t . yv , o L u , r ( . . . c l e n D r y n i r c e { r u r ' n r l n c w s , , . n l } 1 , ( . . r . o , , r F . J . i , u , 1 , : ,1vn4 \ i \ r t ' r r ! f . i l h t . 0hn,o a( r , . r . , , tmJt i ^ :d .

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r h c J r r $ , , n v r s i r , t * ii r \ e . ' t r ! h { r . . 1 , t c ) t o . , l i ( i l . , r , t ( i n S ( . , r , , e d , q a ) t t . . m . h - b w , .sr0 lvxt 0Dl nrces.irry.'

"()1 ,tlo

hrn{kcds d-irlo&r tili.* ol lho bonbir{ts, why wrs liJislxrtrcutaf ons chosel'] ;l I we.c the kid in the pictrye, I rvarki prob,aldy bo {lclressrd silh how patircli( til{ in the ishiliprires is beiroye)$u enr dic taice: thc fir$i time 1em n bonb blasi lncl th( $c(ond{ime from beinB lhe bloody subiect of ihc wi,te$t rcart narional clai}y

Mot ivc

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.n tn t ! hq L t i l ta . ta . ho \ i l . ih t tu ,o t " , ' , , , , , , ,n0 , , r r r , , " ,1 r , . r r r , ;a , r r , r ,1

r \ ( t t - : r ren t . , . t \a t .4 \ , 4 t ,oL \ t Ln \ t i l / t ja "S f .h t ,

" Kung ea! nx.otiho nbry) narmn uy nnipakitt,ra tngatrtttaalhilttt , k t t i l t r to qq t t t ^ . . te t r , r t L \ 4 , ia r , : ra th . tu . t t1 . . . r r i l ta& l a l r1 \ , t t , tadoas t , ' i l " S i l ! i l l d t ' ) . t , , , t | h t , , t , , , , ; , . , t t . t , tq t * i t , , , .onN )iltd ir(h, m$ \rlkut pakiil,utu,a ba|*L.t tnhuktLhkt: pa sitadtthil kotupad nilil ailt kttukng nga ytoio (lf bclore rve cirtercdwrln nsvsfiiper n prfson \rho died fron i crjminil rct so rhc vul,{u tes o , our soc ie ly l vo l ld no1 cxp lo i t thc sccn . . wh} i s i i now i t .afrd newspapers who rfc likc the vullures lvho nrc hlngry for *ellcil ofrhe dend? ]fyour rrotive is ro shorv i! m thc shanreieis peoplere$ptns i t r le io r t l f c r io . , do yo ! tb ink they w i l l l . ke t i ry on le i : Id ( r , r L r l . o l l c , a u s ( r n c ) a r e d e , x , , n . \ r r ( ' 1 o n o r ) r r \ | r n ) , f e e l .r td ( o t re l r . , , .e bur a rc n r \b rh ly . ' lo r r rn i j he . i rse rh r r r i \ )mpLshcdrhe i r !o ! l ) . "

G(nc l i ,nc ( i . . r ,m i ,cJ rh i r rhp lx .unr ( tu l Ldrcd r l rc lh . !o r ,I n n r c p ^ o p l e . ^ . r l : / r h c w r : f l i h ) . r \ c , e r | r r s r i c i v . , < ' 8 , , r . h e w r o i c ,''tef$oilrlly,

I thiilk people al.eady rerli&d how terihle ir was lvithoilt(l t having ro rce $omoola's poor s0nglcd child pl$tered on ever"vnew$paFe. slind; i2) tvirlort thinking ahat ihe parenls of lhis childrnu \ r \avc tn r rh r lnUh secr lg rh . I ( ! i l d r t r lha t han,h le { r i ' r : ^ r i 1 )s i thar r l r . i \ Ing ro Jc . rb ( whf rh r r rhc pxper phs cn an rn lnnnr l r ^ f l cnFsrdc or timply dcapcrdte D $el' more pnten.''

I{cfcrralI crlled lhe atterlioil ol (ho rdibrirl $rllo lhe (onphints. h $m,

some of ihem r!{rcd with m. dre aonccm l|lfir Nhi'drcn .nd fiiend}exprsss(d lDon leeing the ficture.

They pere lDffified by lhe haif-page photo oftbe ningled brdy ofCrirele dlfing a ser$on d*diraled to rhc pronotion oI peace nnd hrr-mory iftoilE men. Co{ldn'l the me$J{go sNghl to be aonvoycd havcbcen rc1eywl with similnr imFict by a iess gory pl]alo?

.

{rs l&gedy b,! ug, rtA#/ Il.f..ll'",-!:'1"qlu' Pc! ahricn

ever was behind these bombings [to be]quickly arrested then hanged upside downas l ive carr ion feed."

Many columnists had their own opin-ions as to who could be the mastermindsbeh ind the bombings . However , B lasOple's column "Horizons" in the ManilaBulletin entitled "The forces of destabili-zat ion are responsible for the bombings"(January 3) can only be interpreted as apartisan argument directed at anti-admin-istrat ion propon€nts.

Ople, one of the senators closely identi-f ied with then President Joseph Estrada,not only claimed that it was "the commu-nists" who were responsible; he also saidthat not oniy should the actual perpetra-tors of the act be punished for it, thoseallied with them should be, as well.

In what could only be interpreted as acall for the wholesale condemnation of thebroad al l iance seeking the resignation orouster of Estrada, Opie also said,

"But regardless of the hands (sic) thatpul led the tr igger, the strategic al l iances

formed to topple (then) President JosephEjercito Estrada cannot escape responsibil-i ty.. . as al l ies of the communists they arenot wholly exempt from the odium of ter-rorism,"

Ople's column once brought into starkreliefthe conflict ofinterest inherent in ool-i r i c ians ' be ing a l lowed ro per fo rm m;d iafunctions. Not only an obvious partisan ofEs t rada, bur a lso an acr ive par t i c ipan i inthe events he often commented on, Oplewas using his column in the aftermath ofthe bombings to advance partisan politicalinterests in contravention of the journal-ist's responsibility to report and commenton events without the hindrance or com-pulsion of personal interest.

QuesrtoNs oF AccuRecY AND FocusOne of the bombing sites was in Makati,

near the Dusit Hotel. The bomb ki l led apolice bomb disposal unit member. Thatat least was certain. But the reoorts lead-ing to his death were in confl iciwith eachother. The Inquirer, Standard and the Staron December 31 said that a security guardof the hotel had spotted a plast ic bag nearthe establ ishment before the ool ice werecalled in. The Srandard and. Sar both saidthat two street children retrieved it for theguard while he called the police. However,'tn

the Inquirer, it was a scavenger who as-sumed it was a bott le of l iouor and whobrought i t to a fr iend to share. lr was onlyupon discovering that it was a bomb thatthey called the police.

So who discovered the package, and whofound out i t was real ly a bomb and nothol iday goodies? This information, as basicas it sounds, was not available from any ofthe Manila newspapeis.

The bombings occurred while the Estra-da impeachment trial was on holiday re-cess. But with the resumption of the tr.ialon January 2, it was again big news. Devel-opments in the investigation of the bomb-ings were thus placed less prominently,although still on the front pages of the Ma-nila newspapers. However, when the voteon whether or not to open the second en-veiope provoked country-wide raliies andbegan Peopie Power 2, news about thebombings was totally edged out of the news-papers altogether.

The importance of discovering who wereresponsible for the bombings is st i l l of pub-Iic interest, particularly to those who lostfriends and family members. IJnfortunate-Iy, with their almost total focus on the newadministrat ion, the Manila newspapersseem to have forgotten everything aboutthe December 30 bombings , and havefailed to provide readers further updatesinto the case.

ABS-GBIU'$ hneaclol media ethics87 Evelvx O. KnrtcaaK, PHruPPn€r

ON FreuARv 12, the last day for the trli.Scertificates of candidary for senatorial etif,"

dates this May, Noli De Castro, anchor of fuhigh-rating TV news program "TV Pa::cr**turned the news program into an "ofrcCf'

launch site for his Senate candidacy.The week before the COMELEC rCom-

mission on Elections)-set last day of resli':n-tion, De Castro was making the rouncis dkey cities in the country. Cebu and Iloilo wcseoniy nvo ofthe places he visited for live broa;-casts of "TV Patrol". On February 12, ro cr,his obvious use of a news program for his pe-sonal interests, he included his announcernerfiof his candidacy among the headlines of

-T'r'

Patrol" on the most important news of tlaoay.

Towards the end of the news program. &Castro announced in tears that he had to lea"rbroadcasting to heed the call of public x:-vice. That was the signal for Eugenio lopcIII, ABS-CBN Chairman and CEO, to an-nounce over de Castro's program and his ne:-work that De Castrot'ABS-CBN family" s-a;in full support ofhis candidacy.

Still in front of the camera, ABS-CBN big-wigs then approached De Castro one by oneand shook his hands. As the find programcredits were being shown, video clips of DeCastro, similar to those being shown in thebirthday bashes of celebrities from an enter-tainment program or variery show, were runas background.

The Inquirer ran a scathing editorial on thespectacle cwo days later, in which it rhetorical-ly asked if this meant that ABS-CBN wouldnow use its vast resources to get an individualof doubtful public service merit elected to thePhilippine $snx1s-x1 institution recentlysullied by the mediocriry of several of its mem-bers, among them media personalities like DeCastro.

For the information of De Castro and hisABS-CBN bosses, that February 12 "TY Pa-trol" episode was not only in bad taste. It wasalso unethical, raising questions ofconflict ofinterest as well as suborning all ABS- CBNclaims of serving the public interest and non-paltisanship.

Not only the Inquirer noticed this blatant,Grand Canyon-wide breach of professionalethics. Juan Mercado of the Press FoundationofAsia, for one, described it as "politicai fluffwith the fig leaf of .f ournalism draped over itsethical nakedness..."

Appeals tormmonalist sentimentr rePoftingdne East Timor-efferendumfr,'' !;.'" s519, lttooruesn

rilnil Shanto has stepFd down and|tr b r ffigen any [an on nepontingmrilftd is$ues, the Indonesian pressn bil sileltl on t[e tast limon issue

, , . J'-rr,s Aditjondro, an Indonesian intel-*r,--:,i .tiro has long been an outspoken com-fr 1: :-:: : on rhe EastTimor issue, once deploredflr :-::rlesian press' alleged lack ofcourage to:n:,,-:llv report the truth on the East Timor-d\: Though Suharto has stepped down andir,,::: -: no longer any ban on reporting 'sensi-

ri' : ..isues, according to Aditjondro rhe Indo-r.i :.: eress has kept silent on the East Timor' l : ] - :

'-:tondro's observation is correct. Under the',- ' Order government, East Timor was a sen-.. .. issue. The Indonesian press tended to

: -*.nr the good side of EastTimor only and, inr::-d, supported Indonesia's annexation of it.l:-. :ress also condoned military abuses in EastL,:r rr. For a long time, the dissemination of..-,:,:rnadon on East Timor was controlled by:. nilirary. This did not mean only that the-,-,:::ry was the main source that the media.:.-:;ld quote, but also that the military took-::.r control of reponing if there were reporm-: East Timor that were different from their'.:sions ofevents.

)oes Aditjondrot observation apply as well:: media reports on the referendum in Eastllmor?

N gvvs rREeueNcrAND souRcEsFour Jakarta-based newspapers that covered

--nis issue were analyzed, namely Kompas, Rafotat.'.ferdzka, Republika, and dan Pos Kora. The news.amples were taken from their August 1 to Sep-:ember 10, 1999 issues, which covered the cam-raign period, referendum and post referendumriolence in East Timor.

The newspaper that covered East Timor themost was l{ompas, which provided special spaceon this issue before and after the referendum.Kompas was followed by Rafoiat Merdzka, Re-publika and dan Pos l{oa.

Government sources dominated the coverageof the referendum. Of 313 total quoted sourcestn Kompas,55 were government officials and 45military officers . Repub liha, Rafoat Merdcha, and

Pos Kota also showed the same tendency.Of 183 quoted sources in Republika,43 werc

government officials and 35 from the military.ln Rafoiat Merdcha, of 123 quoted sources, 17were government sources and 16 were miliarysources. Meanwhile, Pos Kota had 118 quotedsources-23 governmenr officials and 31 Indo-nesian military officers.

The media provided more space ro govern-ment and/or military sources because Indone-sian reponers had little access to other informa-tion sources in EastTimor. Moreover, East Timorwas viewed as a battle area among interest groupsfrom Indonesia and other countries. The gov-ernment and milirary were anxious ro presenttheir views in order to shape public opinionagainst these "other countries".

How were the pro-independence and pro-integration groups covered in the stories?Though they were the interested parties, themedia provided less space for their views thanother news sources. Howwer, Kompas coveredboth groups equallywhile Republikaand RafoatMerdzha covered pro-integration groups moreextensively. This seems to have happened be-cause they had different sources for their cover-age. Kompas quoted sources from pro-indepen-dence groups and foreign press agencies, whileRepubliha, Rafoiat Merdzka and Pos Kon mostlyquoted Antara news agency.

THe aATTr-E or otscouRsEHow did each newspaper frame its coverage?

By "frame" we mean how a news medium re-ported the East Timor issue, how the issue wasframed and classified. For instance, in the po-lemic on Indonesian Military (TNI) involvemlntin post referendum violations, did rhe mediareport the violence as a fight among East Timorgroups or as a systematic effort backed by TNI?

The media are necessarily drawn into a politi-cal issue ofsignificance. They shape discourse onthat issue and even sustain it. The media usuallyplay two roles. First, they use certain ways ofcoverage to take sides, for or against one gioup.Those media organizations that sided with thepro-integration groups, for example, used thesame logic, argument and version of wents thatthe pro-integration groups used. Second, themedia include and exclude the panies involvedin a particular issue. For instance, the media or-ganizations that took the side ofpro-integrationgroups interviewed only the actors from pro-integration groups and did not include pro-in-dependence groups in the polemic.

Naloruttsr pnopAGANDA

Content analyses of the news repons in thefour newspapers show that the media discourseprimarily put the opinions of government and./or miliary officials forward. The referendum thatwas finallywon by the pro-independence groupswas explained in terms of the supposed decep-tion and partisanship of the United NationsMission to East Timor (LINAMET). The vio-

lence that followed the referendum was ex-plained as pan of the latent conflict among var-ious groups in East Timor. The newspapers un-der analysis also invoked nationalism as a factorin resolving the East Timor issue. As a result ofthis claim, the East Timor issue was not onlycomprehended as requiring an effon to a peace-ful resolution among the conflicting parties, butalso as a conflict between "us and the foreigners".

In a conflict that involves other countries, themedia are often unable to free themselves frombeing part ofthe state apparatus. The success ofgovernment and military officials in inciting thenationalist spirit was at least pardy due to themedia. According to Majid Tehranian, in an in-ternational conflict media practitioners face a di-lemma. On the one hand *rey are mandated tocover both sides of the story; on the other, ascitizens ofa pardcular country their loyalties areoften solicited by their governmenr. Instead ofwriting balanced news accounts on an issue in-volving conflict, media practitioners tend to re-solve the dilemma by being active players in theconflict.

long before the referendum, the military hadinvoked nationalisc sentiments in attempting toinfluence public opinion on East Timor. TheIndc,r.resiar media did not explain to the publichow Dast Timor became part of Indonesia. Un-aware of this background, people thought thatEast Timor had always been an integral part ofIndonesia. They viewed the intervention of for-eign parties in East Timor as interference in In-donesia's affairs. The East Timor issue was thusviewed as a domescic issue, not an internationalone. Therefore, an international conspirary wasthought to be behind the effort to "dismember"

Indonesia.The nationaiist discourse thus led to unbal-

anced reporting on the East Timor issue. Themedia in their discourse accused UNAMETof helping convince the East Timorese to optfor independence. Most media organizationsreported mostly on the groups hostile to UN,AMET and reported rarely on the groups thatregarded UNAMET as faiq neutral and pro-fessional. The findings of some organizationsthat claimed UNAMET was Darrisan were nei-ther verified nor further investigated. This ledto public opinion that UNAMET was indeedunfair. The four newspapers under analysisdid not report anyverification of UNAMET!supposed partisanship.

In fact, President Habibie urged UNAMETto investigate accusations against UNAMET.LINAMET did establish an elecroral commis-sion in nvo consecutive days ofpublic hearingsin Dili. The commission members came fromSouth Korea, South Africa and New 7.ealand.The hearing was followed by a press conferencein Jakarta. The electoral commission concludedthat most of the charges of violations wer€ notsupported by reliable widence. The Indonesianmass media, however, did not reporr rhe publichearings and their results.

Reporting theNorth Maluku conflictBy MuHnmmno Qoonru, lNooruesn

frWhlllnrntssediudmenl on ile Unoupsin conflict. lt hequently descni[ed fieMuslim rusiliuely, and tln Clri$iansne0atiugly.

TuB coNrrtcr in Maluku, Indonesia beganmore than a year ago, Neither the govern-ment nor the communiry have found any

solution to the Maluku Conflict, Chapter Ireferring to the cases ofviolence in

Maluku which occurred around January un-

til March 1999. On the contrary the con-flicts even spread - to North Maluku, a new

province created out of the province ofMaluku. The conflict between various groupsin North Maluku occurred around August1999 (and seems to be continuing up to thiswriting). In Indonesia it is referred to as theMaluku Conflict, Chapter II. This article islimited to an analysis of media reporting on

the Maluku Conflict, Chapter II.This analysis is based on two chronologies

of the North Maluku conflict which were re-

leased by the Indonesian media. The first chro-nology is from -Faram KeadilanMagazine Qan-uary 23,2000). This magazine presented twoversions of the story: the Moslem (MUI of

North Maluku, FPI of North Maluku andPos Keadilan Peduli Umat) and the Christianversion (Majelis Pekerja Sinode Gereja Mase-hi Injili Halmahera). The second chronology

was released by Tempo Magazine (Jant'nry 23,

2 0 0 0 ) .'We

can see from both chronologies that bothparties were attacking each other. At one timethe Muslims were attacked, and in anotherthe Christians. It seems that an attack causedanother attack in retaliation. To examine theconsistency of the reports from the media,

both in terms of frequency and angle, thisanalysis will be divided into two periods, thefirst between October 25 and November 15,

1999 and the second between December 26,

2000 and Jamttry 15, 2000.Based on the chronologies mentioned above,

in the first period the Muslim group attacked

several times with the Christians as targets andvictims. In the second period, the reverse oc-

curred, with.the Christians initiating the vio-lence against Muslims.

From the above chronologies, especially the

Christian version, it appears that during the

period October 24 :unril November 15,1999,

the Christians were attacked many times by

the Muslims. Based on this chronology, there

should have been a lot of news releases re-

garding the conflict in North Maluku. But a

review of the news accounts in four newspa'

pers published in Jakarta shows that the re-ports tended to be in conflict with the chro-nology released by the Majelis Pekerja Sinode

Gereja Masehi Injili Halmahera.During the 20 days covered by this analy-

sis, only seven news accounts on the conflictappeatedin Republiha;11in Kompas; and nine

in Suara Pembaharuan. In Pos Kota there was

no news report at all on the conflict in North

Maluku. This disparity becomes obvious,

when we compare the above facts with the

news releases during the period of December26, 1999 until January 15,2000 - whenthe attackers were the Muslims and the vic-

tims the Christians. During the latter period,

the aforementioned newspapers were activein reporting the conflict. During the 20 daysfrom December 26, 1999 until January 15,

2000, REublika released 52 news stories; Ka-

mpas 3l; Suara Pembaharuan 35; and Pos Kota

2 1 .

NevlcaNc*'We

cannot tell at this point whether thesenewspapers realize that the "illusion ofobjec-

tivity' may be raised re their reports on the

conflicts in North Maluku. \What seems cer-

tain, howeve! is that three newspapers - Ka-

mpas, Suara Pernbaharuan and Republika -

presented almost the same versions of the

Maluku events, perhaps because they depend-ed primarily on military and governmentsources. Republiha, a public newspaper with

an Islamic orientation, relied mostly on Mus-

lim sources. As a result,-much of its news re-

ports presented events from the Muslim

groups' point of view.The interesting fact is that Kompas and

Suara Pembaharutn, tvvo public newspapirsoriginally founded by Christian interests, didnot reDort events in North Maluku from the

Chrisiian point of view Their reports weremostly from the military or bureaucrats' point

ofview, perhaps to avoid accusations ofparti-sanshio for one side or the other.

The conflict in North Maluku is complicat-ed because it involves many factors. It is part

of the religious problem which is in turn in-

fluenced by the economic and political prob-

lems of both Muslim and Christian groups.Each of the newspapers mentioned present'

ed the conflict from its preferred framework.

