3.7.06

Fence sitting


The day after the Hacienda Luisita picket dispersal attempt (November 16, 2004) the Philippine Star carried the picture of a worker in the act of throwing something towards the dispersal units. On that same fateful day a baby, a year and three months old was suffocated to death by the thick chloroacetophenone from the tear gases thrown by the Northern Luzon Command and local police forces. As far as I know, no paper published that photo. No picture of that baby’s father being riddled with bullets as he runs towards his child’s murderers with just a bolo in his hand ever saw print.


Many may have already forgotten about the then famous picket. Then, media giants hounded the formerly unnoticed sugar land. And after much media hype, with the daughter of a former president even riding on the issue, the worker’s endeavors just disappeared from the pages. Of course, the occasional assassinations of picketers have earned some attention but that was it.


And like a murder of crows that had just finished feasting on its latest prospect, the media left.


But not all outfits acted like scavengers, hungry for a scoop or two. Some have already exposed the issue before hand. Some followed-up on the killings. Some never gave up on the issue, occasionally feeding us with updates on the case.


Is Philippine journalism all about sensationalism? Will it limit itself to just conservatively report the tragedies of a contradiction-ridden society?


Most people say that objectivity is something that a journalist should have. Fair and balanced reportage. What next? Objectivity is presenting accurate facts. Objectivity ends here. What’s next is up to the writer. The angle, the data presented is the subjectivity of the writer. This shows which side of the fence the so-called “objective” writer is in.


There are no fence sitters.

3 komento:

Anonymous said...

MAHUSAY!!!

TAMA.

SA NGAYON KASI, HINDI NA NAPAPANSIN KUNG ANO NGA BA ANG TUNAY NA MGA BALITA.

LAGI NA LAMANG TUNGKOL SA MGA AWAYAN NG MGA PULITIKO. IMBES NA I-EXPOSE ANG MGA NANGYAYARING KATIWALIAN, MGA BALITANG NAGLALAYO SA MGA TAO SA KATOTOHANAN ANG BINABALITA.

GAYA NG NANGYARI SA HL.

SA MGAYON, MARAMING MGA INOSENTE ANG PINAPATAY. MGA TAONG WALANG GINAWA KUNDI PAGSILBIHAN ANG MASA.

KAYA KAILABGAN NA SINGILIN ANG MGA TAONG UGAT NG GANITONG MGA KARAHASANG NANGYAYARI.

ANG PANGULO ANG DAHILAN NG LAHAT.

OO, SIYA!!!

KAYA NARARAPAT LAMANG NA SIYA PANAGUTIN...

OUST GMA!!!

-FENDORA

Anonymous said...

Koment..koment..koment... brain processing...koment word not found..try "comment"..do you mean "comment"? comment..comment...comment... processing.. found COMMENT!!! Tunay na masasabing nilikha raw, ayon sa mga pantas ng mass media, na ang katuturang ito ay nararapat daw na obhetibo. maaring nasa tama ang direksyong ito ng mass media ngunit natatali ang mga tauhan nito sa pagsang-ayon o di pagsang-ayon sa mga panig na para bang nananatiling "apathetic" na lamang ang silbi. Sinabi ngang "watchdog" tayo ng lipunan ngunit papayag ba tayong hangang tingin na lamang? (sentro de grabedad, me sense ba?) wala na akong masabi.

Anonymous said...

Dahil sa aking mga nabasa dito, ako ay na-inspire gumawa ng tula. Samakatuwid, ang kapangyarihan ng iyong pagsusulat ay hindi lamang nagtatapos sa period ng iyong akda. Nag-uudyok pa ito ng mga mamababasa na lumikha - talinghagang tumatangkilik sa hanay ng mga nilalang na may pag-asa para sa pagbabago. Kudos!

nahatak ng sentro de grabedad