Pressure on the Philippine Press

Title

Creator

Dravenstadt, Linda

Language

English

Year

1961

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

Pressures On The Philippine Press Linda Dravenstadt • Freedom in our present day is on the tip of every tongue. Whether it is individual freedom, national freedom, or universal freedom, it is a force, most important in shap ing the world’s destiny. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which the Philippines is a signatory, proclaims that.... “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and im part information and ideas through any media and re gardless of frontiers.” .... The United Nations set this goal for the peoples of the world because it foresaw the necessity of freedom of in formation in molding each man’s individual character. The press is known as thp» guardian of this freedom. The press makes it possible for all men to know the whole truth so they can, in turn, form intelligent and res ponsible opinions. But when this personal freedom is supressed, naticMal freedom is also in danger. After the sup pression of national liberties takes place, the gate is then thrown wide open for com plete totalitarianism to enter. Man must be allowed to see all sid * s of any question so he can choose the truth for him self and decide which beliefs or theories he wants to fol low. How can man use his in born reasoning powers if dog ma are thrust upon him? Since 1811 when the first Philippine paper was printed, this nation has primarily de pended on the printed page to inform its people. The Philippine press has been called the freest press in the world, but how true is this assertion? It is true that unlike some other countries, the Philip December 1961 29 pines does not have direct governmental censorship; pa pers cannot be seized and edi tors can not be jailed for their criticism or exposures of cor ruption in the government. However, though the Phil ippines does not have any sta tutory laws that force the press to print government po licies and religious dogma, this does not mean that the Fi lipino people are really enjoy ing freedom. There are con cealed and insidious pressures that can do tremendous dam age to free expression. To be sure, there are many uncon trollable factors that make it difficult for the Philippine press to expose the absolute truth. For example, the low eco nomic standards of the papers, brought about by thi High cost of production, force them to depend on second hand international news. Since the two most reliable information services from which Philip pine papers get their interna tional news originate in the United States, there is the possibility that the informa tion is influenced with a Wes tern view-point. This could mean that the Filipinos must settle for only one side of the picture. However, due to the lack of personal funds, the newspapermen do not have the opportunity to be at, or travel to the news spots of the world. Because of this defi ciency, the Philippines is without qualified men who can write the ‘why’ to many questions of international im portance. Although the two abovementioned factors do have a small part in diluting press freedom, there are other more serious influences that make the printed truth less than what it should be. I’d begin with, the government can wield a lot of power over the newspapers because of var ious economic and other con trols. How many people are aware that the government is responsible for issuing im port licenses to the various newspaper companies? The government is therefore in directly responsible for the newsprint, ink and metal supplied to each organiza tion. So with the possibi lity of the government’s cut ting its quota and therefore curtailing publication, how can a paper be too critical of the government? Secondly, another influence which must be considered is that of the big advertisers who are, in fact, the supplier of the life blood of the news papers. Without the adver tisers’ support, a paper can not afford to carry on produc tion. All too often, willingly 30 Panorama or not, the publisher, editor and reporters must submit to the views of big advertisers. About one year ago the Ma nila Chronicle, in several of its editorials, had the courage to criticise the safety of the Philippine Air Lines planes. Courage was required be cause PAL was one of the Chronicle’s largest advertising accounts. No sooner had the paper protested than PAL ail^various other enterprises ow^d by the management of PAL dropped the Manila Chronicle from their advertis7 ing budgets, thus costing the newspaper hundreds of thou sands of pesos in revenue each year. This newspaper luckily was able to survive the loss, but how many other papers could survive under similar conditions? Although these influences are unfair to the people and deprive them of the truth, there is one final factor whieh is responsible above all for the .printing of biased, slanted or incomplete information. This factor is the journalist himself because of his proxi mity to the events he reports. Does the newspaperman real ize the importance of his duty to the people, or is he all too ready to accept bribes, favors and planted stories to please his own selfish ends? Since every newspaper man’s livelihood depends on the underpaid profession of reporting, many journalists find it hard to refuse favors and even bribery. It is not uncommon to find newspa|b»men on the payrolls of various self-interested or ganizations. Many reporters become so dependent on fayors ttet they are afraid telling tire truth might jeo pardize these favors. For example, when the President of the Philippines goes on a tfip, he finances the whole trip for the newspapermen. Receiving such favors, how can the reporters be expected to bite the.hand that feeds them? Press relations officials constitute another hazard to the reporters. Because it is the job of these officials to further the interests of their own particular firms, they will go to great expense to obligate the newsmen to them. After accomplishing this, it is not difficult for these PRO’s to plant stories, pass off half truths and sometimes lies without inviting questions from the reporters. Obviously, many things tempt the journalist but it is only his personal weakness of character that permits him to succumb to corruption. The newspaperman’s own moral December 1961 3J strength is the key to his jour nalistic freedom. A man who is dictated to by self-interest, therefore, is not competent enough to inform others of the truth. Anyone with human com passions can understand the journalist’s submittance to bribery, acceptance of favors and willingness to be coerced when he considers thajiorfrial human desire for an easier and more comfortable lite. What then could be a more lo gical solution to this'problem than insuring the journalist a comfortable living wage? This would reduce the need for underhanded dealings and, more important, it would point out the responsibility that goes hand in hand with the,reporter’s job. A second and likewise im portant step would be for the editors and publishers to make a careful selection of their writers before employ ing them. This action would find men of strong character who are truly interested in their jobs and in the long run it would keep a few bad ap ples from spojlihg the whole barrel. Strengthing the cha racter of the newspapermen would automatically elimin ate the seriousness of the pre viously 'mentioned insidious pressures. If these conditions could be corrected it would be a good beginning of the cure, but we can only have true freedom of the press if edi tors, publishers, reporters, PRO’s, advertisers and gov ernment officials will see the true value of freedom; if they will only realize that freedom of information for the sake of their own families, friends, and country is far morwimportant than the gaining- of a few dishonest pesos. Although I have drawn a rather dismal picture of the Philippine press, the picture is far from complete. In only 15 short years of indepen dence, the Phiippine press has accomplished more than most papers accomplish in their first 50 years. They have come a long way in fighting the battle for freedom of in formation. If the Philippine govern ment, colleges, and newspa pers will join forces to pro tect and promote the freedom of their press, they will not only enhance liberty within their own country but also, by example^ will encourage freedom of the press in other countries of the world. 32 Panorama

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