Out of seven news reports in Republiha, for

example, five described events in North

Maluku as the result of a religious conflict.But neither Kompas nor Suara Pembaharuandescribed the conflict as a religious one..

The conflict in North Maluku in fact in-

volves ethnicity, religion and race- three high-

ly sensitive issues in Indonesia. Under

tot rule, the problems arising from rdryddifferences were hidden and could not bc

cussed openly. The communiry sav'

differences as a potential cause of

which could explode at any time.Kompas and Suara Pembaharuan thougbtif the case were described as a religious

flict the news would trigger anger, or \x tl6groups involved would protest.

Yet the Indonesian media do not hesium otdk about the vertical conflict involving ec

versus sociery. However, the conflict in Nar&

Maluku put the media in a bind because frry

had to report a horizontal conflict berriEcn

Muslims and Christians.

TnrcNc srorsRepublika, Kompas and Suara Pembahor*,w

take different positions in reporting the Nonfo

Maluku conflict. In openly describing rl-

conflict as a religious one, Republika also @judgment on the groups in conflict. It fre-

quently described the Muslims positivell', anC

the Christians negatively. Howeve! comparcC

to its reporting on the North Maluku con-fli,s

Chapter Il, Republiha seemed calmer in its re-

ports in the early stage of the conflict. This ir

apparent in the words Republika used to dc-

scribe events and the parties involved in it. k

seems that Republiha became "fiercer" in iu

reports during Chapter II because Repubtilet

thought too much blood had been spilt on

the Muslim side, which it supports.Komoas and Suara Pembaharuan were verr

."..frli in reporcing the conflict. Rather than

take sides, they assumed the role of peace-

makers and arbiters, perhaps in the awareness

that Muslims are in the majoriry in Indonesia.

and that most of their readets are Muslims.'We

can see their caution at two levels. First.

both Kompas and Suara Pembaharuan ne'ter

passed judgment on either of the groups in

conflict. Second, they did not use religious

terms often to refer to the groups involved. In

their reports, Kompas and Suara Pembaharu-

an rarcly used words like 'the Muslim group'

or "the Christian group."Both chose more neutral words in referring

to the protagonists, such as use of the phrase"a group in the communiry" or "among the

members of the communiry." The same thing

happened when they were reporting an event.

Both newspapers avoided using phrases that

could indicate that the accident in Ambon

was a religious conflict. Neither used phrases

like "the conflict becween the Moslem and

Christian communiry" and instead used neu-

tral words like "the conflict among the com-

muniry members" or "the conflict among com'munity groups." Apparently both newspa-pers wanted their reader to view the conflictin Ambon as merely a conflict among com-muniry members, and not one involving anyrelisious issue.

CoNreNr S.r'iatYsls

m the Mindanao Gni$i$

- -. ::.\ correctly said that the "Mindanao", : ::r is far too complex to resolve over-

' +-: r .r'ell as in the battlefield. The Span-

u -r -:i their own Mindanao problem dur-,,.1 :.-,- period of Spanish colonization andn :

'- :.:led States a version ofit specific to its

1':- :",rns in the Phil ippines as a colonizingI j i " : : .

1..:;r' the ohrase "Mindanao Problem" isr-.,r: :: refer primarily to Muslim secessionist-:-.=:ds for an independent state, and the

"l*-.,: conflict that has resulted since 7972.- ": !.srrada government also used the term

::-r ro the lawlessness and terrorism of..- . . i Musl im groups including the Abui .-i:. The Estrada government, uniquely

--r ::rg past Philippine governments, also in-:.1 rhat the Mindanao problem is solely a

: '- .- :e problem..he Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)

.. : : the Moro National Liberation Front

"l\LF) prefer the term "Bangsamoro Prob-:::..- though not as a problem ofthe govern--.:t in Manila. Instead the MILF regards it. :re problem of the Moro people, focusing:,-.i-i on the issues which, as a result of the, ,^-ilippines' and the regiont history, confront-:. Muslims of Mindanao as a nation distinct::rm Filipino Christians.

The armed conflict in Mindanao and its;uses go back 300 years to the coming of thei:anish conquerors. The "Mindanao Prob-.m" is rooted in history and the colonial past.-, historical review is therefore in order.

Not only Islamized Filipinos populate the\lindanao region. Muslims constiture onlyi0 percent of the population of Mindanao,Palawan and Sulu. The Lumad, or the indig-.'nous non-Muslim, non-Christian groups of:he region, constitute another five percent.

The remainingT5 percent include the in-digenous Visayan-speaking, Christianized peo-ple of northern and eastern Mindanao, as wellas the migrant population from Luzon and theVisayas who settled in Mindanao in large num-bers in the late 1940s. Before this time thesituation was reversed: the Muslims constitut-ed some 75 percent of the population. The

Medialailed to eduoateilm Philippinc publio

*lur. ,- ; .n ieu and analysis ofthe press couerage ofthe Mindanao (Southem Philippina) crisis by

*-E CENTER FOR MEDIA FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY RESEARCH TEAMttutp 1,[ :;:e ntonths of hostage+ahing by the Abu Sayyafgroup and theArmed Forces ofthe Philippines ffinsiue against;iri4' : .: .": i-,lamic Liberation Front fom March to June 2000.

indigenous Visayan-speaking population hasbeen assimilated into the migrant population,but were already in the region when the Span-iards arrived in the 17th c€ntury.

"Moro" refers to the Muslim population.The term itself was first used by the Span-iards, who, upon finding Muslims in the re-gion when they fir'st arrived in the 15th cen-tury, referred to them by the same name asthe Muslims from North Africa who had oc-cupied Spain from 711 to 1492 AD.

As the Spanish colonial period wore on, andthe Muslims resisted conquest, the term Moroacquired the pejorative connotation of pirate.In resisting Spanish rule the Muslims raidedChristian settlements in an attempt to denythe Spaniards their bases of influence, thusthe identification in the minds of ChristianFilipinos of "Moro" with piracy and violence.

The Spanish-Moro wars lasted over 300years, with the Moros never being subjugat-ed, but with the Spaniards labeling every mil-itary expedition against them as a holy waragainst a false religion, in the process develop-ing present prejudices against Muslims amongChristians. The 300 years in which Chris-tians and Moros faced each other in the bat-tlefield, as well as the Spaniards'efforts to [ivethe conflict a religious flavor, have created be-tween Filipino Christians and Filipino Mus-lims the mutual suspicion and animosiry thatin large measure still defines their relationship.

The American colonial government tried to"pacify' the Moros in the same way that theSpaniards tried to effect their conquesr. \fhileoccupied with the Filipino-American war, theUnited States succeeded in getting a rrearysigned with the Sultanate ofSulu to guaran-tee peace in the South untii 1902. This wasthe Bates teaty. By 1903, however, the Amer-icans had organized Mindanao into rhe MoroProvince, a military government led mostlyby US veterans of the American Indian tVars.

It took a decade for the United States colo-nial government to pacify Mindanao militar-ily. During that period, however, the colonialgovernment passed several land laws, whichmade Christian resettlement oossible in Min-

danao, including the Muslim areas. TheAmer-ican policy was indeed to resettle Christiansin "problem areas," meaning areas of Muslimrestiveness. This policy, implemented by sub-sidizing Christian resettlement in Mindanao,which in the American period and later wastouted in the popular press as "The Land ofPromise," was made even more formal withthe establishment of the National Land Set-tlement Administration in 1939.

The Moro Province military administrationwas abolished in 1913 and the Deoartmentof Mindanao and Sulu put in its piace. Themilitary administrators of the region were re-placed by civilian ones, but not by Muslims.Instead the Americans brought in ChristianFilipinos to run the afirbirs of the Department.

The Philippine Government established on

July 4, 1946 continued the policies of theAmerican colonial government. One of themore glaring manifestations of these policieswas the resettlement of former insurgents(known as "Hul<s") in Mindanao in the 1950svia the EDCOR (Economic DevelopmentCorps) program. EDCOR was an anti-insur-gency tactic adopted by the Magsaysey gov-ernment to halt, without dismantling the ten-ancy system, the perennial rebellion among theCentral Luzon peasantry that historically hasbeen fueled by landlessness and share tenancy.

The resettlement of former Huks did de-fuse agrarian unrest in Central Luzon, albeitonly temporarily. But it also created furtheranimosities in Mindanao becween Christianserrlers and Muslims, who in most cases weredriven out of their lands by the settlers andwho after 1948 had become minorities inmost of the region.

The central government in Manila, hav-ing inherited the bias against the Muslims as"pirates and bandits," regarded them as atroublesome minority. The Muslim areashave remained among the poorest in thecountry, to which Muslim leaders from theAmerican period to the present had respond-ed by demanding independence, or, in the1930s, asking that the Muslim areas be madepart of American territory.

Mnnrnl LAw AND rue MNLFIn the 1960s the Jabidah Massacre fanned

widespread Muslim r€sentment against the

Central Government. Muslim trainees, vari-ously estimated as numbering from 28 o 64,were killed on March 18, 1968 by their Phil-ippine Army trainers when they refused to

take part in a planned invasion ofSabah, on

which the Philippines then had a claim.The Moro National Liberation Front regards

the date of the Massacre as its founding date,and celebrates March 18 every year as Bang-

sarnoro (Moro People) Freedom Day. The Ja-bidah Massacre was thus pivotal to the found-ing of the MNLF. But equally crucial in theMuslim leaders'perception that the Christianmajoriry and the central government it dom-inated wanted no less than the Moro peoples'extermination were other massacr€s of Mus-lims by both the Philippine military andarmed Christian groups, among them the Ila-

ga group ofvigilantes. (Filipino Muslim schol-ars cite 21 such massacres between 1970-1971 from a list they insist is incomplete.)

But the last straw for Muslim leaders likeNurullaji Misuari was the declaration of mar-tial law on September 2I, 1972 by the Marcosgovernment. By ordering the conficastion oftheir weapons, the declaration was widely re-garded among Muslims as an attempt to denythem the capacity to defend themselves againstmilitary and Christian marauders.

The MNLF launched its first offensive in Joloon November 14, 1972, orless than wv'o monthsafter the martial law declaration. This was fol-lowed by the Cosbato offensive on February27, 1973. From there the war becween theMNLF's Bangsamorofumyand thefumed Forc-es of the Philippines escalated in terms ofcasual-ties and the destruction of properry culminat-ing in the Batde ofJolo of February 7, 1975,inwhich much ofJolo was burned to the ground.In response the AFP launched various countet-offensives which resulted in some of the blood-iest batdes in the Philippines since'World\Var II.

The war reached a stalemate in 1975. Thestalemat€ resulted in a cease-fire and the Tii-poli Agreement of 1976 brokered by LibyanPresident Muammar Khadaffy. However, abreakdown in peace negotiations after the sign-ing of the Agreement led to the resumptionof hostilities tn 1977. Hostilities continuedsporadically into the 80s as the Tlipoli Agree-ment remained unimplemented.

Tue GRP-MNLF PEACE AGREEMENTThe post-tipoli negotiations broke down

when then President Ferdinand Marcos cre-ated through Proclamation 1628 and Presi-dential Decree No.1618 rwo autonomousgovernments, one in Region IX and anotherin Region XII. The MNLF rejected "autono-

my'' in this form, regarding Marcos'. act as aviolation of the Tlipoli Agreement.

The tipoli Agr€€ment's most critical provi-

sions include:1. Autonomy in Southern Philippines, but

within the framework of the sovereignty and

territorial integriry of the Republic of the Phil-ippines;

2. Thirteen provinces (now fourteen) and

all the cities and villages in them will comprisethe MNLF areas of autonomy;

3. Foreign policy, national defense and con-

trol over mines and mineral resources will be

the Government of the Republic of the Phil-ippines' responsibiliry. But nine issues of au-tonomy will be discussed between the GRPand the MNLF.

4. The issues for discussion were identified

as: the integration of MNLF fighters into the

Armed Forces of the Philippines, th€ creationof a system of Shari'ah courts, an educationalsystem, an administrative system, an econom-ic and financial system, representation in thecentral (GRP) government, the creation of

Special Regional Securiry Forces, the forma-

tion of the Legislative Assembly and the Ex-

ecutive Council, and the autonomous gov-

ernment's share in mining revenues; and

5. The establishment of a provisional gov-ernment for the identified MNLF area of au-tonomy by the GRP

In recognition of the binding character of

this Agreement, the 1987 Constitution wouldIater incorporate most of these provisions. In1977, however the Agreement remained un-

nw

implemented. As negotiations berween the

GRP and MNLF broke down, the MNLFfragmented into four groups:

1. The MNLF under Misuarit leadership2. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front

(MILF) led by Salamat Hashim3, The Bangsa Moro Liberation Organiza-

tion headed by Muslim politicians RascidLucman and Salipada Pendatun.

4. The MNlF-Reformist led by DimasPundato.

Of these groups only the MNLF e:s.

MILF still exist today. The BMLO dirigrated with the deaths ofPendatun ani

man, while the leadership of the lrfNLF

formist joined the GRPI Office of

Affairs in 1985.In 1986 Marcos was overthro\*'n ir

EDSA Peoole Power Revolt. Corazon -{si

assumed the Presidencv, and initiared inegotiations with the MNLF in the same

Aquino herself met with Misuari in Jolo i1987. Other meetings bewveenand MNLF representatives also took plro !

Jeddah and in several places in the Philippumc'

Aquino was replaced by Fidel Ramor m1992. Through a series of meetings in Triprrib"

Libya; Cipanas and Jakarta ltt 1t-tdsnssi2; rnilll

in southern Philippines, the peace agreerD{lld

of 1996 between the Government of the Rs-public of the Philippines (GRP) and rlc

MNLF was eventually put together.The 1996 peace agreement bound bod.

parties to a peaceful political solution to ri"'

"Mindanao Problem." The MNLF agrea.

that the agreement "is the full implemenn-

tion of the l976Tripoli Agreement," and rh"r

the peace agreement superseded the Tripo-

Agreement itself.The peace agreement identified cwo phase*

in the realization of Muslim autonomy: dccreation of the Southern Philippines Counciifor Peace and Development, and the estab-

lishment of the Regiond Autonomous Gov-

ernment. ln 1996, however, the MNLF wonthe elections of September 9 and gained con-trol of the existing Autonomous Region ofMuslim Mindanao (ARMM) governmentthrough an alliance with then President Ra-

mos' Lakas Parry. It is the ARMM govern-ment which has a term of up to late 1999,since then extended by Congress till 2000.

However, substantive autonomy would berealized only in Phase 2, the creation of the

E

E

:E

qffw"'iq,,

Government troops: complications in an all-out war.

$

F

Irrcrffistwljmll

ff F{*sh a [mGG

,rllit " - -r:ronomous Government. Phase 2*,, r. .: '.:in *,ith the end of the three-year,r'in t .:. -\RIVIM government. The Philip-- r r .:,::ess has so far not passed any bill- " - - - - i n o P h e c e 7- _ _ _ " " i

' r :.:::. of the ARMM coincides with ther: '- -:le SPCD, which would be phased; , .:. RAG is created. The SPCD hasr - - -. r:r over 14 provinces and nine cities

-.:r:rao. The OIC is mandated by the,*; : | -':::: to monitor its implementation.

*-i! r" LF PostTtoN- ', l.illF did not participate in the GRP-

-: ralk that resulted in the peace agree-- ' - ' : - 996, although it did say in the MILF-

--. _loint Statement of May 1994 that ir,L--:, :::d the talks. However, the MILF also.r : . :he same statement that it still adhered

, f : ipol i Agreemenr " in letter and spir i t ."; :: -: ..i. of what it believed were substantial-: :::ins from the Tiipoli Agreement in the

-- ' 'Le MILF found the: - ^ .1 -^ , , ^ . -

:: never, the MILF is no longer limiting' ...: :o the terms of the Tiipoli Agreement,- ::. rhe talking points it has identified in- : .ourse of its negotiations with the GRP-.:se ralking points - or what should con-

::-:e the "substantive agenda" of the GRP-, : - L F talks as far as the MILF 15 66116g116c[ -

- rar beyond the concerns of the t ipol i-::iement. The MILF bottom line seems to- : :har rhe 1996 peace agreemenr w i l l no t: ::,. ide a lasting solution to "the Bangsamoro:::blem," since i t does not address what i t:=iards as the broad range of issues which: -',mprise that problem.

The issues the MILF has identified as need-.:g solutions "include, but are not limited to":

i. Issues of intrusion into Muslim ancesrraliomain; the declaration by GRP of ancestraljomain as public and disposable, alienable.and; and the destruction of the same

2. Moro landlessness, including GRP reset-:lement policies and the "minoritization" of,he Moro people

3. Human rights issues4. Social and culrural discrimination againsr

Vus l ims in schoo ls and rhe governmenr . in -cluding efforts to "assimilate" Muslims

5. "Corruption of the mind and moral fi-ber" of Musiims brought about by the mis-representation of Islam in media and theschools, as well as by the proliferation of gam-bl ing, drugs and prosrirut ion

6. Economic inequiry and poverty

7. Exploitation ofnatural resources includ-ing environmental degradation

8. Agrarian issues including land grabbingPrimarily, the MILF is saying that the above

range of political, economic and cultural is-sues constitute the roots of the oroblem inMindanao; rhar neither rhe Tripolf Agreemenrnor the peace agreement of 1996 addressedthem; and that, therefore, the problem is farfrom being solved.

In any event, the MILF has emerged as theleading armed Muslim group in the Philip-pines. Its program has been fairlywell articu-lated by its chair, Salamat Hashim, who in hisThe Bangsamoro Mujahid: His Objectiues andResponsibilities identified the MILF's final ob-

.jectives as:1. The establishment of a true Muslim com-

munity;2. The establishment of an authentic Islamic

system of government; and3. Enabling Muslims to live an Islamic way

of life.The MILF has a Four -po in t p rogram to

achieve these aims: Islamization; organizationaldevelopment; development of i ts mil i tarycapabiliry; and self-reliance.

Islamization basically consists of strength-ening Islamic reners among the faithful, aswell as linking the Moro struggle for autono-my/independence to the imperative to livelives according to Islamic teaching, for whichpurpose the MILF has a core of Islamic schol-ars. This is the critical difference berween theMNLF and the MILF in that the latter re-gards Islamization as fundamental to Moroliberation. This approach has also enabledthe MILF ro expand irs forces rapidly.

Organizational development has mainly con-sisted of the MILF's organizing into regionalgovernments the major cities and provincesof Muslim Mindanao. As of 1997 the MILF

:tlil:l.J: have organized 17 regional gov-

The MILF armed forces have six divisionswith a claimed strength of 120,000 regulartroops and 200,000 irregulars, although someestimates have been higher. In late 1997 esti-mates of its weaponry ranged from 70,000 to80,000 assault rifles, machine guns, mortarsand anti-tank weapons. These figures wouldmake the MILF the biggest and most well-armed revolutionary group in the Philippines.The MILF also has a small arms factory, buthas admitted receiving arms from foreignsources'without str inss attached."

Sources and Additional References

Cagoco-Guiam, Rufa. Telling the Truth of the "Other":

lmages of lslam and Muslims in the Philippines.

Gowing, Peter. Mandate in Moroland.

Kalinaw Mindanaw. Introducing The People of Mindan-

aw. (w. m i ndanao.com/kal inaw)

Maful, Cesar Adib. Ihe Muslims in the Philippines.

Santos, Soliman V. Jr. The Moro National Liberation

Front (MNLF) and the Moro lslamic Liberation Front

MILF).

The studyThe war in Mindanao has already cost many

lives, as well as millions of pesos in economiclosses and government funds for military ex-oenditures.

But the threat ofprolonged conflict has notdissipated. Tensions between Muslims andChristians are intensifying, with all their at-tendant poss ib i l i t i es fo r con t inu ing andheightened ethnic strife. The long-term im-pact of the Mindanao crisis, particularly thearmed conf l i c t , on Ph i l ipp ine soc ie ty as awhole could also include the worsening ofthe economic, social and cultural problemsthat have piagued the Republic since i tsfounding.

For its consequences alone, the Mindanaocrisis is news. Since the mass media are the mainsources of citizen information on the crisis, itmay be presumed that much of what Filipinoshave come to know about the crisis as well astheir senriments on the main protagonists comelrom mass media. This makes mass media cru-cial factors in public understanding ofthis cri-sis, and therefore, in the publict opinions asimportant inputs in governance.

Mass media practitioners may claim that theirtask is merely to mirror what is happening insociery. But media processes are subject to theselective discrimination of the reporter at thebeat and the editor at the desk. \7hi1e massmedia should ideally'tell what happened," thedifficulties inherent in meeting that responsi-bility often make the tasks of reporters, editorsand opinion writers extremely problematic.

