when the media are the message: looking back on the manila pen siege

On November 29, 2007, those who report the news became the news.

At last year's standoff at the Manila Peninsula between Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, and their men on the one hand, and government forces led by the Philippine National Police on the other, the media found themselves in the middle -- a sort of gray area where the reporter met the reported and became both victim and culprit.

For even as the reporters were teargassed and shot at along with the rebel soldiers after the PNP's 3pm deadline for leaving the hotel, they were among the more than 100 people arrested that day.

The Manila Peninsula incident not only raised many questions on the arrests and on the sometimes opposing sides the media and the government take, it also called attention to how journalists make judgment calls.

They were asked to leave the hotel by 3pm, but did not. A story was unfolding, and they had to be there to cover it.

What happened after the deadline is now known and has been the subject of many editorials, reports, debates, and perhaps most important of all, dialogue.

In a story by Newsbreak's Carmela Fonbuena last year, journalism professor and media ethics advocate Chay Hofileña pointed out that things could have been different:

[S]he expressed the belief that the media should have left the hotel as requested. She agreed that to leave an area of coverage was a reporter’s call, but she questioned the news judgment that was employed in this case. To her, the story did not merit extensive media coverage.

By the time the police requested the media to vacate the hotel shortly before the 3 p.m. deadline, Hofileña said that surely the reporters had already “enough” coverage for their stories. And because the incident occurred in a confined area, “chances of your reporters getting hurt are higher,” she added. “Is it worth putting your reporter’s life on the line? Was the story of such importance? My sense is it was not. There was no massing of people and there were only a few soldiers. It appeared that it wasn’t well organized. From the onset, as experienced journalists, you had an indication that it was doomed to fail.”

Of course it would have been a bigger story had Trillanes and his men succeeded. But the more important point here is the threat to the journalists' safety.

Fortunately -- and no thanks to the soldiers who later on sealed all exits and kept the reporters effectively trapped inside the hotel -- no one was hurt.

When the press conference turned into a war zone, the reporters didn't have to be there. But their being there didn't make them rebels. And it certainly didn't make them conspirators.

At the end of the day -- after the wet handkerchiefs, the smoke, and the handcuffs -- the media were there simply because they had a job to do.

How well they continue to do that job will rest on many things. One of these is how well they make judgment calls to secure their safety or to secure the story no matter what.

notes after a workshop in banaue

The other week, my colleague and I gave a workshop in Banaue, Ifugao Province.

I guided the participants through the basics of news writing while my colleague talked about design and layout-related matters.

It was our first workshop in Banaue -- and I must say, our first at a resort, the Banaue Ethnic Village Inn. The participants, however, were students from the four high schools of Asipulo. Also for the first time, we had older participants as well: the students' advisers, and the editorial staff of the LGU of Asipulo.

Aside from the change in location and environment, it was much like the previous workshops. The participants were there because they wanted to be able to write for and produce their newsletters.

But because it was a mixed group, we had a wider range of questions.

Some of the teachers and LGU staff showed much interest in the practical side of newsletter production -- offset printing and photocopying, for example. An LGU staff wanted to know if identifying people "left to right" in photo captions meant the viewers' left to right. A teacher asked me if the basics of news writing could be applied to the Filipino language, and if their newsletter could be in more than one language.

In all, it was interesting to have this surge of interest in producing school -- and for that matter, LGU -- newsletters. Our LGU contact, in particular, expressed concern that the absence of a newsletter among the community translated to their lack of awareness of ongoing community projects. Did the community members know, for example, that their LGU had bested all the other LGUs in the country to win an award for a community project?

All this should tell us that no matter how small the circulation or how few the pages, a newsletter has very real use -- especially in a remote town like Asipulo. With some areas yet to be electrified, and radio broadcasts and cellphone signals hard to come by, people have to rely on -- and even produce -- their own print media to keep the information flowing.

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There's more I'd like to say about this workshop: how inspiring it was to interact with the students and teachers, how gracious the owners and staff of the resort all were, how cold and crisp the air was in this part of Banaue, how verdant the mountains and trees were, how fresh the vegetables tasted, how special it felt to be served lemons when I had asked for calamansi. 

But my colleague has already blogged about all this. For a much better story, see her blog here. Anything I write after her account is, to be honest, a bit anticlimactic.

ma journ fellowship application period starts

Applications for the 2009 Fellowships for the Master of Arts in Journalism are now being accepted by the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University (ACFJ).

Fifteen fellowships are awarded yearly.

Deadline of applications for the coming academic year is January 16, 2009.

