‘IT must be true; it’s in the papers.” Such is the faith and respect of the general public that what is seen in print is considered gospel truth. And, yet, with what disregard, many of our newspapers treat their reading public, as a lot of the time, what is printed as “news” is inaccurate, or worse, “half accurate” or, is editorializing disguised as fact. Sadly enough, this kind of reportage is not exclusive to tabloids, and, indeed, in some instances, you no longer can distinguish between the so-called broadsheets and the tabloid.
Today is Ash Wednesday, and we have just had the momentous visit of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, who, we hope, has touched the hearts of not only the ordinary people, but also those who consider themselves the powers that be in this country, whether government officials, businessmen and, yes, the media.
The recent brouhaha over the mission to arrest the terrorist Marwan in Maguindanao resulted, instead, in the death of 44 SAF troopers. The so-called mis-encounter and the confusion over whether the President knew or was informed of the “oplan” has not been reported clearly. I look for clarity in news articles, and have always held newspapers in high regard as being almost always accurate and fair. Reporters, and I had worked closely with them at one time in my career as a communications person in government—in general attempted to understand what they were reporting on, and their reportage was generally accurate. In the last few years, I have begun to wonder about that.
Facts, supposedly on public record, state that the President was fully briefed about the law-enforcement operation that he was keenly interested in the details of the operation, and, thus, at least tacitly approved of it. Some reports show that he had meetings, whether in Malacañang or elsewhere, with supposedly suspended police chief Purisima, who, in some reports, claims he was only “informed” about intelligence matters. But some reports say he was actually on top of the operation. Which is which? It does not help that the propaganda machine of the Palace has actively been issuing statements to downplay the role of what—a commander in chief?—that only result in more confusion and a public that is going restive over what, indeed, is the truth.
My other beef is that many “news” stories are actually hidden editorialization, offering comments and not just facts. Whatever happened to the journalistic rule of “who, what, how and why”? Some news items are chockfull of such editorializing, and the reader comes away with inferences drawn from skilfully crafted comments in the guise of “news”—the province, I think, belongs to columnists and not reporters.
Readers have to be alert to the nuances of the “news” that they read, for partial truth is certainly not truth. It is true that media has its role to play. Not only does it provide information, but it has taken the role of being a conscience-pricker, a town crier that would alert the public of any malfeasance or attempts to commit unworthy acts, whether by those in government or out of it. This is most laudable, but this “crusading” mission should not be carried to such extremes, that the more negative the story is, the more newsworthy it becomes. One has to ask whether it is accurate to say that “never let the facts get in the way of a good story” is a truism.
What I expect my daily paper to tell me is the truth—not half truths. I expect reports to be accurate and fair. If there is an important issue, both sides must be aired. Opinions, in whatever direction they may go, should not be woven into the straight news story, but they are certainly welcome in the columns and editorials. At least, it is clear who holds the opinion, and readers can take the columnist’s opinion for what it is, and agree or disagree. But a news story is not the same—you cannot agree or disagree with facts. You accept facts…yes, as gospel truth. Therein lies the awesome responsibility of media, particularly of print media.
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The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of FINEX.Free Enterprise is a rotating column of members of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines appearing every Wednesday and Friday.