It is easy enough to say that the reportermust report the truth. However, the individ-ual reportert own beliefs and biases, the qual-iry and quantiry of his sources, as well as anewspapert editorial policy and those con-victions and biases most individuals have onan issue ofpublic concern do shape the kindofnews stories that appear on the front pages,as well as the opinions that see print in theopinion-editorial sections. The result could bepublic misinformation - and therefore a fail-ure of the democratic process which dependsso critically on a sovereign people's having ac-cess to accurate and meaninsful informationFor decision-making.

To determine the scope ofpress coverage ofthe Mindanao crisis, as well as whether it hasbeen substantially fatr, enlightening and bal-

Total Art ic les by Newspi lpBr = 1633

Mani la Bu l le t in164

Ph i l i pp ine Da i l yInqui rer

486

tr lillilq Conllal

w &bion

D MLF

I ftu kwd

tr &sibnhslages

MWOIC/MIF

A tuvsmm€nl Polbies

E Oltufs

Subject Matter

1 8 0

Total Ar t ic les by Month = 1633

anced, the Center for Media Freedom and

Responsibiliry (CMFR) did a content anaiy-

sis covering the months of March, April, May

and June 2000- the critical months of the

crisis, and therefore the months during whichthe Philippine press concentrated much of its

coverage on Mindanao.

Methodology. Content analysis as used injournalism research is a method that throughpurposive sampling and analysis seeks to de-termine the content and slant of news and

opinion, the treatment of personalities in thenews, and news sourcing,

Newspapers studied. The CMFR studyIooked at the news and opinion pages offive

Metro Manila-based broadshsgs - fiu5ing55'

Vorld, the Manila Bulletin, the PhilippineDaly Inquirer, the Philippine Star and'Today.The period covered was from March l-June

30, 2000.

Article t1pes. The researchers grouped thearticles in the above pages into news, editori-als and columns, as well as background mate-rial. However, the last rwo categories over-

; . . ; 't t , ' t " : ' ,

' i"" ',1

lapped in the few instances when an opinion

column also attempted to provide background

material on Mindanao;

Subject matter, On the basis of subject mat-

ter, the researchers identified the followingas

the subjects of the articles studied: Military

conflictl Soldiers: the Mindanao situation; the

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF); the

Abu Sayyaf; the Basilan hostages; the Jolo hos-

tages; Local business; the National economy;

Evacuations and refugees; Peace and unity;

Peace negotiations; \7omen and children; the

Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao(ARRM), the Moro National Liberation Front(MNLF), and the Organization of the Islamic

Conference (OIC); Bombings and other kid-

nappings; the Federalism proposal; Govern-

ment policies; and others.The analysis of articles used the following

criteria:1. Number, frequency and prominence of

articles - placement of news stories; whether

they appeared on the front page or in the

inside pages2. Tieatment - whether the story treated

the news subject positively or negatively

3. W/hat sources were used, as well as r"irm ,n

number of sources, or only one soutce, ua5 mil

Content analysis findingsAs expected, the broadsheets studied -.:n,-

ered the Mindanao crisis extensivelr'. ,\ :,:crl

of 1 ,633 articles appeare d tn the Busines:Y+1''nn

the Manila Bulletin, Philippine Sraa *re Pirr-

ippine Daily Inquirer md Tbday durinE *'

period under study.Reflecting the rapid deterioration of the \{-:-

danao situation into crisis proportions, 1-y rr-

ticles appeared in these broadsheets in l{r:l

220 in Apnl; 543 in Mayl' and 691 in Jr:,:Of the total articles published during the t..r--

month period, 30o/o appeared in the lru1*:*r

25o/o in Today 22o/o in the star 13o/o in Br::-

nessWorll; and 10% in the Bulletin.

As the Mindanao crisis intensified, the nu::.-

ber offront-page articles began to increase froi:-

alow of 67 in March to a high of 370 in Junrfor a total of 879 articles appearing on tht

front pages during the four-month perioj.

Articies on Mindanao in the inside pages. to-

ta1ing756, also increased from 112 in Marcl

to 321 by June.Of the total 1633 articles, columns and corn-

mentaries accounted for 172, while editorial-.

numbered 102.

DiscussionReports on the Mindanao crisis appeared in

the Star as early as March, when the shooting

war was just about to break out. Most of these

reports, 27, werc in the inside pages. Eleven(11) were front-page articles. The number o[

Sar front pageMindanao news stories increased

to 32 in April while those in the inside pages

decreased to 18. The number of Star articles

on the Mindanao crisis increased in late April

after the kidnapping in Sipadan Island.

The number of Mindanao crisis-related news

stories in the Sar continued to increase in May

andJune. Sixty-seven (67) news stories appeared

on the front page, while 52 were in the inside

pages for May. In June, there were 143 Mind-

anao crisis-related news stories tn the Star. Of

these,77 were on the front page and 66 in the

inside pages. The number of stories in the inside

pages included 49 Star editorials and columns

during the period covered by the study.The Inquirer articles about the Mindanao

crisis in March were almost equally divided

between the front page and the inside pages.

Twenry-one (21) articles were on the front

page with the remaining 16 in the inside pag-

es in the Inquirer issues of March. In April,

the number of Inquirer front-page articles in-

creased to 36 out of 50 articles; inside page

articles were only a little more than a dozen.

The subjects of these articles ranged from

MllF-government negotiations to the Basi-

Ian hostages and the Abu Sayyaf.

E D J '

?hilippine Pre sident Fidel V. Ramos (cente r) and Autonomous Region Governor Nur Misuari after the 7996 peace agreement

- i:.rmatic increase in the number of articles'. ., [itquirer, both on the front page and in

, .:.-ride pages, occurred in May ar-rd June.:

'.-O [nquirerarticles on the Mindanao crisis

.1;r'. 100 were on the lront page while the

,::.,-ining 70 were in the inside pages.':.e

Inquirer printed 122 front-page news- :::s about Mindanao in its June issues. For-

' -::..c (45) articles were either editorials or

. .:ion pieces. The total number of Inquirer

,: :- ; les on Mindanao for June was 229. Of

: :s., 184 were news stories, 22 editorials and

--. opinion columns..he Abu Salyaf's admission that the foreign

: :rists kidnapped in Sipadan in late April had

:en turn€d over by another group to their

- ;stody increased the number of articles in the

.-,:t/ttirer. The increased coverage the kidnap-

::ngs drew from both national and interna-

:ronal media further boosted this number.

-\ total of406 Mindanao-related articles were

:rinted by Tbtlay during the period under

'rudy. There were 259 front-page reports;

117 tn the inside pages of which 23 opinionarticles and 15 editorials on Mindanao.

As the crisis in Mindanao escalated, there,vas a steady increase in the number of Today'sMindanao-related news articles from Marchto June. At the same time, the news reports'placement gradually shifted from the inside

pages to the front pages.At the start of the conflict in March, TodaT

printed only 59 Mindanao news articles. Ofthese, 21 were front-page news articles while

38 were in the inside pages. ByJune the num-

ber had increased almost three-fold at I 59news articles. One hundred-five (105) were

on the front page while only 54 were in the

inside pages.Banner stories on Mindanao started to reg-

ularly appear in Todal towards the end of

March, due to the MILF's occupation of the

Kauswagan town hal l on March i6, which

s igna led the s ta r t o f in tens i f ied f ighr ing be-

tween government troops and the MILF, fol-

lowed by the Abu Sayyaf kidnappings in

Basilan and Sipadan. In May and June, the

Today banner story was almost always on the

Mindanao crisis.BusinessWorld. published 217 articles on

Mindanao from March to June. Of this num-

ber, 193 were news reports and 24 oprnion

articles. Despite BusinessWorlls market niche

as a business paper, it gave considerable im-

portance to the Mindanao situation. Business-

World did not have any editorial on the crisis

since it does not normally have an editorial.Among the 2I7 articles publishedby Busi'

nessWorld dtring the four-month period under

study, only five were banner stories. All five dealt

with the effects of the crisis on the economy.However, there was a steady increase in

the number of BusinesstVorld news articlesfrom March to June. The figure for May(7t) was more than dcuble that of March(28), and Apri l (30). In June, the numberincreased to 76.

BusinessWorld printed 12 front-page articles

on Mindanao; 205 Mincianao-related news

articles appeared in its inside pages. Business'

World pur only one article on the front page

in March. For the whole month ofApril, noth-

ing on Mindanao was printed an the Busi'

nessWorld Front-page. It bannered the Mind-

anao situation only twice in May, but nine

times ir-r June.BusinessWorld front-page articles were consis-

rentlv lewer than its articles in the inside pages.

Almost al l , or 13 out of the 16 Bullet in

March reports on the Mindanao crisis, re-

ceived front-page treatment. The reports were

mostly on the possible outcome of the peace

talks berween the GRP panel and the MILF

and the government's vision for peace and

development in Mindanao.The Bulletin gave news about appeals for

peace From various sectors prominent treat-

ment in April. However, its reports on the

Abu Saryaf kidnappings outnumbered i ts

reports on the escalating war between the

MILF and government troops. The number

of Bulletin reports on the Mindanao crisis in-

creased from 16 in March to 24 in April, most

of them about the Abu Salyaf kidnapping.However, the Bulletin continued in April to

give banner treatment to stories on the gov-

ernment's views on the GRP-MILF peace

talks. Although reports on the governmentt

war w i th rhe MILF and rhe Mindanao c r is is

as a whole were dominant, stories from the

government perspecr ive were aga in g ivenprominent treatment in rhe Bulletin in June.

In general, the Bulbtin gave reports on the

Mindanao crisis prominent treatment. Of 164

articles, 1 4 1 appeared on th e Bulletin front page.

Of 24 inside page articles, only ten were newsstories. The remaining 14 were opinion pieces.

From these findings it is evident that thebroadsheets studied regarded the Mindanaocrisis as significant enough to deserve exten-sive coverage, including fronr-page rreatment.

The amount of information made availableto readers, at leasr from the five newspapersstudied - three of which claim the largest cir-culations in the country - would thus appearto be adequate, averaging 326.6 per newspa-per during the four-month period, or 81.65articles per month per newspaper. But the kind

and federalism 23.These figures show that the reporting on

Mindanao followed the patterns dictated bycommercial interesrs in the form of circula-tion boosting, given the emphasis on violenceand other issues that lend themselves ro sen-sational treatment. The lop sided emphasison the Jolo hostages compared to the cover-age of the Basilan hosrages appears to havebeen motivated by the above impulse.

The reporting on the Jolo hostages was alsoaccompanied by photographs meant ro em-phasize their state ofhealth and living condi-

\X/hen reports on such events are ar:i: o*time predominantly sourced from

".:-r :M

of two protagonists, the problem is :--rurcompounded, since the parries involl:: xmthe confl ict have their respecrive aE.:. . :-dwhich could be furthered through rhr :iL'c.semination of misleading informarion. c.: :,mthrough disinformation.

SouRcesThe overwhelming source of informa::,n

as far as the news stories and some oi =copinion pieces were concerned - a ror;- :r1,428 - was government, which \\'ri 3.source for 1,055 of the above articles. l:,,tAbu Sayyaf was the source in 72 of the a::-cles; the MILF in 67: the business com::-:-nity in 18, civil society 37; the leligious -.:-tor 38; and others, 141.

The Star reports were generally based. .:government sources, including i ts repo:::on the MILF and the Abu Salyaf. The :.-ports about Nur Misuari and the NI\Lrwere from hostile sources such as PNP D:-rector Panfilo Lacson and AFP Chief of Srar:-Angelo Reyes. Only the Star's business sro-r ies were sourced from non-governmenrsources (business people).

The amount of government sources used inthe Inquirer's amicles greatly outnumberedsources from other sectors. In March, Mar'and June, a great ma.joriry of its sources werefrom the governmenr - 271 out of 300sources for the three-month period. Hower'-er, in April, only a little more than half (58olo)of the total number of sources came from thegovernmenr . S ta tements f rom the AbuSalyal the MILF, the religious sector and othergroups accounted for 18 of th.e 43 sourcescounted for that month.

Information from the Inquirer's govern-ment sources was usually followed by a cor-responding stalgrnsnl -.d/trsther comments,opinions or objections - from the orher par-

ry either the spokesperson of the MILF orthe Abu Salyaf. The Inquirer also had re-ports in which a governmenr official contra-dicted what anorher government official said.Such was the case on May 19, when onegovernmenr source claimed that a $2M ran-som was be ing demanded by the AbuSalyai while another said that no such de-mand was made. Bur out of the 389 majorsources used in Inquirer stories, 271 weregovernment sources.

The Inquirer used the business secfor as asource three times during the period understudy - all in June. Only mo of the storieswere about the business situation in Mindan-ao while the other was about a businessmandonating P1 million ro free some of the Basi-lan hostages: "Mindanao fighting seen siash-ing company earnings, hitting stocks," "Tiad-er gives PlM for Basilan hostages," "Fightingkeeps PAL away from Cotabato."

of information that was thereby made avail-able - as reflected in subject marrer, arricle

rype, and treatmenr - is equaily crucial.

Sualecr mnrrenIn terms of subject matrer, the Mindanao-

related articles in the five broad sheets wereoverwhelmingly on the Jolo hostages (317),followed by the military conflict (279 arti-cles). Articles on the Basilan hostases followedin frequency. with I B0 arr icles. th.r. *.r .136 articles on bombings and other kidnap-pings; 108 articles on government policies;100 on ARMM/OIC/ the MNLF; 97 onthepeace negotiarions; 80 on the national econo-rrry; 66 on the rhemes of peace and unity.Soldiers were the subjects of9 articies; articleson the general Mindanao situation 48; theMILF 46; the Abu Sayyaf 37; local business23; evacrations 24; women and children Bl

tions as well as their momenrs of emotionalcrisis. \fhile this is understandable, that theBasilan hostages did not receive the same ievelof attention suggests that the news agendawas being shaped not only by the world at-tention focused on the foreign hostages, butalso by their story's being more susceptibleto sensationai treatment.

BncrcRout to tIATERIALOf the 1,633 articles that appeared in?ll

five broadsheets from March to June, only 22may be classified as background material, inthe sense of their attempting to put events inMindanao in a socio-historical context so as tobroaden public understanding of the crisis.This is only a little more than one percent ofall the articles studied.

Of the 22, three appeared in rhe Bulletin;two tn BusinessWorld; seven in Today; two inthe Star; and eight in the Inquirer. The mostcomprehensive background materials wereprovided 6y the Inquirer, which published,among other articles, a rwo-part interviewwithMILF Cha i r Sa lamat Hash im.

However, the relative paucity of back-ground material raises the question of howsuccessfuiiy the press has made the Mindan-ao crisis comprehensible to their readers, sinceevents reporred out of conrext are iikely tobe misunderstood.

Provid ing Background7

6E

,

1

0

.^\d-.$-

-.e"o$"

t'>tt"

$o"s at""t'"t ^'*'

TotaI Sources = 1428

n GOvernmentM N/ ILFI Abu Sayyaftr BusinessI Civil Society

E Religious SectorI Others

^rr --',lottirer used sources from the reli-

,tu *", more often than sources from the:i&rrllrr.iii ;ommuniry. Fifteen of the totallll:ffnre: i Inquirer sources were from theJffjt!ryr:,r oector. The majority of these weremrm -:c Carholic Church. Some of the head-,:nrr,

'3ulacan Muslims denounce Abu

;rrirlrffi;,:' -CBCP condemns killings," "Pope

r:,,us lr.:h of hostages," "Bishop appeals forursm i:: \{indanao evacuees," and "Sin callsmnr' t',-:a' prayer and fasting."

'-ic ioremment was almost always the ma-

lu,t' r:,i:e oi Today news rePorts. At any given:n,r ri 'r-- -:r rhis study, almost all of the articles of,:,t*o,.r' ::lied mainly on gov€rnment sources,

L: '.{-irch, 50 out of 57 Today reports wereut.'u-:.': liom the government. The next ma-rl- j: -:;. was the Abu Sayyaf - which was,

rrir' i ::. a major source of only three articles.l-:.:: *'as a drop in the number of articles

;iL;:r iourced from the government in April..,". 19 of 54 Mindanao-related Today arti-

:x$ 'i.re artributed to the govefnment. Therns:;: =aior Today source was the Abu Sa1yaf,irr-:: *'as the source of eight articles.

. , \{av and June, 92 of 116, and 102 of- loday articles were sourced from the

l : , : i : rment resPectively,j*-::ost all the Mindanao-related articles in

j,t :, : c -, : Vor ld were similarly sourced from the! : ' : i n m e n f .

- :.c government was the major source in'- our of 193 Mindanao-related articles in

:;-':,tess\World. Far behind the government, .:: 'Others,'

16 articles, and the MILF, 13--:,;les, the n€xt Nvo major sources of infor--,'rion tapped by reporters.

lnere were no BusinessWorld reoorters in.l.rdanao; all were in Metro Manila during

-:.. period under study. BusinessWorld there-::re relied heavily on the services of Reuters'-,,1 other wire services for reports on the hot,r*lts in Mindanao.

Tlte Bullztin reports were also generally anrib--ied to government sources. As in the other pa--rs, the reports about the MILF and the Abu!:rvaf had gov€rnment officials such as Orlan-:o Mercado and Roberto Aventajado as sources.

Government officials were the major sourc-.s in 161 of the Bulletin's reports. Twenry-j-'\-en articles relied on sources such as foreignournalists, foreign governments, and person-:1 observation, among others.

The Bulhtin repofts on personalities lobby-ing for peace were mosdy from government orqovernment-r€lated sources, if not governmentofficials, with the €r(ception of some religiousleaoers.

Posttvp nruo NEGATIvE TREATMENTHow did the major actors in the Mindanao

story fare in media treatment?Those who ended up looking good were

also the dominant sources of news. \X/here didthe press get much of the stories? From gov-

ernment officials, civilian or military, who clear-ly received positive treatment in the coverage.

In general, favorable ffeatment was reservedfor the government and military and the neg-ative for the Abu Sayyafi the MILF and Mus-lims in general.

However, the editorials were more critical ofgovernment, even as the military continued

to get negative comments. MILF treatmentin the editorials was mixed, but Muslim per-sonalities such as Nur Misuari generally re-ceived negative trearmenr.

Busrrurs/EcoNolryThe discussion of Mindanao as a region

should include the perspective or outlook forbusiness and the regional economy. Duringthis crisis, the business/economic news re-ceived significantiy less news space.

Even in BusinessWorld, Mindanao economyand business did not arnount to much in thenews agenda.

WH,cr cAuseo rHE "wAR"?The coverage of Mindanao before the first

critical date in this period ofanalysis, the Basi-lan hostage taking on March 21, revealed thatthe press carried mostly stories about the peacetalks which were still in process between gov-ernment and the MILF. The stories on mili-tarylMILF encounters or on armed actionsby Muslim militants appeared in the cover-age as sporadic incidents. None ofthese servedas any indication that the MILF or the mili-tary was building up or preparing for a totalwar offensive.

The topics in March before the Basilan kid-nappings were:

1. Peace negodations between the GRP andthe MILF, and

2. Skirmishes berween government troopsand MILF.

Newspaper readers musr hav€ found thesudden outbreak of hostiliries surprising, in-viting the question, "V/hat caused the'war' tobreak out?"

According to the reports that did get pub-

lished, the military said it took up the offen-sive because, among others,

.The MILF hadviolated terms ofagreements;

. The MILF had resorted to extortion; and

. The MILF had begun attacking civilians.A retrospective analysis shows the following

events and the appearance of repons on thefighting.

The agreement on April 27 between gov-ernment forces and the MILF over the NarcisoRamos Highway suggests the odd timing ofthe military anacks against the MILF. Both themilitary and MILF had reached a tentativeagreement to work out a solution to the occu-pation of parts of the highway by MILF forces.Part of the agreement was that their respectiveforces wou.ld remain in their positions.

This agreement was not given any prominencein the news coverage, although it was vaguelyreferred to in a number of stories. A story of theInquirer enumerated the points of the military-MILF agreement, but this was buried in thejump section of a front-page story.

These points were:. For the Philippine National Police to take

over the Ramos Highway to ensure securityand iaw and order.

. For government and MILF units to re-main in their current positions.

. For the joint ceasefire committee to sub-mit its recommendations on the issue on orbefore May 15, 2000.

Only the Philippine Post gave this promi-nent front-page play. This story had peace-advocate priest Fr. Eliseo Mercado as a sourceand drew from his perspective.

The Inquirer referred to speculation in somesectors about the purpose of the war in aneditorial (May 9) and in an interview withMuslim leader and academic Dr. MichaelMastura (May 7).