The fellowships are awarded to full-time Asian journalists who have outstanding professional and academic record, a strong commitment to good journalism and leadership qualities. A grant covers tuition and other expenses for the two-year MA Journalism program offered by the Ateneo de Manila University.

As of March 2008, about 60 working journalists from Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka have earned the degree.

Designed for working journalists, the MA Journalism program is an online distance learning program with limited classroom sessions held at the Ateneo campus in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines.

The curriculum consists of 12 courses including specialized reporting and writing courses such as International Reporting, Investigative Journalism and Reporting about Religions. The program is designed to allow working journalists and other media professionals to study at their own pace and time, and in their own homes or workplaces. The international faculty includes experienced journalists and academics from Australia, Canada, US, UK, Germany, the Philippines, India, and Malaysia.

ACFJ, a joint project of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and the Ateneo, was founded in June 2000 to promote good journalism in Asia by providing training opportunities primarily for working journalists.

For admission to the MA program, a separate set of application forms are required. These are also available from ACFJ or the
Ateneo's Office of Graduate Studies (OGS).

For more details, please contact Rose Madjos or Clara Baquilod at (+632) 4266001 locals 5296 and 5211. Or visit the ACFJ website at http://www.ateneo.edu/acfj.

online youth unite

It's about time young netizens of the world were recognized as a force to reckon with.

This article from inquirer.net strengthens the idea that today's online youth can do much, much more than IM and connect with their friends on Facebook or Myspace.

According to the article, the US State Department plans to tap online youth groups in the fight against terrorism and crime.

To get things started, 17 youth groups will come together on December 3 to 5 for a conference at the Columbia University Law School.

Although groups without an online presence will also participate in the conference, these plans demonstrate that having an online presence is an empowering force.

In many cases and for countless organizations and even individuals worldwide, it spells the difference between having a worthwhile cause and mobilizing people for that cause.

Read more about the US State Department's plans to empower online youth here.

ap photographer moved by readers' response

He could have snapped the photo and then disappeared from their lives. But he didn't.

Associated Press photographer Jerome Delay is a seasoned journalist who has taken many photos of war and refugees.

On November 6, he shot 11-year-old Protegee and her niece, three-year-old Reponse, in the town of Kiwanja in eastern Congo.

The girls had been separated from their families in the war in Congo. Delay's photo showed Protegee carrying a sobbing Reponse on her back, while wiping tears from her eyes with her shirt.

According to Delay's own account, he was "particularly moved" by the hundreds of emails that had poured in after the photo was published.

Himself a father, he set out to find the two girls and help reunite them with their family.

Delay's actions would seem to be atypical of photojournalists and journalists in general. Not every journalist would have done what he did.

Which causes one to wonder: Did Delay violate any rule or code of conduct?

Should he have just maintained distance between himself and the girls?

Are his actions something that other media practitioners should emulate?

Aside from the obvious risks, reporting on conflict situations -- especially on wars -- presents many challenges. The reporter must know how to cover such situations in a sensitive manner, showing the human conditions (grief, rage, fear, poverty, and so on) while giving space and due respect to the people in them.

It's not easy being a journalist in Delay's position. Reporting on conflict in any form can harden anyone.

What Delay did -- and I'm sure there are others who have performed or are performing similar acts of kindness -- was his duty not only as a journalist, but as a human being.

Another point worth making is that Delay was pushed to do what he did because of the reactions of readers.

When the audience responds positively to a journalist and his/her work, it can be a very powerful force.

All this made for a happy ending for Protegee, Reponse, and their family.

Read more about Delay, Protegee, and Reponse here.

burmese blogger sentenced

It was a first for the Burmese blogosphere: on November 10, the military junta sentenced a blogger, Nay Phone Latt.

According to a report by Mizzima, the blogger, who was arrested earlier this year, was sentenced to more than 20 years. The bulk of this sentence was for violating the Electronics Act.

The 2007 Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index of Reportiers sans frontieres (Reporters without Borders) ranked Burma 164th out of 168 countries for both 2006 and 2007.

Also notable in the 2007 index is the observation of "serious, repeated violations of the free flow of online news and information." RSF says that 64 people around the world have been sentenced for something they have posted on the Internet.

In Burma, though the number of blogs is still very limited -- perhaps only 200, by one Burmese national's estimate -- outside the country, there are more.

With the junta monitoring and restricting Internet usage in Burma, it is a wonder that bloggers like Nay Phone Latt are even able to maintain a blog. An Internet Law has been in place in the country from as early as 2000.

According to Burmese nationals, the government server bans even free email sites like Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail.

Click here for the full story on Nay Phone Latt.