The editorial referred to a "wag-the-dog"

scenario. In the interview article, Dr. Masturareferred to the government scenario as the "Pu-tin formula."

THe lNvtstgle secuRtrY FRAMEWoRKIn the course of war and other conflicts,

news will usually involve the larger perspec-tive ofnational security from the appropriategovernmenr authorities.

Reference to this larger framework of securi-

ry in the press was practically nil. NationalSecuriry Adviser Gen. Alexander Aquirre saidthat as of September 1999 the Cabinet Secu-riry Cluster had drawn up a framework onthe Mindanao conflict. Yet there was noth-ing about this in the press except much later,when Nur Misuari had made his much-ma-ligned speech at the Organization of IslamicConference in Kuala Lumpur.

CottclusroNTHn ror-r-ovaxc.coNclustoNs MAy BE DM\rN

FROM THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY:

1.The preponderance of the governmentview raises questions not only about the bd-

ance and fairness of the reporting, but also

about the accuracy of the news reports and

the reliabiliry of such news stories as the basis

of opinion pieces - of columns as well as

editorials. Statements to the press about the

course of the war generally were sourced from

AFP headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo. There

were few, if any, correspondents directly in

touch with field commanders or with com-

munities affected by the war.2. The disturbing pauciry of background

material raises the question on how well the

press made this crisis comprehensible to the

public, since events reported out of context

are usually op€n to misunderstanding, espe-

cially if they are part of a complex historical

Process.3. This poverty of background material

blurred in the public mind the clear distinc-tion bewveen the Abu Sayyaf and the MILF

and the differences in their goals and meth-

ods. This resulted in their equal "demoniza-

tion," and unfortunately, that of all Muslims.

This was aided by expressions of anti-Mus-lim sentiments by some columnists and edi-

torial writers as well as by the mostly negativetreatment Muslim sources received from the

press.This lack of background did not diminish

public ignorance about the course of imple-

mentation of the comprehensive Peace Pro-cess. The media did not refer to past gains,nor the course set by law to provide meaning-ful autonomy for the Muslim community.

The public had no real understanding or ap-preciation of the legitimate grievances of the

Muslim communitywhose members still have

to convince themselves that the governmentis serious about addressing the demand for

autonomy and the recognition of their way oflife.

The lack of background material in the pressmatched the policy sryle of the Estrada ad-ministration, which often resorted to decision-making without consideration of, and refer-

ence to, a larger policy process.These gaps in press coverage also ignored

the larger policy questions and preventeda more comprehensive interpretation of thecrisis as more than just war and military

operations.4. The emphasis on military conflict and

the hostage incidents drove other subjectmatters out of the news pages, thus providinga lop sided picture of events in Mindanao.There were days when the front pages of themajor broadsheets covered nothing else butnews of the hostages, providing a distortedpicture of events in the rest of the country.

5. Because of the greater emphasis on

the Jolo hostages relative to the MILF con-

flict, the Abu Sayyaf received more expo-sure than the MILF; despite the latter 's

lengthy on-again, off-again peace talks with

the government. Both the Abu Sayyaf

and the MILF were commonly referred to

as "terrorists " and "rebels," again blurring

the distinction between the two.

6. The Abu Salyaf ended up gaining more

legitimacy than it apparently deserves. This

exDosure on the same level as the MILF and

the merging of their identities into one paint-

ed the Muslim struggle in the darkest tones,

weakening the case for the need to address

their grievances.

7. There was no attempt to call reader atten-

tion to the fact that the armed hostilities were

taking place between Filipinos, not betweenFilipinos and people from another country.

On the contrary, there was much saber-rat-

tling and even calls for a ruthless battle cam-

paign against "the enemy." This could have

contributed to the resurgence of anti-Muslim

sentiments evident since the Sipadan hostage

taking.

OpeN coveRnceRecall the conduct of the war in Mindanao

during the Marcos regime, not as a prescrip-

tion of how to do things, but to note the

impact of "news" on public sentim€nt. The

war in Mindanao during the Marcos period

was largely kept as an invisible operation, since

the press was controlled and regulated by-the

government. The news that came out of the

military establishment were mosdy limited to

ceremonial appearances of generals, public

officials with Muslim surrenderees, and later

the Tiipoli agreement.In contrast, press cov€rage of the March-

July war has been open and extensive. But

the sryle and treatment of news also triggered

negative public perceptions of, and opinions

about Muslim Filipinos; perhaps more than

the Mindanao wars of the seventies did at the

time.The survey firm Social'Weather Stations has

pointed out that one ofthe constants ofpub-

lic opinion in the Philippines has been a de-

gree of anti-Muslim prejudice. Nevertheless,

the Philippines has been fortunate enough

not to be afflicted by the kind ofethnic con-

flict seen in neighboring ASEAN countries.

\7ith the peace process gaining ground and

the work of peace advocates in the last de-

cade, inter-faith harmony had risen st=-&

cantly, especially with the relative stab",:v

gained during the Ramos years. 'We

cut ...r:ir

hooe that this crisis will not funher di.re

Christiar and Muslim Filipinos.

The coverage of this war together with &o,ic

official public statements by the govemmea:

which showed a marked insensitiviry to *c

rightful place and struggle of Muslim Filirr-

nos may have easily raised levels of resentmen:

Carol Arguillas, PDI Mindanao Bureau chid

and columnist, recounts incidents of prejuci:-

cial treatment of Muslim civilians in ManiL

fluly 10, 2000). Unless government begi.c-r

to change its tack and reverts to the Fiame-

work of its total approach, the resentmen:

between Muslims and non-Muslims can deep

en into lines of conflict that will be more dill

ficult to erase in the firture.One can speculate that the higher appror-ai

ratings enjoyed by Estrada during the crisis

came from the successful wooing of public

approval through the means of war. The Es-

trada government might have found a solu-

tion to the problem of his sagging popularin-.

But we cannot know what this has cost in

terms of peace.

A svtlt-r- lNo NARRow AsPEcrAs for the press, the treatment of these re-

cent developments shows once again a failure

to conduct the public service ofnews gather-

ing and dissemination as an educational pro-

cess. It is not enough for people to know

about the conduct of military operations by

gov€rnment troops taking over former MILF

territory. This is only a small and narrow as-

pect of what is really going on.The news here is not only about the events

but the background and context of events.

Once again, the "bad news" has not occasioned

a learning experience for the public - the

broadening or deepening of public under-

standing about historical conflict.The public remains ignorant of the whole

picture that constitutes the Mindanao realicy.

In rhe beginning of this crisis, some respon-

dents to television surveys said that they real-

ly did not feel affected by the news, saying

Mindanao was so far away. Such listeners and

readers were provided with limited informa-

tion and it would not be surprising if, after so

much news on Mindanao, they did not gain

a greater understanding or appreciation of

what is needed to create the conditions that

will finally bring peace to this part of the coun-

try.The flawed treatment of complex events

holds back public understanding of the is-

sues involved in any crisis. In the case of Min-

danao, this public ignorance makes it so much

easier for the national leadership to keep slip-

ping into blind corners, and to undertake and

sustain a course of action that creates bigger

problems in Mindanao and the rest of the

countfy.

Ths wwwwffiffima$ ffircWffiwffiK&ffiKffiffiwffipFmwffiffiwm*edffiffimKwmtrngffiffiffiffiWWWW 87 MruNon eu Nros oe Jesus, ps .ppuesi:t,L 7i2 Js5us, a former newspaper editor is executiue director of the Center for Media Freedorn andic::o,uibility, a watchdog foundation, and publisher of the Philippine Journalisrn Reuiew. Hertre:: is an updated adaptation forn a paper she dcliuered at the ASEAN Peoplets Assembly ini;;;nt Indonesia in Nouember 2000.

l. " .\ THE assignment of this subject, a jour--., isr presumes that the term "media" refers;:'ocifically to the news media or the "press."

. le press includes not only newspapers and

. ier similar print formats, but also broadcast:.sws media such as radio and television. It:::av also include other new forms of news::ansmission in cyberspace. The character and-onduct of the press set it apart from othei:redia such as theater, film and books. Therress provides news and commentary relevant:o public affairs. It is oriented toward politics;nd policy-making. It is seen as an institutionct power in its own righc, its practitioners en-ioving both stature and influence that lastsbeyond the elected officials'term ofoffice.

In a sense, the press plays a roie in the sys-rem ofgovernance prevailing in a country. Incontrolled political systems, the press serves asthe handmaid of 'government, providing in-formation with official guidance or control.In democratic political systems, the press actsas the "fourth estate" whose function is tocheck the practice ofpower and to create themeans by which citizens can become engagedin governance, albeit in varying degrees.

The press as we know it today has evolvedfrom a practice that was quite simple andlimited. Individuals who gathered togetherfor talk about various questions started thefirst forms of press ,.tiuiry giving more per-manent form to this stream of conversationby recording it in writing and spreading such

writings to a wider circle or audience.As these ideas gathered support or consen-

sus, facilitating change or action. The im-portance and significance of the press grew asthe me d ia expanded and d ivers i f ied .Through the press, people who did not knoweach other could share and exchange knowl-edge and information and conduct continu-ing dialogue and debate.

Through the media, the discussion reachesa multitude of people. Assisted by techno-logical advances, this could be accomplishedin an instant, reaching so many all at once.

Thus, we have seen the subject of the me-dia cropping up like the proverbial bad pen-ny. Today, discussions about any other sub-ject often take up the role ofthe press. Peoplesee media as a major factor in the course ofpublic events, whether as help or hindrance,an ally or an enemy.

\7e may all agree about the media's impor-tance; but as Henry David Thoreau observed,so much of it could be taken with a grain of salt:

"I am sure that I have never read any mem-orable news in a newspaper. If we read of oneman robbed, or murdered, or killed by acci-dent or one house burned or one vesselwrecked, or one steamboar blown up, or onecow run over on the W'estern Railroad, or onemad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers inthe winter - we never need read of another. Ifyou are acquainted with the principle, whatdo you care for myriad instances and appiica-

tions? To a philosopher all news, as it is called,is gossip and they who read it or edit it are oldwomen over their tea,"

Clearly, Thoreau was speaking in a differenttime. His politically incorrect description ofthe users of news rings like an echo from adistant age. But he does underline what ex-ists even today, the application of press prac-tice to trivia and the seemingly ephemeralqualiry of "news" from day to day.

In this day of 24-hour global news provid-ers and of Internet, the need for keeping intouch with news gains new meaning. It isgood to examine what we get from the mediaand what we use it for.

The general public has only scant under-standing of the character of the press and ofnews. There is iittle public knowledge abouthow the public uses news. Journalists alsoavoid being pushed into playing any kind ofrole, because any other assigned function canaffect their news judgment.

\Thether the media like it or not, their pres-ence is a pervasive one, their reach extensive,and for some, universal. Clearly, there is abasis for presuming their influence and im-pact on the course ofpublic affairs and on theconduct of government.

The premise of my discussion observes thatwhile the press media are cited as an influen-tial force in shaping sociery and forming thepublic mind, these are limited in what theycan do. This is due to the inherent nature of

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Community education through the news

the press and the character ofthe news.If we examine the press media as instru-

ments of information, education and reform,we will see that they can do these things onlyif the media undergo some changes in theway they work and they can do only so muchon their own.

Wxnr unres ruEws?["et's look at what t]re information that the

media carry. In other words, what makes news?Some journalists, editors and reporters, in-

sist that they choose what news to include byinstinct ("I know it when I see it!"). Thevclaim that news stands out from the land-scape of social conditions scanned in the pro-cess. The news obtrudes, it calls artention.One definition, attributed to John Bogart ofthe New Yorh Sun, is now a classic, "\7hen adog bites a man, thar is not news, but if a manbites a dog, that is news." Media analyst Ever-ett Dennis quoted newssrster David Brinkleywho said, "News is the unusual, the unex,pected. Placidity is not news. If an airplanedepara on dme, it isnt news. If it crashes,regrettably, it is."

Acadernics have identified standard criteriathat define what news is. The following is a

, list compiled by Dennis:1. Conflict (tension-surprise)2. Progress (triumph-achievement)

3. Disaster (defeat-destruction)4. Consequences (effect upon community)

5. Eminence (Prominence)6. Novelry (the unusual, the extremely un-

usual)7. Human Interest (emotional background)8. Timeliness (freshness and newness)9. Proximiry (local appeal)These criteria do not carry equal weight with

media practitioners. The approach to gather-ing of news and the application of criteria todetermine what will be included for the nextdeadline is not a cut and dried process. Budfwe were to anabze much of the news content,we would see how the majority in the pressfavors conflict, disaster, eminence, novelty andtimeliness more than the other criteria.

'We can conclude then that in approaching

its task of informadon, journalists apply filtersof selection. They inform but selectively.There are different kinds of information andnot all kinds of information make it as news.Some are excluded because these are not in-teresting enough to the gatekeepers of news.Despite their claims for objectiviry, journalis-tic practice is subjective, subject to the biasesand emodons of the men and women in thenewsroom. Information can be excluded forthe simple reason that there is only so muchspace and time that can be appropriated fornews in the media.

Note: # 3 and #6 in the list above favorsthe inclusion of so much bad news. Disastersare natural subject for news. "Bad news" rep-resents the out-of-norm. since there is univer-

sal presumption that life itself is good.'!7hat journalists do with rhese "news" con-

stitutes a process, an established system ofsearching these out, a decision-making pro-cess about what to include, and analysis andinterpretation of its meaning. The qualiry ofthe system varies from newsroom to news-room, and sometimes from day to day.

In the process, the press systemarically leavesout important and significanr informationthat the public needs. There is news that isgenerally appealing and these are easily in-cluded in the agenda. These have to do withpersondities who are well-known, and thosesensational subjects ofnews, such as sex, scan-dal and crime.

But other kinds of information are moredifficult to package as news. Policy-orientedinformation in complex issues can get shortshrift in news trearment. The example of thehealth-care debate in the US press and thedebate over the bases negotiarions in the Phil-ippines show how despite extensive coverage,the news audience still lacked sufficient infor-mation for sound judgment. Often, citizensclaim they are left confused after reading orreading contradictory or opposing views. Suchinformation is more difficult to process as newsbut citizens need this kind of inftormation moreif they are to exercise their right as citizens,either as voters or as continuing pardcipanrsin the course of public affairs.

News criteria can exclude a lot of informa-

r', i ::,:: -.he news. And because journalists

l$rr ' --:-5€ standards intuitively or from the

;r: .i -oii of information never gets to ther1r"i r: :q.ause the media edited it out.

-':: i:--ure to inform can also be blamed on

' L-": : :frcials or policy makers who do notr,( : :--.- ;kill to make policy information pre-il j:T L;.1:,: ]j news. The press goes out to get ther rir ; : ir it doesnt do a thorough job at all.

- -rrces have to become more assertiver*r..: ,rlitul so that they can g€t their newsdr.: ..:.rrimation across, Public officials must:r:: :- govern through information, apply-,+ ;,-""-. and resources to the collection and

--itr:;-:::rrent of information that is useful toIt : : -rrilStltU€ItCl,

I . : :.temple, one of the most scantily cov--: : : iencies in the Philippine government isrr: Jepartment of Budget and Manage-n::.: in fact, it is one of the most important:. :::.:nent agencies, which takes over the: -:,:.is of budget disbursement once Con-:-. , i has legislated the National Budget.,,--.=: there are controversies over money fe-:::-j{:: and the like, the Budget director is al-' ; .'. rn the news, but the context of the agen-: . rctir.ities, its firnctions and the conductj .:' rask, is not known or understood.t:.other example: in the recent crisis in Min-

:"l: ro. government officials quickly cited how- -:r money had been given to the Autono-- ::is Region making the Muslim grievance.::n-ar groundless and without basis. But the-:.rs did not carry information about the time': berween the decision to allocate and the

.:--:-ia.l disbursement of money and the com-::n experience of funds not being available.

.inother reason for exclusion is the difficul-. oi getting information from government.

.: many countries, governments are such a::aze of bureaucracies and their information:.r remain inaccessible except to the elite few.'ho will do "investigative reporting." An-: -her problem is the way government infor-.:Lation has become simply government pro-:aganda - information packaged to make:oliticians look good. Unfortunately in thePhilippines, journalistic cynicism about gov-:rnment renders most of these efforts quite:neffective, leading to the employment ofoublic relations experts or of payola so thar:heir news can get to the public.

The other filter is the "bias for bad news"rvhich most journalists hold instinctively.Thus, progress repofts on government suc-cesses in public service are routinely exclud-ed. Admittedly, in many developing coun-tries saddled by corrupt governments, suchprogress is probably quite rare. \Vhile theirrariry should fulfill the criteria of "out-of-norm;" journalists find it difficult to get excit-ed about good news.

The news story is usually about an €vent.But significant issues are not experienced inisolated occurrenc€s. These reveal themselvesas part ofan unfolding process. \fitness, the

process ofenvironmental degradation or evenmuch of the ethnic conflict that flare up inviolence. Quite often, we never know aboutthese until there is a crisis and it is too late.

The news format uses the inverted pyra-mid. The most important key informationgoes into the lead paragraphs. These includethe main "'S7s," the who, what, where andwhen. The "\X/hy'' and "How' is often left

out for lack of space or inclination. Newsmedia take the easy way out and reduce gov-ernment coverage to low-level informationabout a public official involved in an isolatedevent, with little or no connection to the com-prehensive system of governance. Contextreporting is something that many journalistshave to learn to make their articles more inter-esting for their readers.

\7e presume that the media in providingfor news and information also educates. Therationale for press freedom argues that con-tinuing public education is important. It pro-vides the means for people to continue to learnabout public matters that affect them. Peopleshould know or have the right to know be-cause it is through public enlightenment thatthe population can be part of decision-mak-ing and policy-formation and, when neces-sary, cnange.

Again, the formats of news are not alwaysgeared for education and learning. Ifwe ana-lyze the effects of news criteria, it becomesevident that "news" may have little significantcontent in terms of learning. \Vhere the me-dia are free and market-oriented, stories areselected and packaged for popular appeal.V/hen government determines what the presscovers, then there is much that can be keptfrom public knowledge. Increasingly, the news

cycle is designed for short memory. Except intime of crisis and turmoil, news stories losetheir appeal or currency after a period oftendays. Media usually fail to follow-throughwith consequence stories. Such treatment failsto provide material that enables the public tobuild up knowledge and understanding.

The news does not instruct in the same wayas traditional teaching. News is usually framedas a story. Increasingly, these stories come inincreasingly limited packages, short and ab-breviated by force of limited time, space andinterest. News leave impressions, symbols,images, sound-bytes or slogans. These areprocessed by the public audience accordingto stereoqrpes that have already taken hold inthe public mind.

Tiaditional stereorypes are difficult to break.The durabiliry of racist prejudice is one exam-ple; or the popular appeal of a public figure.In Philippine political experience, so much in-formation about a popular president's miscon-duct can have little effect on the bedrock ofsupport he or she enjoys in some sectors of thepopulace.

'Witness, the long standing loyalty

of some groups of Filipinos to the dead dicta-tor Ferdinand Marcos and now to the verymuch alive actor President Joseph Estrada.

The educationd impact of dre media musttherefore be supponed by other forms of edu-cation and learning, provided by other institu-tional resources that have influence with thepopulace. These include family, school and ed-ucational system as well as religious institutionsand civil society organizations. Iffor any reason,these resources are weak, then the news mediacannot do much on their own. The media doprovide continuing public education; but ifthese operate in a vacuum, then these will beinadequate to the task. Media to be tnrly effec-tive must be part of a learning sociery.

In times of crisis such as the outbreak ofepidemic disease, political turmoil, or envi-ronmental calamiry the media can undertakepublic education but they have to use specialformats that are designed for quick instruc-tion or for in-depth understanding. For ex-ample, graphs and illustrations can more quick-ly describe complex processes and data. Pub-lic service announcements can provide quickinstruction about avoiding disease or copingwith emergencies. Documentaries can moreeffectively interpret complex social and polit-ical problems.

Now that television and radio have demon-strated their primacy over print in getting thenews first and fast, print media need to pro-vide greater interpretation and analysis. Thenewspaper audience makes up those groupsthat have a greater interest in policy. Theygenerally represent interests that wield greaterpower and leadership over public affairs. Theyshould have the means of learning more aboutcritical issues and understanding better theproblems calling for solutions.

Nrws lNo cnnNcEAcademics provide us with normative con-

cepts of news. In his book, Media and Public

Poliry, editor Robert J. Spitzer gathers various

experts to discuss these models. Journalisticpractice validates the academic discussion, al-

though journalists are not necessarily conscious

of these norms. (Most of the references in this

section were culled from the book.)The most widely accepted norm is the "mir-

ror model" which regards "news" as the reflec-

tion ofthe realiry out there, or some aspect ofreality. The media simply "tell it like it is."tVhile there are standards or criteria that de-termine what gets into the news, this conceptprojects the journalist as a neutral and disin-

terested observer. Other models describe the

media as "conduits" of information and news(Graber, 1989). Describing the same neutral

character, the media is also described as "neu-

tral transmitter" (Linsky, 1986).The idea is the same. The meCia make up a

neutral factor, not an activist element in thecourse of events,

On another level, media's weight gains when

seen as a "funnel regulating the flow of com-munication benveen policymakers and oth-

ers in the political system." (Schattsneider,

1975). More recent theory projects the me-

dia as an actor in the policymaking process, asplanng a role in agenda setting. (Iyengar &

Kinder, 1987) (Kingdon, 1984)The effect of media on politics and policy

varies. The news media can educate the pub-

lic, facilitate the exchange of ideas among dif:

ferent actors, and organize the issues and

project scenarios to prime the ground for public

acceptance of certain policy options. (Haw-

thorne, 1994) In other words, the media canplay a role in promoting consensus in resolv-ing problems and in bringing about change.

But collectively, the news media create a mar-

ket of ideas and options. These may be oppos-

ing and contradictory in interest and intent.

The media reflect a struggle from within soci-

ery of opposing forces and their interests. \Vhen

there is a polariry of positions, the media can

also become divided and unable to galvanize

political will to choose one path for change.There is another level of failure. The press

can sometimes miss out its option for bring-ing about desired positive social and political

change. The framework of news is reactive. It

reports only what has happened. In its cur-

rent formats, news stories are about events thathave occurred. It is seldom about ongoingprocess or development. Often, even in reiat-ing events, the press fails to provide context,perspective or background.

Thus, as the late Tarzie Vittachi pointed

out, the press missed out the story of globalenvironmental disasters, such as desertifica-tion and deforestation, because these were not

events. The press could only report on theseconditions only when these could be made

tangible as crisis.The press is also oriented to covet events

from the perspective of the "beat," the gov-

ernment agencies or buildings to which re-

porters are assigned. The most "credendaled"

sources of news are public officials. By citing

the government position or statement as the

dominant perspective, the media legitimizeswhat can be a lack ofaction or the failure of

fundamental quesdon as the fitness of a r::s;

dent to govern, I doubt if it is possible r-o: :,:

press to remain a neutrd player in *ris a';

\7e are seeing once again how crisis ttl::,e;

out the best and worst in media. The pt:",l'=:

of the press lies in its speed, its immediao a::

its reach. Filipinos are finding that ther-a::

quite unable these days to stop watching a-.-:

reading the news. Internet and telephone ie-r-

action. It has been pointed out that govern-ments in many parts of the world are poorly

equipped to respond to pressures for much

needed change.If the press is to become a reformer, then it

has to be in touch with other initiators of

change. Reporters must include among its

sources those provocateurs of change, the

members of civil sociery or in some cases the

alternative sources of power such as revolu-

tionary movements where ideas that change

the world take seed.The speed and magnitude of modern com-

munication confronts journal ism and the

media with an historic challenge. Technolory

has revolutionized the means and arrange-

ments for producing the news. Perhaps, it is

time for the news process itself to submit itself

to re-invention and re-modeling to keep up

with the need o[ rhe t imes.

THe clse tN THE PHTLTPPINESThe current crisis in the Philippines pre-

sents another laboratory for studying demo-

cratic change and the role that a free press

plays in national reform. In the case of the

demand for President Estrada's resignation andimpeachment, the media are definitely play-

ing a critical role, informing, educating andhopefuily promoting much needed change

in the countryt political culture.The media as a conduit of information trans-

mit the news coming from those who support

the president and those who are asking for his

resignation. The media reporr opposing mes-

sages, serving as channels ofthe struggle to oustEstrada or those who want to retain him and

the status quo. News organizations choose their

angles and their spin, indicating their own po-

sition about the crisis. The struggle reflectsbasic and fundamental values. The press may

wish to provide a so-called "objective" "de-

tached" and balanced view. But on such a

ting puts any owner in touch with the end-

Iess run ofnews, ofgossip, ofjokes. The speed

of communication has made it possible to

quickly organize mass action on the streets and

different kinds of discussion. TV and radio

constitute a constant stream of interactive ex-

change. Individuals form their opinions and

call in and express their ideas, forming theirjudgment more quickly than pundits can pre-

pare their copy for the next deadline.The live airing of the hearings on "jueten-

gate" (the illegal gambling scandal which im-

plicated President Estrada) gave the public

access to the same inteiligence and at the same

instant as the public officials. It is in this man-

ner that the judgment of President Estrada

has become a done deal with the critical mass

of Filipinos. And it is no longer Estrada but

the senators who are on trial during the pro-

cess of impeachment. How well can they per-

form this task of judging the Presidentk fit-

ness to rule and deciding the future of the

country?At the same time, the media are also on trial

as talk ofpayola and bribery raise questions

about the agenda of some journalists and news

organizations.Hopefully, the forces for reform will win

out as they did when People Power toppled

the Marcos dictatorship in 1986. This time,

we also hope that the press media in the after-

math of the crisis will do better in using their

freedom with greater sense of responsibiliry

applying the power of the media to inform,

educate and reform Philippine sociery.

Paying thc Pipenir ReuvRru RnsHro. Mnnvsn

l-= \'r.rR 2000 was annus nihilis for dot-: ::::: s'orldwide, but it provided a tremen-:: -s shot in the arm for indeoendent Ma-i = .an iourna l i sm - i f someth ing o f a s lap- :he face of i ts establ ishment counter-: : : : .

. la lavs ia 's cont ro l led mainsr ream news-.=jia saw their hegemony assailed by mav-:: . ;ks on the unl icensed Internet. Nation-r, . l iscourse, long constrained, rapidly ex-: ; : : Jed . Ant i -es tab l i shment , oppos i t ion-;: . dissenting or otherwise "alternative".:r 'points were presented and heard as

-,".'er before - if, as before, from beyond

,t',.t ltt of official licensing and accredita-

?re-eminent among these new web jour-:.:ls rvas Malaysiakini.com, which went on-. : re in November 1999 promis ing inde-::ndent and professional journal ism. Bare-'; had Malaysiakini (MaIaysia Today) cel-=irated i ts f i rst anniversary last Novem-:er. however, when it found itself toe-to-:oe and at daggers drawn with the Estab--ishment. Ironical ly, the issue that f inal ly

-:recipitated the long-anticipated show-..own was not primari ly journal ism, butrat ional sovereignty.

,\falaysiabini had had a terrific first year.irs radical brand of alternative journal ism

had won it a large and appreciative audi-ence. I t received the International PressFreedom Award, among many other acco-lades. Under editor Steven Gan and CEOPremesh Chandran, the website became aleading source of alternative informationon Malaysia, and a principal forum for dis-sent against the pol icies and administra-rion of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

MRmystnrcNt coEs rHE DtsrANcEThe authorities' initial response was to

ignore i t . Indeed, the year 2000 provedan all-too-brief interlude of ootimism forlegions oF hopeful new "e-preneurs", andthere was little reason to believe Malaysia-hini, even with i ts growing impact andreadership, could go the distance as an un-supported business.

But therein lay the kernel of the currentcontroversy. A February 1 story in the FarEastern Economic Reaiew attributed oart ofMalaysiakini! funding to the Open Soci-ety Inst i tute. via OSI contr ibutions to the

Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Al-l iance (SEAPA) , wh ich had prov idedUS$100,000 of Malaysiakini 's srart-upcapital.

As the OSI is a project of the Americanfinancier George Soros, regarded in influ-ential local sectors as the arch-fiend behindthe 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, this reve-lation laid Malaysiahini open to siege. Thewebsite had already raised eyebrows by fea-turing the cri t ical commentary of JohnMallott, a former United States Ambassa-dor to Malaysia, as well as US embassy ban-ner advertising.

Malaysiahini was suddenly on the frontpages and the evening news as a stooge offoreign manipulat ion. The website's re-porters were barred from official events.Reporters and photographers from the

major dailies and the national news agen-cy descended on their offices in a suburbof Kuala Lumpur, seeking statements onthe controversy. They were fended off bythe website's stiff, who were unpreparedfor such a confrontation, and asked to sub-mi t the i r quesr ions in wr i r ing .

Veteran newsman Zainuddin Maidin,erstwhile editor- in-chief of the LJtusanGroup and now Parl iamentary Secretaryto the Ministry of Information, was thegovernment's point-man in this little skir-mish. He engaged the website in a pricklydance ofprocedures, insisting that the sanc-tion against Malaysiakini was strictly inaccordance w i th regu la r ions recogn iz ingonlv accredited iournal ists.

Of course, all this did wonders of pub-licity for Malaysiahini. The website con-tinues to draw hundreds of thousands ofreaders (a claimed 130,000 per day), andear l ie r se cured another US$500,000 infunding, which should be enough for i tsnext two years of operations. Advert isingrevenue, a trickle at present, is expected togrow threefold in that time - unless ad-vertisers shy away from a sire non grata tothe government. (The Opposit ion web-site Harakahdaily.com, however, has man-aged to hold its own in this respect.)

Signif icantly, there seems no off icialmove to 6an Malaysiakini outright - theimplici t ly more immediate threat is thesrrenuous prosecution ofsuits against def-amation, i ibel or sedit ion, should there bejusti f icat ion for such. But then, the cen-

li$l$r.,i i.ri "i r l" '

rt?'\ |

tral issue in this is not press freedom butindeed the opposite: i ts sponsorship. (As

though to underscore that point, the Ma-laysian Ministry of Home Affairs on Feb.15, at the height of this kerfuffle, granteda newsletter publishing license to the Peo-ples' Party (Parti Rakyat Malaysia, PRM),in response to an application filed nearly ayear before.)

The Malaysiakini controversy thereforegoes much deeper than a local spat overcontentious journalism, and mainlines intomatters of globalization and sovereignty.As regards the fitful evolution of the Ma-laysian press, the plot has thickened.

jtir'-F, ,.

$*utheest As*mm Prffis,&l{$mr*ebeinglunded

$EAPAdenie$

Iyfin rcF$oTur SourHeesr Asian Press Alliance (SEA-

PA) has clarified its relationship with onlinenews source Malaysiahini.com following aFar Eastern Economic Reuiew (FEER) reportthat George Soros, an American financierbelieved to be responsible for the wave ofspeculation on Asian currencies that led tothe 1997 economic crisis, funds the Malay-sian news portal.

In a statement issued February 4, SEAPAsaid it "has [only] helped raise startup andoperating capital for Malaysiakini." It hasassisted the news oortal since December1999 as part of an effort to promote thedeve lopment o f Independent med ia inSoutheast Asia, SEAPA added.

The statement was signed by SEAPA di-rectors Kavi Chongkittavorn of the Thai

Journalists Association, who is also SEAPAchair; Lukas Luwarso, International AffairsDirector of the Alliance of Independent Jour-nalists of Indonesia; Andreas Harsono, Sec-retary General of the Institute for Studieson the Free Flow of Information of Indone-sia; Melinda Quintos De Jesus of the Cen-ter for Media Freedom and Responsibilityof the Philippines; and Sheila S. Coronel ofthe Philippine Center for Investigative Jour-nal ism.

No OSI ruxos"To be very clear: None of the funds that

SEAPA has provided to Malaysiakini comesdirectly or indirectly from the [Open Soci-ety Institute] or George Soros," the SEAPAstatement said.

Earlier, the FEER, in the article "Leveling

the Field" cover-dated February 8, report-ed that Malaysiakini receives funding fromSoro's Open Society Institute. It has sinceran a clarification on its website saying "the

sG$

U.anFO

T

Open Society funds the Bangkok-based

[SEAPA], one source of funding for theMalaysiakini.com. "

FEER's clarification implies thar. Malay-siahini indirectly receives funding from theOSI through SEAPA. The clarification, ac-cording to SEAPA, is misleading.

SEAPA maintains that the funding it re-ceived from the OSI was used to pay a con-sultant's fees and for the administrative re-quirements of running the organization'sBangkok office.

"OSI.. .gave a grant to support the workof a project consultant from the U.S.-basedCommittee to Protect Journalists to workwith SEAPA for 24 months ending in May.This is the only support that SEAPA hasreceived from OSI... , ' l SEAPA said.

The statement added that SEAPA getsfunding from various sources.

CoNsonrtuv oF DoNoRs'As an alliance of Southeast Asian press

advocacy organizations, SEAPA receivessupport from a consortium of donors thatinc ludes , among o thers , UNESCO andUNDP. Its member organizations are rec-ognized throughout the region for their in-dependence and commitment to press free-dom. SEAPA supports Malaysiakini as partof a regional effort to promote plurality andopenness in the Southeast Asian media."

Meanwhile, Mr Premesh Chandran, Ma-laysiakini's chief executive officer, deniedin a Straits Times report that the news por-tal gets any funding from Soros.

"L{alaysiakini was prepared to publiclydeclare details of its income to show that'not a single cent comes from the OpenSociety Fund," ' the report said, quotingChandran.

Chandran said Malaysiakini's funding,which came from different sources, includ-ed capital investments from its founders,advertising revenues and a grant from SEA'PA.

The Malays ian ru l ing par ty UMNO,through its Vice President Tan Sri Muham-mad Muhammad Taib, earlier said that iftrue, Soros' funding of Malaysiakini would"reoresent a direct form of intervention in

IMalaysias] affairs."Echoing Mr. Taib's views, UMNO Su-

preme Council member Datuk Ahmad Za-hid Hamidi said that news providers shouldnor have l inks wirh Foreign organizationsbecause it would affect their independence.

"\7e must not be indebted to those whoharbor agendas," Mr. Hamidi said.

RrpoRrERs BARREDMalaysiakini is a popular internet site in

Malaysia, where government exercises str ictcontrol over mass media. Last week Malay-siakini editors revealed that its reporters hadbeen barred from some government pressconferences, and were likely to face the samedifficulties in the future.

Malaysiakini editor and co-founder SteveGan was quoted by the Associated Press(AP) as saying that the banning of their re-porters in government functions was an ar-temDt to censor the site and curb criticismof th. gorr..rr-.rrt.

"The government is wary of our journal-

ists going to functions and daring to asktough questions," Gan said in an interviewwith AP.

"'We are going to test boundaries on thisone and continue attending governmentfunctions," he said. "They will have to kickus out." Ederic Pefiaflor Eder

tt

A z55-yeaF-old dneamBy ArvnrcusuMAH AsrmRrvRDJA, INDoNESTA

Frr"auv, InooNr:rn s pariiament (DPR) has passed-Jre new press bill into law. For Indonesian jour-

nalists, it is the reahzationof a255-year-olddream.The first newspaper appeared in Indonesia on{ugust 7, 1744.) Once ratified by the Presidentar-rd enacted by the Minister of State Secretary,rhat dream - sponsored by Dr. Bachtiar Aly ofrhe ruling Golkar Party - will have ftiliy comeIrue.

"lt is time dre press is freed from the feeling ofuncertainry freed fi'om feal and the trauma of thepast, when the presst right of existence seemed todepend merely on the kindness of the Govern-ment," declared Dr. Aly in his sponsorship speech.

Under the new law a violator goes to prison forrwo years at the ma,ximum or is fined as much asRp500 miliion. Two provisions are most signifi-cant (1) "Towarcls the national pless there shall beno censorship, banning or prohibitior.r to publishor broadcast. (2) Tb guarantee press freedom, therrational press has the right to look for, acquire anddisseminate ideas and information." The latterreminds us that many dernocratic countries al-ready have freedom of information acts, br"rt thatin Indonesia freedom of informatior-r would applyro every citizrn, not only to the media.

In the newlaw, the term "press" does not referonly to the print rnedia; it also covers the elec-tronic media (radio ancl television) "and all kindsof available channels." That would make inci-dents iike the policet summoningANTeve jour-

nalists obsolete and anachronistic. Bachtiar, newseditor ofANTeve, on Sept. 6 was questioned byrhe police "as a witness in a criminal case for broad-casting rnaterials considered incitilrg, provokingand or could be reasonably expected to be dis-rurbing the union and the unity of the nation."The police summons were triggered by an AN-Teve .interview with the military commander ofthe Free Aceh Movement on Aue. 23.

INTOANEWERASo long as it is not superseded by other laws,

such as the Bill on Overcoming Dangerous Situa-tions (the Security Bill) now being deliberated inParliament, the new press law should launch theIndonesian news media into a wholly new era -

one delayed by Dutch and Japanese colonizationand native authoritarian regimes.

The new law was possible because of radicalchanges in the thinking of Indonesian power-holders. Information Minister MuhammandYunus is one of the boldest of them all. He wants"to expand press freedom and provide protec-tion to the press, so that journalists will no longerbe treated as criminals."

Yunus has followed the footsteps of the firstinformation minister, Amir Sjarifuddin, whodeclared upon his installation that "the press mustbe free [because] a press which is not free cannotexpress the public view but only the views ofpeople in power."

That was in 1945, upon d're proclamation ofthe Indonesian Republic. Dreams dont cometrue that quickly in Indonesia. But the new presslaw shows that they eventually do.

tWlhen the drafters of the new Press l,aw weredeliberating the bill in Commission I of Parlia-ment (Dewan Perwakilttn Rafoiat, DPR),I readwith sorrow complaints ofa press workshop com-mittee in Palembang (South Sumatra). The com-plaint was inciuded in the "Program's Terms ofReference" of the workshoo on Post-ElectionNews Coverage, organized ty rhe Institute ofInfolmation An alysis (L em b aga An a li s i s I nfo ma -

si, Essai) and the Alliance oflndependent Jour-nalists (Aliansi Jurnalis Indzpendez, AJI) Palem-bang Bureau.

The programt reference said:"Prior to the general election (the first election

since the New Order, June7,1999) until thepost-election, it seems that the press in severalregions has not indicated any positive changes asa press on the side of democracy in terms of itsindependence and professionalism.

"On the other hand, some parts of our publicwhich have just 'awakened' from the domina-tion of the New Order regime, have not saidanlthing positive on the role of the press. Somestill see the press as a tool of power. Therefore,they take the position that the press is nothingmore than a tool or the trumpet of ,rested inter-esm. That is why those whl feel agriwed com-mitted acts of violence and intimidation againstthe oress.

"Th. p..r, that has implemented changes alsosuffered similar problems. They too sufferedfrom the intimidation of those who had bene-fited during the New Order. As an example, in

South Sumatra, the daily Sriwtjaya Post wasterrorized by the United Development Party(Partai Persatuan Pembangunan, PPP) during thelast election campaign, because the paper wasreporting the facts. This was also the experienceof Palembang Pos when it was occupied by agroup ofstudent activists - who, throughoutthis time were siding with those in power -

because the paper's reports were based on facts."

PRogLeMsAFfenrHE FALLThe incidents described in the workshop

committee's notes are certainlv not a oroblem

faced by South Sumatra only. It is a problemthat has confronted many other places in Indo-nesia since the fall of the Suharto regime.

Demonstrators in several cities have forcedradio stations, television stations, and newspa-per editors to broadcast or print their politicalstatements. Some of the mass media immedi-ately met the demand without considering theirprofessional and editorial independence. Secu-riry people have beaten journalists coveringstudent demonstrat ions and damaged theequipment theywere carryingwith them. Theoffices of the daily Suara Timor Timur (TheYoice

of East Timor) in Dili was also ransacked anddestroyed by a group ofyouths. Some 35 jour-

nalists in several places were terrorized or in-jured. This figure increased sharply after theEast Timor referendum of August 30, 1999.Two journalists have also been killed in Aceh(northern Sumatra).

The journalists'experiences seem to haveencouraged the Regional Delegation of the In-rernational Committee of the Red Cross in In-donesia to support three seminars on "Protec-

tion oFJournalists Against Violence" since themiddle of 1999 until the middle of 2000. T'heseminars took place at Gadjah Mada Universi-

ry Yograkarta (Central Java) and the Universi-ry of Syiah Kuala, Bandaaceh (Aceh). In Jakar-ta, the workshop was conducted by the Indo-nes ian Press and Broadcas t Communi ty(Masyarakat Pers dan Penyiaran Indonesia,MPPI) together with the Dr. Soetomo PressInstitute (Lembaga Pers Dr. Soetomo, LPDS).

The seminar in Jakarta stated in its recom-mendation on May 11, that:

"Basically, press freedom requires not only free-dom from licensing, censorship, and closure,but should also protect journalists from pres-sures, threats, the use offorce, torture, murder,or even enticement by anyone including gov-ernment and securiry personnel in acquiringand disseminating information that is objec-tive, fair, clear, credible and accountable in theinterest of the public.

"Considering that independent writing is inthe interest of the public, it is impossible for thenon-free press to be able to reflect public aspira-tions and it will also be impossible to channel orto support the formation of a democratic gov-ernment."

CrruruRv-oro onrevsThe journalists concerned underlined various

efforts to seek a solution for the probiems sinceI 998, ar least in Jakana. Effons ro brine abo:r

:d ::ir,:z;B']l ,r dl€ dreams of journalists and

;rss ryr in Indonesia which have beenr::xi rir *:nres of years, or even hundreds ofr:;r. ,hould bear fruit. Those dreams include&e der-elopment of a free press in the midst ofdemocratic relations acknowledged not merelyas de facto, but also as de jure. There should beboth legal guarantees as well as constitutionalprotection to enable the press to carry out its realfunctions in a democratic nation and society.

The reason is very basic. Pres freedom must befor the sake of public freedom to acquire informa-tion as widely as possible. At the same time, it isalso for the salre ofpublic freedom to use the pressas an instrument to disseminate their views. Pressfreedom also includes the oublic's freedom tochoose the newspapers they prefer, according rotheir interests and their aspirations.

Therefore, it is very reasonable for the newpress law, which has passed by parliament, toinclude an anicle which makes it punishable forup to tlvo years' imprisonment or a fine of amaximum Rp500 million to anyone who dis-urbs, prevents, or obstructs press freedom.

Both the Government and the political paniesin Parliament also agreed to expand the meaningof the word 'press." A press product does notonly apply to print media but also to journalistic

works in the electronic media, such as radio broad-cast and television as well as similar media. In theUnited States, for example, the meaning of theterm "press" has been extended in that sensesince 7947. At that time iournalistic activitieshad widened from print media to radio broad-cast and later to the newly dweloped televisionbroadcast. Today, journalistic works have alsopenetrated the Internet.

Press freedom in Indonesia today not only ap-plies to print media people, but also to those inradio and telwision, who were previously notprotected by the existing Broadcast law. Theirfreedom was not orotected either in the Bill onBroadcast, the draft ofwhich had been complet-ed by the Department of Information.

The initial draft of the new or€ss lawwas sub-mitted by fie Depanmenr oilnformarion andwas deiiberated on for 13 days, between August20 and September 9,2000.

A Lecnl vnsrenpreceThis law, passed by Parliament during its frrll

session on September 11, is expected to becomea legal product which wili protect press free-Jo*. Dr. B..htiar Aly

"*p""ted r:his law to

become a masterpiece-the greatest work onthe press in the 255 year history of the press inIndonesia, since the first newspaper (the weeklyBanuiasche Nouuelles en Politique Raisonnement-az, News and political Reasoning of Batavia) waspublished in Batavia (Jakarta) on August 7,1744.

The Parliamentary parties and the Govern-ment not only deliberated on the Press Billsubmitted by the Department of Information,but also used articles in the Press Bill drafted

by MPPI as a reference and comparison tocomplete this law. MPPI is an association ofpress freedom advocates established in Jakanain September, 1998.

MMPI activists comprise media practitionersand observers as well as legal and mass commu-nication experts from Jakarta, Ujungpandang(South Sulawesi) and Bandung (W'est Java).The media practitioners are not only from printmedia, but also from television and radio.

The initial MPPI workbegan prior to the MPR(Peoplet Consultative Assembly) Special Sessionon November 10-13, 1998. The MPR sessionwas noted in Indonesian press history as the ini-tiator of the first great work in the press in over255 yearc, and as a monumental work that canguarantee press freedom in Indonesia. But theproposed resolution to MPR from MPPI ranaground in that session.

The proposed resolution about the MPR De-cree on "Information and Communication Free-dom through Mass Media" received full sup-

port only from the United Development (Is-lamic) Faction. It was the only faction that pro-posed the draft during a general overview ofthe MPR session on November 11, 1998.

The proposed decree, after being modified atthe suggestion by the United Development Fac-tion, stated:

'Article 1: The state guarantees the rights ofthe citizen to communicate and acquire infor-mation through the mass media.

"Article 2: All forms of laws and regulationsin the field of the press shall not limit pressfreedom.

"futicle 3: (This Decree) assigns the Presi-dent of the Republic of Indonesia to make law,which guarantees the rights of the sociery tocommunicate and acquire information throughthe mass media."

Aldrough the proposed decree ran aground,the special session of the MPR had acceptedparts of another proposal from MPPI to be in-ciuded into the MPR Decree #1717998 aboutHuman Rights.

This MMPI proposal was accommodated in:. Part M: Rights on Freedom of Information. Article 20: Every person has the right to

communicate and receive information to de-velop him/herself personally and his/her socialenvironment.

. Article 2 1: Every person is entitled to seek,

acquire, possess, keep, process and pass infor-madon by using all kinds of existing channels.

. Part X: Protection and Advancement

. Article42 The rights of citizens to commu-nicate and receive information is guaranteed andorotected.

Press freedom in a democratic country is basi-cally part of the communiryk right to free ex-pression. Therefore, initiatives to establish news-papers or other media are among the basic righa

of citizens to make their voices heard. Therights of every citizen, not only the rights ofjournalists or press media people, are of coursealso guaranteed. That is why the press is re-sponsible to the community, at least to readers,listeners and viewers of each medium. It is *repeople who can decide the rise and fall of themedia.

Ar rHe HEART oF FREEDoMUNESCO, when commemorating \World

Press Freedom Day on May 3,2000, remind-ed everyone that "Press freedom is the heart offreedom of expression and without a free andindeoendent media there shall be no democra-cy." \When \Worid Press Freedom Daywas com-memorated, says UNESCO, the commemora-tion was not merely for press people, but forwery citizen in every country.

Similarly imponant is that press freedom canenabie the public to understand the meaning ofdifferent views, indeed even ifthese be conflict-ing, so that people need not resort to violence.

Freedom also means establishing a greater re-sponsibiliry. Only an individual is free who cantake action that is accountable, said psychologistB.F. Skinner. The responsibilities of people whoare not free can only be guaranteed by thosewho do not give them freedom.

So, how can we achieve and protect pressfreedom? One of the important answers to thatquestion is the effort to develop press and jour-

nalistic professionalism and to hold firm to thejournalism code of ethics or press ethics as amoral guide.

Professionalism is not merely the abiliry to ob-serve existing and universal standards in thewriting and presentation of journalistic works,but also the ability to understand clearly the taslaof the press as basically its devotion to the inter-est of the pubiic, and to firmly differentiate itfrom other activities that only lower the integrityand the status ofjournalists and ofthe press.

Dr. Ignas Kleden, a sociologist ftom dee Univer-siry of Indonesia, once said that press freedomdepends on how far those in power respect thepress. The greater the respect of the power holdersfor the press, the more reluctant they will be totake repressive actions against the press. But thelower their respect for the press, the easier they cantake repressive action against the press. In his viewprofessionalism will raise the stature of a profes-sional, because his/her integrity is assumed by allpanies, and by both the pubiic and the politicalauthorities.

lUewmediaand oldin EDSA ll87 Luts V. Teooono, PurLreerNES

IN'rur ylan 2000 and from lanwary 16-20,2001,

hundreds of thousands of Filipinos communicar-

ed with each other via text. But they communi-

cated through that medium what they had seen

on television and read in some of the newspapers.

Although a phenomenon in itself, text messaging

during People Power II should be regarded as indi-

visibly joined with television and the print media.

Text messaging of course also spread rumors rap-

idly. But it was the media, particularly telwision,

which either confirmed or denied those rumors.

Beyond that, the text messagers, mosr of them

young and hip to the new technologies, also had

the Internet, where some 20 websites and several

e-groups devoted to the ousrer ofJoseph Estrada

had been constructed by outraged individuals even

before jueteng-gate.

Those websites were in addition to the online

editions of newspapers like Todal and the Philip-

pine Daily Inquirer, the websites of online maga-

zines like C1berD1aryo, or those of militanr groups

like Bayan and the NGOs. The anti-Esrrada web-

sites and e-groups were construcred by unaffiliat-

ed individuals or groups to help meet the informa,

tion needs of the moment.

The egroups that are still around, like elagda,

are transforming themselves into government

watchdogs to insure good government. They're

part of the vast movement in civil sociery thatt

sick ofcorruption and incompetence, and its role

in the impoverishment of the country. Although

only one-half percent of the population is online,the influence of this part of the anti-corruption

movement was far-reaching because of people theyreached-mostlyyoung, professional, and simmer-

ing with disgust for the corruption and misman-

agement that has characterized not only the Es-

trada government but every other government

theyve ever known. The campaign against Estra-

da was the defining moment of the critical middle

class; it will never be silenr again.

The ro le oF rhe "old media"-TV, radio andprint-should not be minimized, however.

As in the 1986 people power revolt which oust-ed Ferdinand E. Marcos, "old media' played animportant role in the year 2001 people poweruprising.

Unlike in 1986, in 2001 the Philippine mass

media were not under government regulation. In

calling the people out ro rhe streers, in 1986 the

anti-dictatorship media put themselves at risk from

a number of repressive laws that in the name of

saGguarding national securiry were meanr ro in-

hibit them from reporting an1'thing that could be

perceived as anti-government. In 2001, however,

despite the absence ofgovernment regulation, the

dissemination of relevant and accurate informa-

tion was still problematic for a number of reasons.

Among the reasons were some media practitio-

ners themselves. Because of the government's sys-

tematic efforts at the corruption of media, these

practidoners were for the most part firnctioning as

government public relations people and not asjournalists.

In the year 2000 it was evident that the Estrada

government had a veritable horde of media practi-

tioners from print and broadcasting in its pocket.

One of the most interesting revelations of thejueteng Senate hearings in October 2000 and the

Estrada impeachment trial that followed was the

systematic corruption of the media, probablywith

the use of jueteng money.

THnEnrs FRoM GovERNMENT

The Estrada government had also tried to as-

sure favorable coverage through the acquisition by

close Estrada friends of newspapers, and through

pressures on individual newspapers through an ad-

vertising boycott as well as threats ofgovernment

tax audits. The transler of ownership of newspa-

pers like the Manila Times; the publication of oth-

ers under the ownership ofEstrada associates; and

the advertising boycott ofthe Inquirer had led by

the latter part of2000 to reports ofprior- as well

as selFcensorsbip, and thus to the constriction of

the democratic space for critical comment and

investigative reports.

Media practitioners shared some of the respon-

sibiliry for that state of affairs, with some editors

choosing to toe the administration line, yielding

to the pressure of advertisers close to Malacafiang,

and shaping their reporting according to theirBer-

sonal and corporate interests.

But a number ofrank-and-filejournalists and even

an editor or two were also courageous enough to

resist the pressures that were being brought to bear

upon them, and even to de$, editors and owners

when necessary for the sake of the people's right to

information. It was these journalists who made pos,

sible even in the Fstrada crony papers coverage of

such issues as the corruption charges against Mr.

Estrada, and the conduct of his Mindanao policy,

specially the military assault on the southern Phil-

ippine island ofJolo in September 2000.

Estradat impeachment brought t-he polarization

of the media into the front pages-it was evident

in press reponing and comment, from the trans-mittal by the House of Representarives of the im-

peachment articles to the Senate, untii the im-

peachment trial ended on January 16, 2001 with

the Senate vote which suppressed widence againstEstrada. In a number of instances the polarization

led to almost daily skirmishes over what events

ffigrqmx**rgm.*'

should be covered and how between reporters and

decision- makers in the newsrooms of both print

as well as broadcast media.

Despite this polarization, however, that the me-

dia were not under government regulation and

were legally free permitted the rapid dissemina-

tion of information on the charges against Mr.

Estrada as well as on the impeachmenr process

.itself. Though polarized, and in general reflecting

the biases of their ownerships, the newspapers in

Manila, for example, had to provide their readers

with day- to- day accounts of events both as a

matter of duty as well as of competitiveness. Ex-

cept for one or two Manila newspapers, out of

professional pride as well as marketabiliry, the press

could not suppress essential information. The bi-

ases of owners and individual practitioners thus

found expression mostly in the sections where they

properly belong-in the opinion and editorial

pages.

The newspaper accounts enabled readers to weigh

the evidence as it was presented, in the process

empowering them to make a choice not only as to

what they would believe, but also what newspapers

they should read. In this process the crony newspa-

pers were eventually the biggest losers, with the

independent press, including newco mer Pinoy Times(which was lounded only in 1999) emerging as the

winners in terms of readership.

CRrrcnl MEDTUM

But it was television which may have been the

most crucial medium o[ citizen information and

opinion-formation during the political crisis. Be-

cause of the live, six hours daily, five times a week

coverage of the impeachment proceedings-a cov-

erage which did not permit slanted editing and the

intervention of practitioner and necwork biases-

millions of citizens all over the country were able

to arrive at a reasoned judgment on the charges

against Estrada without the disadvantage ofthose

biases.

By simply being focused on the Senate proceed-

ings, the television cameras brought into thou-

sands ofhouseholds the images ofarrogance, ab-

surdiry dishonesty and partisanship- as well as

of honesty, integrity and courage-generated by

the impeachment trial Those images were vividly

in the minds of the crowds at EDSA-and were

accordingly replicated in their often-makeshift

posters and streamers.

Almost despite themselves, and together with

the "new media," the old media of print and tele-

vision provided much of the information that

heiped remove Estrada, and incidentally install

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. But they also did some-

thing more-they focused atention on the irn-

perative ofhonest and competent governance. For

some practitioners the political crisis was also a

chance to examine themselves as well as the media

professions. People Power II has given both gover-

nance ald the media an opportunity for renewal.

But dont hold your breath. Opportunities like

these have been squandered often in the Philip-

pines. EDSA 1986 was.

Wffiwffi ffim*ffiww ffiwwwffiwreW87 Vencel o. Snrutos, PsrlrpprNrs

Ir el l began forgivably giddi ly. In t ime,so the pred ic t ion went , the Ph i l ipp inemedia would get over their exuberanceover the freedom they regained after thed ic ta to r had been dr iven ou t o f oowerand across the ocean to Amer ican ex i le ,and they would check themselves.

Accordingly, al lowances were made tot h e m e d i a f o r r e t u r n i n g w i t h a v e n -geance. After ai l , just l iberated from thosedark years, the society was only too eagerto be reassured, and what better reassur-ance than a blooming of free media, nomatter i f they came in numbers too r i-diculous not only to sustain economical-ly but to staff professionai ly.

But i t has been 14 years! The guy whowalked around in 1986 wearing a plac-ard prophesying doom is st i l l on his feetand is unl ikely to go away fulf i l ied with-in the near te rm.

' W ' h o e v e r p r e d i c t e d t h a t t h e m e d i a

would set themselves r ight perforce ap-p a r e n t l y u n d e r e s t i m a t e d t h e u n s e e nhand that drove the business-and con-t inues to do so . I t i s no t the leve l inghand of the market either, but the handthat derives i ts power from big businessand pol i t ics and i ts inspirat ion from thenotion that media are strategic to the pres-ervation of that power. That should ex-plain much about the state of the mediarooay.

PnraoNlcE BY sPEctAL tNTERESTs

ers who musr re ly on rhe i r as tu teness a treading subtexts. I t , therefore, becomesa perfect f i led for players who reckonpro f i t no t so much in money as in ascen-dancy, inf luence, and power. tVhich an-swers the question why some media per-s is t in the bus iness desp i te the i r desper -a te economics .

At most only four of the nearly a dozensupposed ly ser ious na t iona i da i l ies (nor -

mally dist inguished from the tabloid bythe i r tw ice-b igger page s ize , and hencecalled broadsheets; their more numerouspages and their wider-ranging interests)and probably only two of the six nation-al television stat ions make a profi t ; theprospec ts a re most p robab ly worse . Ob-viousln a broadsheet costs much more toproduce than a tab lo id . I t requ i res a b ig -ger, higher-ski l led editorial staff , for oner h i n g . I n f a c t . e v e r y r e q u i r e m e n t F o rb r o a d s h e e t p u b l i s h i n g i s p r o p o r t i o n a r e -ly enlarged. Natural ly, the broadsheetsare priced higher, but even at double ort r ip le the tab lo id p r ice , they are ab le torecover only a fract ion of their costs fromcopy sales. Their hope l ies in advert is-ing, but there's l i t t le of i t to go around,and, with the growing attract iveness oftelevision and other electronic media toadvert isers, there wil l be even less. Thelosers among them are modestly est imat-ed to be hemorrhaging at a rate ofat leastP25 mi l l ion a year .

P25 mnl roN HEMoRRHAGEOn the o ther hand, the tab lo ids , be-

cause o f the i r v iscera l appea l , acqu i redthrough sensat iona l i sm, and a l thoughgeneral ly unattract ive to advert isers, turna profi t on sales, which account for morethan ha l f the indus t ry to ta l , vo lume-wise . But then they hard ly qua l i f y asnewspapers by the quintessential defini-t ion-they are a factory product, not aoub l ic t rus t .

For the broadcast media, the situationis in a sense no dif ferent. For those

that make money, i t is made on en-tertainment scarcely on news.

I f t h e m e d i a o w n e r s d i d n ' tt h e m s e l v e s c a r e - a n d a p p a r -

ently they didn't i f they mademoney or no t - then whys h o u l d a n y o n e e i s e c a r e ?That would be f ine i f themedia were just l ike any oth-

Many of them are known, i f not actu-a l l y seen, to be subs id ized by spec ia lin te res t g roups . I t wou ld no t be so ob-jec t ionab le i f these pa t rons revea ledthemselves in the interest of open plu-ra l i sm, bu t then tha t wou ld de fea ttheir very reason for staying invisible.

Unlike the regular market, which isregulated by laws that require a prod-uct and i ts makers to reveal enoughabout themselves, thus enabling thec o n s u m e r t o m a k e a r e a s o n a b l echoice, the media market al lows justabout any th ing to compete on i tfree-wheelingly, that is to say, evenunder false pretenses; i t is leftto turn on the lopsided re-lat ionship between sel l-ers who may-andd 9 - 1 s 5 s 1 1 t o- - : ^ l - ^ - - - ^ - J ^ ^L r r L K s r ) r ' d r l q ) E -

\crecy, an( l Duy-

er business. As i t happens, a democraticsociety, such as we cal l ourselves, puts inthem a special ly del icate responsibi l i ty.T h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y r e s p e c t e d e d i t o rHarold Evans gives a definit ion that hap-pens to str ike at the heart of the Phil ip-^ i - - - . ^ - t i ^ - .

"The press is a frai l vessel for the hopesit is meant to bear. The best that i t cando can never be qu i te good enough toi l luminate . . . the ' inv is ib le env i ronment , 'the complexity of forces and agencies wecannot monitor for ourselves, but whichaffect al l our l ives. A free, cult ivated...resourceful and honest press can only try,and i f we ever get one i t wi l l be interest-ing to see what i t achieves. In the mean-t ime, the nature of the two dist inct ar-eas of restraint is central to our under-standing. The f irst is external; the accu'mulat ion of laws and convention whichl im i t and pun ish f ree inqu i ry . . . . The sec-ond is in te rna l : the vu lnerab i l i t y o f aneditor to a proprietor, the resources avai l-able for serious journal ism, and the uni-ty and purpose of the staff.

"rWithout internal freedom there ist le hope o f p roduc ing a newspaperquali ty and none at al l ofchal lengingexternal restraints."

Those words f irst appeared when thepreeminence o f the press had no t beenchallenged yet by other media, and longbefore the dawning of the InformationAge. Not that they have become outdar-ed principles - principles don't becomeoutdated, only practices do.

And practices indeed have to change inthis age, one in which terr i tor ial barr iersare being swept away by the inexorabletwin waves of pol i t ico-economic l iberal-izat ion, which provides the l icense, andtechnology, which provides the tools. I tsexponents a re rhe In te rne t , tha t s ing leglobal market of information to whichanyone can cont r ibu te ( "up load" ) andf rom wh ich anyone can take ( "down-load"), and satel l i te television, which f i l lsthe air with a babble of tongues. (Phi l-ippine television now speaks Brit ish andAustral ian-apart from the long-famil-iar American-Russian, French, Chinese,Indian, Japanese, and, of course, ASEANmost i f not at al l hours.)

In th is inc reas ing ly open env i ronment ,information is f lying across the world sofast and thick, makins sense of i t has be-

come a nightmare, and Phil ippine jour-nal ism, as i t is hardly as "free, cult ivated,resourceful and honest" as is required ofi t , is caught i l l -equipped to provide a de-cent degree of i l lumination on "the ' in-

v is ib le government , ' the complex i ty o fforces which affect al l our l ives."

In fact, Phi l ippine.journal ism has comeunder al l sorts of cr i t ic ism and accusa-t ion - cor rup t , b iased, sensat iona l i s t ,tas te less , p ro f i t -hungry , incompetent ,graceless, ungrammatical and so on. Assurely as one can f ind instances in point,one would also f ind redeeming quali t iesin the practice. Sti l l , one would be hirdput d ispu t ing the observa t ion tha t ingeneral the practice is bad. I f Phi l ippinejournal ists were tested for their under-standing of their own profession and forthe ethics, att i tud€s, apti tude, and ski l lsdemanded by i t , enough of them wouldsurely prove the cri t ics r ight.

No wonder the quali ty of publ ic opin-ion is what i t is-after al l i t can only beas good as the quali ty of the informationfrom which i t is formed, which, in turn,can only be as good as the quali ty of thejournal ist who handled and packaged i t ,not of the technician who uploaded i t .The journa l i s t ' s job , in fac t , has beenmade part icularly complex by the upload-ers, as numerous and eff icient as they are.

To be sure, efforts are being made toupgrade-and update-Phil ippine jour-

nal ism, but these are mostly inst i tut ion-al, not in-house, and dependent chief lyon grant, therefore, l imited. Moreover,with owners who regard media more asan instrument of power than as a busi-ness or profession, i t is doubtful wheth-er the most reasonable professional and

i l5;;:sumenrs could bring them

The ques t ion is , How Long can the me-dia go on l ike this? The situation is cle-cidedly bleaker and more expensive forthe press , wh ich is be ing pushed ou t o fthe market by i ts quickel and gl i tzier e lec-t ron ic counterpar t . I t needs to reo l : ien t ,perhaps even reinvent, i tself to f incl i tsnew Dlace in the sun.

f i t t t .I h e b r o a d c a s t j o u r r r a l i s t m a y b c , r b l cto ge t by w i th do ing less , g iven the pop-ular readiness to understand the naturall im i ta t ions o f the i r med ia and Forg ivethem for their superf icial i ty. But not theprint journal ist. His media have alwaysbeen regarded as the serious media, thesancti fying media. They are expected toprov ide a re fuge o f en l igh tenment fo rtheir audiences from the information del-uge of the age.

For the print journal ist, news has cometo take on a new and deeper meaning. I tno longer suff ices that he supply the f ive\7s (what, who, where, when, why andhow) of an event; he should now be ableto answer the ques t ion , "So what?" Inother words, he must be capable of go-ing beyond the realm of facts and ven-turing into the realm of not only inter-pretat ion but of inference, perhaps evenop in ion .

But For a p ress s r i l l r ry ing to ge t over i t sg idd iness over f reedom and se t i t se l fr ight, what are the chances of i t acquir-ing the ski l ls, not to mention the degreeof in te rd isc ip l inary spec ia l i za t ion , re -quired of i t in this age? And even i f thechanges were fair, with the gal loping costsof publ ishing and the general economicd isadvantage i t su f fe rs in compar isonwi th the o ther med ia , how can i t sur -vive, much less prevai l?

If the Cassandras stuck around a whilelonger , they mighc ye t ge t lucky .

Vergel O. Santos is a columnist

Fncmun

Anunrusumnn AsrRRRru AuJA, Jo urnalist/Press Freedom Aduo cate

Indone$ian Magsay$ay AwandeeGompletes two lull cinclesBy Wnrurr D1n1nuro, lNoorursn

Arvarusuve.n Asrna, rlteole was born Oc-tober 20, 1938 in Labuan, Banten, in

'W'est

Java. His father, Junus Astraatmadja, was act-

ing regent in Bekasi district, also in'W'estJava.\While st i l l in journal ism school in Jakarta,Atma became a reporter at the Sunday edi-

tion of Indonesia Raya in 1958 until Presi-

dent Sukarno banned it in October that year.

Atma then bounced from one journalism

job to another in a bon uiuant qts.est for mul-

tiple, if not international, experience. Re-

porter at the Persbiro Indonesia ag€ncy

1959-51, commentator in the state-run RRIradio service in Jakarta 1960-61, reporter

with the Duta Minggu weeUy paper in Jakarta1960-61, radio announcer in the Indone-

sian service of Radio Australia in Melbourne

1961-64, announcer in Deutschewelle in

Cologne 1964-65, chief of the foreign news

desk in the Antara news agency in Jakarta1965-68, comm€ntator at the RRI 1966-

68, and member of the editorial staff and

subsequently executive editor in the post-

Sukarno Indonesia Ray 1968-74.\7ith the government ban on Indonesia

Raya in January 7974, Atma's journalistic

journey has gone first circle: from one ban to

another in the same paper in a 16-year span.

The distinction now was that the govern-

ment considered him to be important enough

to be put on a ?ersona non grata list of jour-

nalists. Unfazed, Atma got a position that

dealt with the media within months. The

American embassy had an opening in i ts

press section and Atma easily filled it. He

signed on as press assistant and soon rose to

information specialist from 1974 to 1992.

During this time Atma undertook off-work

hour activities on rwo tracks that in the long-

run helped to enrich Indonesian journalism.

He wrote a slew of articles for publications

using a pseudonym, and authored, edited

and translated a catalogue of books in his

own name. To date, Atmakusumah has au-

thored or contributed chapters to 21 booksrelating to media issues and history. He has

edited eight books and did the prodigious

rask of editor and contr ibutor for the mass

communication entries in the 1992 Ensiklo'pedi Nasional Indonesia. His editorship pro-

duced more than 200 entries for this 18-

volume encyclopedia, considered to be a com-prehensive vault of knowledge on Indone-

"1t". ,, one person who can't be idle: At

home, he can be working on the comPuter

till early in the morning. If he is not writing,

he's reading," comments Sri Rumoati, his

wife of 31 years, of Atma's creature habits.

The couple's love of books is infectious.

The need to read virus has touched their

children-three grown sons age 30, 28 and

20. Books in abundance are in their home in

a lea$' neighborhood of East Jakarta. The

boys, particularly the third son now study-

ing Astronomy at the Bandung Institute of

Technology, use their spending mon€y to

buy new titles.Atmak second track of activiry was speak-

ing and teaching. It is a long-term invest-

ment that has now borne fruit. Governments

can ban a newspaper, but cant bury its rep-

utation. Indonesia Raya gained much inter-

national acclaim under the editorship of Mo-

chtar Lubis, who won the first Magsaysay

Award in iournalism in 1958.

Because of this and his own sterling status

as a government -sanc t ioned PNG, At -

makusumah received frequent requests to

speak on media matters: news writ ing, news-

paper management, journalism ethics, free-

dom of the press, to name several. Many of

these meetings, particularly with students

and non-governmental organizations, were

done quietly.A campus group in Bandung, for instance,

would invite him over but not give him the

address of the meeting place. They would

meet him at the train station. He even went

out of his way to pay the transport fare out

of his own pocket when the inviting party

could not take up the cost.His eagerness to teach and to be with

young, idealistic people got to a point where

Atma left his secure job at the United States

Information Service before ret irement age in

1992. He joined the Dr. Soetomo Press In-

sdtute (LPDS) as a full-time instructor' Es-

tablished in 1988 to train universiry gradu-

ates to become professional journalists in a

nine-month program, Atma helped the in-

stitute to open shorter courses for a wider

reach of attendees.Atma taught at least half a dozen courses

that included news writing, media publica-

tion, features, press history, and media and

society. The subject that perhaps had the

most effect, if not the most popular, was his

ethics in journalism course. Beyond regaling

his students about his years with Indonesia

Raya and the investigative reports it did that

made two presidents furious, Atma instilled

in his students a sense of ethics and profes-

sionalism. It might not have been possible to

do investigative reporting under Soeharto's

New Order. But learn the methods. There

will be a time in the future when you can

apply them, Atma would tell his students.

The year 1994 became a turning point. In

March, Atmakusumah became executive di-

rector of the Institute. But perhaps more im-

portantly, an event three months later turned

Atma into an active advocate. On June 21

the government d ropped i t s sword o f

Damocles again. This time it struck tlvo week-

ly news magazines and aweekly political news

tabloid. Soeharto banned Tbmpo, Editor and

Detih for their critical reporting."I was incensed and disappointed. Gov-

ernment officials and President Soeharto had

in recent years campaigned for a policy of

openness. It turned out it was pure rheto-

ric," Atmakusumah observed.Atmakusumah joined more than 100 jour-

nalists, lawyers, students, NGO activists and

support€rs in a demonstration before the In-

formation Department to protest the bans'

He wrote to the department and made pub'

l ic statements deploring ics action.Atmakusumah's activities outside the class-

room increased with more frequent requests

for talks not just outside Jakarta but beyond

Java, Indonesia's most populous island. In

any given week, he could be in Semarang,

Central Java one day, and in Makassar, South

Sulawesi, the next. Atmakusumah has trav-

elled to at least 30 cities in the far-flung ar-

chipelago- from Banda Aceh in the 'West

to Jayaputra in the East, a 5,000 kilometer

spread.Organizations sprang in reaction to the

bans. One such grouping was the Alliance of

Independent Journalists, AJI, formed in Au-

gust 1994. Atmakusumah was a sought-outmentor in AJI's formative months spent on

organization and drawing up documents like

a code of ethics. Again, the meetings were

sufrePtitious.

Posr-SoEsnnro PREssOn May 21 1998 Soeharto abruptly re-

signed as president following a mass student

sit-in at the parliament building protestinghis 32-year rule.

"The hope emerged that finally the press

could have freedom. But what was most im-

portant that came uP in my mind was that

in the end Soeharto had fallen and I wit-

nessed his downfall." Atma said.Meetings of journalism activists became

open and Atma joined them in workshops

and seminars, particularly those on the role

of the press to cover Indonesia's first, free

multiple party elections in 44 years in June1999. A. forward-looking new informationminister invited Atmakusumah to help draft

a new Dress act that would dismantle the

permits syste., end gove rnment resrr ict ions,and place press freedom within a legal frame-

work.An offspring of the new law is a new in-

dependent press council that has the job to

protect press freedom and settle public com-plaints brought about by media coverage.Atma was again involved as midwife for this

council, and became its first chairman.Other new organizations also sought At-

makusumah's participation. These include

the Indonesian Committee to Protect Jour-nalists and the Office of the Ombudsman of

the Kompas daily, arguably Indonesia's pre-

Rnu Locsllu, Publisher/ Editor, BusinessWorld

A tniclt of $pinc.ByVencu O. SnNros, PHtt-rpplttEs

Reul LocsrN is six feet, and no burden of

force, not even his 69 hard-l ived years,

could bend him one inch short of his full

height. I t is no mere matter of conscious

posture; it is a measure of character'"Before you even dream of touching the

stars," he remembers his mother telling him

repeatedly, "first, you must stand straight."

Although his selection for the Ramon

Magsaysay award (1999) in journa l i sm

was a prestigious val idation of that lesson,

Raul Locsin is not one to covet such things'

All he has always wanted, he will tell you,

is to be able to produce a newspaPer stand-

ing straight, which has not been easy at all

to do in his time, unlike, comparativeiy, in

his father's.Don Aurel io edited and published his

own daily, in Spanish, for a captive market

in'Western Visayas, central Philippines. In

time, though, his aging subscribers began

dying away, and so did the language' If

only for love and tradition, he might have

gone on publishing, but mart ial law dis-

couraged him. At any rate, when he finai-

ly closed his newspaper, it had had a good

run of more than 30 years.The son himself had barely started his

own newspaper when he was caught by

martial law He was in debt and, havinq

,ri]l:''l

mier serious newspaper of over 450,000 cir-

culation. Kompas inv\tedAtma to chair a five-

oerson board to run an Office of the Om-

Lrrd.-".r to critique the paper's editorial per-

formance and journal ist ic practices.

In looking five years into the future, what

work must the Indonesian press do to pro-

tect its freedom?"Improve news content and presentation

in iine with professional and ethical stan-

dards of journalism. Fairness, non-biased re-

porting and non-use of crude language are

values that can protect the press from arbi-

trary accusations.

"The better the qualiry of the press, the

less will there be reason for people to try to

gag the press," Atmakusumah declared.

In June 2000, Atmakusumah repeated

what his editor and mentor Mochtar Lubis

achieved in 1958. He won the Magsaysay

Award for Journalism. Atmakusumah has

completed a full second circle. This time he

has arrived at the circle's peak.

Warief Dj4anto is assistant director of the Dr. Soetomo

Press lnsfitute,

chosen to operate right in the nation's cap-ital, he lay himself exposed to the agentsof the oppressive regime. Five years earli-er, he had taken out a bank loan for P5,000to meet the minimum capital requirementand sold shares to raise money for the op-eration under arrangements that guaran-teed his independence as editor and pub-l isher.

Hrs owru vnruIn fact, independence was what i t was

all about for Raul. He had worked as areporter in the business-news section of ThlManila Chronicle, the national daily ownedby Don Eugenio Lopez, the plutocrat, andfelt bridled, naturally. He left to launchand edit the weekly Economic Monitor,but did not last long there either. The lasttime he had felt himself his own man waswhen he dropped out of the Ateneo, the

Jesuit col lege, after two years of l iberal artsto travel around the country as a cigaretsalesman, an adventure that lasted threeyears.

Perhaps i t was predetermined by bloodthat newspapering should be his l i fe. Hismother wrote for his father's paper; hisbrother Alf lo was business-news editor ofThe Manila Times, the only truly indepen-dent dai ly at the t ime; and his mother'sbrother Arsenio H. Lacson, cal led

'Arsenic"

for the potency of his pen, is a legend ofthe profession.

Raul himself determined to make i t asthey al l did, but more part icularly as didhis father. It was to prove his own life'sstruggle for independence. "I didn't knowwhat I had got myself into," he now con-fesses. "I found myself taking out a newloan to pay the old one. I just hoped thatat some point, I would be rescued fromthe vicious cycle."

BgnrtNc rHE DtcrAToRSHtPBut what chance did a newspaper - not

to mention an independent newspaper -

have under mart ial law? As i t happened,Business Day managed in the end not onlyto turn i tself around; he was able not onlyto pay the f irst loan on the 1l 'r ' yeirr andfree himself from al l obl igation on the 20' i ' ,but to also beat the dictatorship. He pLrtsit al l down to "fortune and brinkmanship."

He says Ferdinand Marcos rcIerated Busi-ness Day possibly because, being a special-ized and an essentiai ly nonpoli t ical paper," i t had only a small circulat ion and wasbeyond the reach and appreciation of thepeople he worried xl6Ll1 - the masses."

But more than that, "he found i t usefulsometimes," Raul adds, recal l ing how onceMr. Marcos pointed a reporter from thePhiladelphia Inquirer, the American news-paper, to Business Day to illustrate the lat-

i tude he al lowed the press. Indeed, nooverground Phil ippine pap€r other thanBusiness Day had dared test the regime ni ts ear ly years , and, as i t sensed Mr .Marcos's power ebbing, it continued to doso with increasing boldness.

Nruov AeurNo's ASsAssrNAroNIn March 1984, six months after one sin-

gle, treacherous bullet felled Benigno Aqui-no Jr., the chief pol i t ical r ival of Mr. Mar-cos, and signaled his own downfall, Rauldelivered a paper at a forum of editors atthe East-\fest Center, the press-freedomheadquarters in Hawaii , U.S.A. I t was amomentous spi l l ing of his nation's gut. Hesaid, summing up:

"\X/ith the declaration of martial law andthe draft ing of a new Qe151l1u1l6n-1hsleadership made known to the land that i thad preempted a revo lu r ion to cor rec t in -equit ies and injust ices spawned by the con-centration of wealth and oower in the handso F a F e u d a l f e w , d e f u s e a n a r c h y i n r h es t ree ts , and prov ide food, c lo th ing andshelter, and economic well-being to everyman, woman. and ch i ld in a new soc ie ry .

'And thus even the great hal ls of our

Congress were s i lenced, and what wasknown as the freest press in Asia conscript-ed to preach the greater responsibility ofnational survival for a nation whose pov-

erty and ignorance could ill afford the lux-ury of delaying progress by protracted de-bate and dissent.. .

". . . I t seemed that the nation was caughtin the euphoria and exhilaration of devel-opment, forgetting that the great civrliza-tion of this world have seen their suns seton horizons studded with Partheons, TajMahals, sphinxes and pyramids.

"New developing nations, obsessed withthe search for identity and self-sufficien-cy, either contest or ignore the relentlesslogic of history as i f one could escape i tsconclusion. Thus, cr i t ic ism becomes dis-serv ice and d issent , subvers ion : repress ionby the state becomes a right and the free-dom of the cit izen a privi lege. Nationalgoa ls . . . the i l l us ion goes . . . shou ld no t bedeterred by human rights and sensibi l i t iesbred into mankind by the civi l izat ion pro-rr::'

"Bur rh is i s rhe paradox oF growth anddeveiopment. For the ascendancy of hu-man rights and sensibi l i t ies is what real lytransforms the shame and dishonor of thepas t in to the d ign i ty and honor o f the

Present. "

Dpvocnncv RESToREDIn 1986, the reg ime was de fea ted and

democracy reinstalled. ln Business Day'sown case, the paradox was tha t , a f te remerging pol i t ical ly tr iumphant and at thesame t ime f inancial ly healthy, i t closed,plagued by labor trouble, early the follow-ing year. At about midyear, however, i treturned, restructured as a cooperative andrenamed BusinessWorld. Raul had beencontracted as publisher, editor and, effec-t ively, manager, but, to al l intents and pur-poses, i t was, is, and wil l continue to behis paper.

He has carr ied over to the newspaper theessential character ofthe old, especial ly theintegri ty, the independence, and the senseof brinkmanship. Once, for instance, abig advert iser took reprisals for a series ofstories about i t by boycott ing the paper.Finally realizing it needed the paper morethan the paper needed i t , i t offered to re-sume booking again, only to be told that i twould have to wait three months, the ex-act length of t ime i t had stayed away.Thar 's ryp ica l l y Rau l Locs in .

BusinessWorld is doing much better thanits forerunner ever did. It has consistentlyturned a profi t , i t now owns i ts bui ldingand the land on which i t stands, and i tsmodera te ly expand ing opera t ions havebeen unmatched in technological sophis-tication in the industry. After 20 years ofBusiness DaT,PtauJ says, he should no long-er have any excuses.

But he st i l l bel ieves that the basic tr ick isto produce a newspaper standing straight.

Socms

Puhlish and PenishThe Censorship of OppositionEdited byJames GomezPublished by the National Solidariry Party26 | pages

Punusu eup Perish doesit quite live up to itsbilling. Rather than give an overview of thecensorship of opposition newspapers in thetightly regulared ciry-state, it actually focuseson just one, The Solidari4t, official publica-tion of the opposition National Solidariry ParryNSP).

There are 19 registered political parties inSingapore, bur the ruling People's Action Par-ry (PAP) has won every general election since1959. NSP is but one of the 18 other partiesthat have so far failed ro caprure a significantmeasure of power from the PA?

Publish and Perish chronicles rhe travails from1993 to 2000 of a'poiitical party that is stillgamely trying to compere as best as it can withthe powers-that-be in Singapore. By docu-menting the NSPI campaign for liberaliry andaccountabiliry the book offers valuable insightsinto a political system that wili brook no dis-sent, as well as into the abuses, heary-handed-ness and intolerance that the concentradon ofnear-absolute power inevitably creates.

Unlike some of its Southeast Asian neieh-bors. Singapore has nor felr rhe winds of de-mocratizing change that have been sweep-ing through the region since the mid-i9B0s.Confident of the crucial role the ciry-stateplays in the global capitalist order, its lead-ers-and, to a large extent, its 6igi2sn5-hxys

Party Publications in Singaporechosen to remain aloof, dismissing politicaldevelopments elsewhere as irrelevant to Sin-gaporet requirements.

The city-statet political culture fits noneofthe categories devised by traditional polit-ical science. It has been described as central-ized, authoritarian and statist; but it has alsobeen portrayed as pragmatic, rational and le-galistic.

Singapore conrinues to hold on to the ac-coutrements of the British system of govern-ment, with its parliamentary procedures andbe-wigged magistrates. Elections are held reg-ularly, but political power has never been al-lowed to slip from rhe PAPI hands since rheciry-state seceded from Malaysia in 1965.

A democracy patterned after \(/estern mod-els, Singapore is most certainly not. It has notradition of civil liberties. No ciear lirnits havebeen placed on stare power.

For this, Singapore's leaders have remainedunapologetic. Their absolute authoriry has al-lowed them to build the wealthiest economyin Asia, second only to Japant. Their experi-ence in development has been held up as amodel-but mostly by political leaders in oth-er countries lusting after similar levels of un-questioned power.

Notes a US congressional study: "The rul-ers of an ex-colony with a multi-ethnic pop-ulation, and a country independent only bydefault, assumed no popular consensus onthe rules of or limits to political action. Sin-gapore was a ciry-state where a small groupof guardians used their superior knowledgeto advance the prosperiry of the state and tobring benefi ts to what they considered alargely ignorant and passive populat ion."Done in 1989, the study still gives an actu-

:Xi:r: . : , ."o. ion of Singapore' 's pol i t ical

Other Southeast Asians-especially journal-ists-who have gained for themselves a cer-tain measure of democratic space in recen r yearscannot help but sympathize with their broth-ers and sisters in Singapore.

Editor Gomez (who as a non-NSP memberguest-edited this volume) explains in his In-troduction: "In Singapore, publishing rulesare stringent and a culture ofself-restraint pre-r.ents challenges to the dsmlnxnl yis\M-x fg2-ture of its one parry-dominated state."

GowRNrevr ltcENStNGPublishers of periodicals need to regularly

applv for governmenr l icenses. Moreover,publishers, editors, writers and distributors ofall publications could find themselves run-ning afoul of regulations as stipulated in the

Internal Security Act, Official Secrets Act, Pe-nal Code, Undesirable Publications Act.Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act andSedition Act.

Gomez points out: "Although Article 14of the Constitution of the Republic of Sin-gapore guarantees the right of freedom ofspeech and expression, which has been ac-cepted in legal circles to include the freedomof the media, operationally the above provi-sions imposed by Parliament stand to restrictthese rights."

A compilation of selected articles that sawprint in The Solidarity over a period of eightyearc, Publish and Perish gives an overview ofthe issues that apparently matter most to or-dinary Singaporeans. These include the hugepay raises government officials have grantedthemselves, increased cost ofhousing and therole Singapore's well-educated women needto play in their sociery.

Orue pensoN, TWo vorEsThere is even a lengthy discussion on a pro-

posal by Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew togrant older and financially comfortable Sin-gaporeans rwo vores in place of the us.ual oneperson, one vote.

Absurd as it might sor+nd to outsiders, rhetwo votes-one man proposal is nonetheless agauge of the silent panic that has evidentll'begun to grip the ciry-statet rulers. Their tra-ditional constituency, which sacrifi ced liberryon the altar of national survival and materialgrowth, is experiencing the inevitable effectsof natural attrition. They fear the rise of ayounger generation of Singaporeans, rhany ofwhom believe there must be more to life thanan ever-expanding gross narional product andsqueaky-clean elevators.

Publish and Perish, despite its occasionallapses in rypography and grammar. is a por-tent of things to come for Singapore, whosewell-educated and highly talented citizensare destined to join the worldt communiryof democratic narions.

The struggle for freedom, however, conrin-ues. In an e-mail titled "James Gomez sum-moned by the police" and sent recently ro theeditort colleagues and friends in Asia and else-where, Jacob George wrote in part: "'

"James Gomez, executive director of ThinkCenter, has been notified through a letter dat-ed 29th January 2001 to appear ar the Cen-tral Police Division HQ by Inspector AlvinChone.

to page 50 )

The Media andPeace ReportingPerspectiues 0n Media and Peace Reportage

Rmusnpp nq November 2000 by the Office ofthe Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process incooperation with the Philippines' Center forMedia Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), ZZeMedia and Peare Reportinghx gained added rele-vance in view ofthe decision ofthe new Presidentof the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal -furoyo, toresume peace talks with the two main insurgentgroups in the country

The allis came to an abrupt halt last year whenthen-president Joseph Estrada nee Ejercito de-cided to relive his cinematic tough-guy role in therealm of public policy. Dismantling the gainspainstakingly achieved 6y the 1992-97 adminis-tration of Fidel V Ramos, the Estrada regimehounded Marxist rebels belonging to the Na-tional Democratic Front deeper into the under-ground. At the same time, it launched an all-outwar against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front(MILF) in Central Mindanao, in a brual militarycampaign that displaced over half a million peo-ple and caused death to tlousands ofMILF guer-rillas and government troops. Btrada capped theArmed Forces' momentary conquest of the MILFby personally delivering beer and roast pork tosoldien occupying the Muslim heardand.

MEotAl,rANtpuLAnoNNotwithstanding the auocities commined by

the renewed counteriruurgency program, Estra-

da managed to improve his populariry ratings. k

did seem like a true-to-life validation of the cyni-

cal theory of media manipulation tackled in theHollyrvood movie "\Vag the Dog," where a USpresident wages a fake war wi*r a foreign countryin order to shore up his sagging performance in

opinion polls. There was, howwer, nothing fic-

tiond about the dea*rs and massive displacementin Central Mindanao-and nothing hilarious

about the Philippine media's generally unthink-ing coverage of the campaign.

For the most part, the Philippine media-

which fancy themselves to be Asia's freest-swal-lowed the gov€rnment line with litde efforc toput the conflict in perspective, much less playan even hand wich the protagonists. Some newsagencies even allowed themselves to act as virnr-al propaganda tools, dispensing ancient preju-

dices that for centuries have poisoned relations

benveen Muslims and self-sryled Christians in

the Philippines.

Nmorun-nrcoNcuanouThankfully, the new government of Mrs.

Macapagal-A,rroyo has promised to resume n€go-

tiations with the insurgents who, in turn, have

responded positively to the President's initiative.

Here is where The Media and Peace Reportiiganplay an important role in helping achieve the ob-jective ofnational reconciliation on the basis ofan

informed and intelligent understanding of the

issues that gave rise to rebellion in the first place.

The booh a compilation of 21 anicles writtenby peace advocates (academics, lawyers and a

former insurgent leader) both in and out of gov-

efflment as well as journalists, offers perspectiveson social conflict in the Philippina and discusesmedia's role in the peace process.

JounNlum'unsrsIn the rush to gather straight news and meet

their editors' deadlines, journalists far too oftenfail to review tleir notes, among many otherlapses. As the book's Introduction points out:"tWhat is not so obvious is tle need for journal-

ists to keep up with the changing context of thenews. Journalists need to acquire the necessarybackground ofevens they cover, to add to their

fund of knowledge and information that they

[as well as their rea*rs and audiences-D.M.] can

understand more firlly why events have come

to pass and the issues reflected in various dwel-

opments of society."Inwitably, cerain quarters will take issue over

whether or not media-with their avowals of "ob-

jectivity' and "impartialiry'-should allow them-

selves to become panial one way or another in thebusiness offinding a negotiated setdement to con-flict. The fact that the bookwas pardy underwrit-

ten by the Office of the Presidendd Adviser on

the Peace Process, a government agency, couldgive rise to some debate over journalistic ethics.

PnoncoNtm tru soctAl coNFucrIn mrth, the mere act of covering conflict al-

ready makes the media prougonists in social con-flicr By going into batde without the ammuni-tion of background and perspective, the media

are put in serious danger of becoming helplesspawns in thewar ofpublic information that akesplace alongside the killings in the batdefield. In

the effon to save lives and end destruction, dis-agreement over ethical conduct would amountto nothing more than mindless, unconscionable

? fom page 49Poucetwrsnc.mou

"Inspector Chong, who is the Senior Investi-gation Office6 mentioned in his letter thatJamesGomez is asked to appear for a police investiga-tion, 'in connection with an offence ofAssem-bly\Tithout a Permit alleged to have been com-mitted on 1Oth December 2000 between0900hrs and 1500hrs at Speaker's Corner,Hong Lim Green.'

"The interview is set to take place on 10thFebruary 2001 at 9.30am at the HQwhich islocated at 99, Beach Road.

"The Think Center has been active in orga-nizing, either singly or joindy, monthly sessionsat the Speakert Corner since its inception on 1September 2000. Up to date several of its initi-atives to overcom€ the limitations at Hong LimPark have been met with police disapproval."

Publbh and Perish comes with a jacket thatwhen removed reveals a plain, gray cover. Thebetter to avoid detection bv the ciw-state'sthought police. D,tU M'SRUNO nitpicking. D,lu M,sRuNo

Lasnr Mor*rron

1t.Alfredo Jimenez,.\Woot lawyer, filed the case

before the Zamboanga City Prosecutor's Of-fice.

Also named respondents were Times editor-in-chief Cipriano Roxas, executive editor JoseMacaspac III, managing editor Ernesto Tolen-tino, associate editor Manolo Jara, city editorInday Varona-Espina, Mindanao BureauChief Rene Bartolo and his deputy CarmelitoFrancisco.

Concepcion, who also reportedly worls forthe government radio station dxMR Radyo ngBayan, wrote the allegedly libelous "Chinese

businessman faces raps for smuggling wastes"

f.*lt:t.O December 15 in the Times.I:rslead

"He is one of the well-known allies of Presi-dent Estrada, but to his consternation, allegedsmuggler'Wee Dee Ping, alias lee Peng \7ee, isnow probably realizing that

'closeness' to theChief Executive is not a license to flaunt thelaw."

\Wee's lawyer claimed that the Timesbranded'Wee

a smuggler. This is "libelous and verydamaging to his (\7eet) person." The lawyeradded that \flee is also preparing a civil caseclaiming P10 million in damages against therespondents. (Manila Times, January 8, 2001,

l,age j; Daily Ty'ibune, January 7, p. 3; Philip-pine Star Januaty 8,p. tn

Radiomen po$t bail

PnrnwA Digos City, Davao del Sur radio commen-

tator and his station manager have posted bailafter being ordered arrested for libel.

Judge Alicia de los Santos had ordered thearrest of Emerito Alfafara, host of the nightlyprogram Radyo Ukay and station manager Flo-rencio Campaner of the Universiry of Mind-anao Broadcasting Network's dxDX.

Another radio program host, a councilor ofbarangay Ruparan, Emmanuel Thgalog, filedthe libel case against the two, whom he ac-cused ,f maliciously criticizing him while read-ing a letter of complaint from a listener.

"He told his listeners that I [was] not fit to bea barangay official because I am partially dis-abied. He was commenting on my disabilirywhile laughing. That was too much," Tagalogsaid.

Alfa$ra denied Tagalogt that he laughed atThgalogt disabiliry. He said he read the entireletter of complaint against the latter withoutcomment.

Thgalog said he also named Campaner as arespondent because he failed to exercise hiseditorial prerogative to restrain Alfafara.

Both Alfafara and Campaner posted bail ofP10,000 each. (Inquirer.net, December 2B)

Banknupt politician fights olf libel

$srPft

J. B. Jeyaretnam (JBJ), veteran Singaporeopposition politician, has been declared bank-rupt but is currently fighting to hold off hiscreditors. This is the latest nvist in the ongoingsaga of the two libel cases that have been filedagainst him.

One is a suit by agroup led by SeniorMinister (SM) LeeKuan Yew that arosefrom the 1997 Gen-eral Election rally inthe Cheng SanGroup Representa-t ion Consti tuency(GRC) inwhichJBJsaid that his runningmate Tang LiangHong had fiied po-lice reports against Prime Minister Goh ChokTong, SM ke and nine other Peoplet ActionParry (PAP) leaders alleging criminal conspiracyand lying. They sued for defamation.

The second case invoives eight members ofthe Thmil Language 'Week Organizing Com-mittee who sued JBJ for a 1995 article in inthe \Workert Parry newsietter The Hammer,which the courts said had defamed the com-mittee.

According to Jeyaretnam, the plaintiffs hadnot pursued the Banlcuptcy Order, but thatthe impending General Election has broughtabout rhese acrions to make him pay up.

His appeal against the Assistant-Registrartdismissal of his applications to dismiss all theacdons by SM Lee Kuan Yew and seven otherswas dismissed by Justice Lai Siu Chiu on Feb-ruary 13 , 2001.

JBJ is currently appealing the decision and islooking into some public fund raising activiryto pay off his creditors.

3 Pamnanganew$ edit0ns changed

PurmrsAn Angeles City police officer has filed a libel

suit against three editors of Pampanga News,claiming an article published in the said news-paper discredited him.

Antonio Salenga, Pampanga l/arzs publisherand editor; Max Sangil, chair of the board ofnewseditors; andJojo Maiig, associate editor, are facingcharges filed by Police Supt. Amado Calaguas,Chief ofAngeles Ciryt Police Station 1.

Malig's story appeared in the December 6-12 issue of rhe News, in which he quoted theurban poor group Kadamay-Pampanga as de-scribing the police officer as a" kotong kingj' or

"extortion king."The art icle reported that Caiaguas had

banned Apu Flea Market vendors from sellingtheir goods and products along certain streets.It also reported the residents' claims of harass-ment against the police officer as well as hisalleged

'martial rule" attitude in sternll? imple-menting the anti'obstruction law.

In his complaint before theAngeles CityPros-ecutor's office, Caiaguas said the statements inMalig's article "defamed, dishonored, and dis-credited" him. (7/ibune, January 9,p. Z)

llocton $uc$ nadiomen lon libel

PnrnnA doctor in Iloilo Ciry filed libel charges Feb-

ruary 2 against three radiomen of dyRI RadyoAgong for allegedly ridiculing her on air.

Dr. Aura Marie Grijaldo, 27, a resident phy-sician of the West Vsayas Medical Center inMandurriao district, filed the charges againtSalvador Capulot Jr. a.k.a. Jun Capulot, RexCantong, and Elmer John Ubaldo.

She claimed that on January 29, Capu\otcalled her "tisay mistisa ati "(black mestiza) onair, following it with a boisterous laugh. Hereportedly added: "I pray that ifyoure takingyour supper now you will choke and die."

Grijaldo said the libel was committed by

Capulot e,,,ith the full knowledge of radio sta-tion manager Ubaldo.

Grijaldo added that the next day, Capulotand Cantong further criticized her in their pro-gram Agong Kapehan, and that Ubaldo didnothing to stop them.

\X4rile Grijaldo said she did not know whythe reporters did that to her, sources familiarwith the case said the conflict stemmed from

Grijaldo's refusal to give Capulot the results ofa medical examination on a rape victim thatthe latter wanted to foliow up for his radioprogram. (Manilatimes.net February 3)

Estnada buddV $ue$'Time$'

PnmusAn associate of ousted President Joseph Es-

trada has filed a libel suit against aZamboangaCity Customs official and the Mark Jimenez-owned Manila Times.

Mark Jimenez was a close associate of Estra-da, but distanced himself from him after hisouster last January 20.

Named respondents in the lil-'el suit filed byFormer Presidential Assistant for MindanaoEconomic Affairs Lee Peng \7ee were Cr'ftomsCollector Lourdes Mangaoang, the primarysource of the allegedly libelous article, and Timescorrespondent Faber Concepcion, who wrote

Evenurs

Fonum on'Jounnalisn lsia'Rrenn

Frenuanv: Journalists and academics fromthe Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Ma-laysia and Singapore convened from Janu-ary 10-13 in Makati, Metro Manila to dis-cuss the first issue of the regional publica-tion Journalism Asia, a quarterly forum onissues, trends and subjects that bear uponthe relat ionship between the media andthe public in Asia.

Journalism Asia is an independent pressmonitoring publication initially focused onthe Southeast Asian press, where in severalcountr ies the process of democratizationhas created a new environment of pressfreedom for many journalists.

Journalism Asia will heip educate mem-bers of the free press on the responsibi l i -ties that come with press freedom. How-ever, it recognizes that in many of the coun-tries of Southeast Asia press freedom hasnot yet been achieved. In those countr iesthe first priority is to win press freedom.

The discussions on editorial pol icies, cir-cuiation and funding were foliowed by theelection of Journalism Asia staff members.

Elected members of the Board of Advis-ers were : Ramon Magsaysay awardees RaulLocsin (Phi l ippines) and AtmakusumahAstraatmadja (Indonesia), Eugenia Apos-to l (Ph i l ipp ines) , Kav i Chongk i t tavornand Kiatichai Pongpanich (Thailand) andSusanto Pudjomartono (Indonesia). Elect-ed Country Editors were: \Tarief Djajanto( Indones ia ) , James Gomez (S ingapore) ,

Darunee Hirunruk (Thailand), RehmanRashid (Malaysia), Luis V.

-feodoro (Phii-

ippines), \Wilasinee Phiphitkul (Thai land)

and Vergel Santos (Phil ippines).

The forum was sponsored by The JapanFoundation and the Sasakawa Peace Foun-dation.

llnaft ol fneedomof inlonmati0n act $ulmittcd

htrfir$rMancs: The Coalition for Information

Freedom, a Jakarta-based grouping of 17pro-democracy NGOs, will submit a draftFreedom of Information Act to the Indo-nesian House of Representatives, DPR, be-fore the legislative body recesses in March2001, a member of the coal i t ion said.

Representatives of the NGOs presentedFebruary 9 their draft law to DPR officialsin the Legislation Office (Badan Legisla-sl), the body that receives and tables draftsfor legislation. (The article-by-article drafttext itself was not submitted at that meet-ing because it was still undergoing refine-

ment.) The 46-art icle draft act highl ightssix points:

1) The r ight of the people to obtain in-formation

2) The obl igation of government admin-istrators to respond to requests for infor-mation in a quick, inexpensive and simplemanner

3) Exemptions are tightiy restricted4) State agencies are required to upgrade

the i r in fo rmat ion and documenta t ion ser -vrces

5) Part ies that impede public access toinformation can be prosecuted and penal-ized

- Inst i tute for Press and DevelopmentStudies (LSPP)

- Institute for Public Affairs Advocacyand Studies

- Center for Indonesian Legal and Pub-lic Policy Studies

- tansparency Indonesra- Sc ience Aesthe t ics and Techno logy

(KTVPI)- South East Asian Press Al l iance- Indones ian Env i ronmenta l Forum

NTALHI)- Foundation for the Bolstering of Par-

t icipation, Init iat ives and Partnershipof Indonesian Society.

lr',i1.!l;ft;i.:

Journalism Asia p artic ip antsStanding Andreas Harsono (Indonesia), Yoshinobu Onishi (The Sasakawa Peace Foundrttion), Rehmnn Rashid(Mafusia), Danilo Mariano (Phihppines), ChauarongLimpanamapanee (Thaiknd), LuisV Tbodnro (Phil-

ippina), Wrgel Santos (Philippines), James Gomez (Singapore), Susanto Pudjomartono (Indonesia).

Seated: Atmakusumah Asnaatmadja (Indonesia), Wilasinee Phipbithul (Thailand), Darunee Hirunruh(Thaiknd), Melinda Quintos drJesus (Phihppines), Madeline Nicoks (representingtheJapan Foundaion)

and Kiatichai Pongpanich (Thailand).

'.' ';q: :t:,ill:

6) The pub l ic has a r igh t to redressthrough law if the right to seek informa-tion is viotated. Filipino igunn-a-list wi!!$

The t7 non-sovernment organizations inlFnna-tiOnAl i0Ufnalismin the coalition are: " lellOWShi[

- Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI)- Indonesian Corruption \fatch Pnupprts- Indonesian Center for Environmental JeNuenv 25: Noel T. Pangilinan, editor-

Law ( ICEL) in -ch ie f o f rhe Cebu-based newspaper I /e- Institute for Information Flow Stud- Freeman, was invited by the US State De-

ies (ISAI) partment to part iciPate in an international- Indonesian Media, Law and Policy journal ism fel lowship in the United States

Center from January 25 to February 15.- Rectors Forum The fellowship will allow Pangilinan to- Consort ium for National Law Reform visit big and community-based newsPa-- Jakarta Legal Aid Inst i tute (LBH) pers and news organizations, exchange- Institute for the Study and Advocacy views with US journalists and observe new

for an Independent Judiciary trends in American journal ism.

The Wnners of

The Jaime V. OngpinAwardsfor Inve stigative Journalism

include leading Filipino journalists who probed beneath the surface of the news toreveal what may be hidden from the public eye, among them

Carolynfugurllas, Yvonne Chua, Sheila Coronel, Gemma LtuCorotan, Donna Cueto,Ma. Ceres Doyo, Jerry Esplanada, Miriam Grace Go, Chay Florentino-Hofilefla, JulietLabog, Malou Mangahas, Armand Nocum, Carlito Pablo, Danny Petilla, SheilaSamonte, Howie Severino, Maritess Sison and Ellen Tordesillas.

In Philippine democracy, the free press has enabled citizens to check the abuseof power with information and knowledge. These awards single out the bestinvestigative reports each year as a way of encouraging more to do the same.

TheAwardswere finteivenin 1990to commemoratetheworkofthe lateJaimeV Ongpininstrengthening tl e "altemative"press as it challenged the secrecy instituted during the Marcos regime.

The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility which conceptualized this annual program serves as tlte secretariat ofthe awards, to be given this year on June 28 ,2001 .

thr$n:fn rTu 0r $ffi tH rssAilsfi0l€Rlvnffi NT