Palace nixes mandatory news blackout during crisis situations

Malacañang is not keen on supporting a proposal in Congress to automatically impose news blackouts during crisis situations despite criticisms of the media’s live coverage of the Aug. 23 Manila hostage tragedy that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead. At a press conference Tuesday, Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning head Ricky Carandang said the government still considers the imposition of news blackouts as a “last resort" applicable only in “extreme cases." “As you saw we were hesitant to impose news blackouts last time around," said Carandang, a broadcast journalist prior to his appointment to government. Malacañang did not impose a news blackout during the daylong hostage drama, although President Benigno Aquino III later said the media coverage may have “severely hampered" police operations because the hostage-taker, former Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, had monitored the movements of the police through television and radio news. At least two journalists had also communicated with Mendoza through mobile phone during the hostage crisis. Media rights, responsibility Carandang said although the media has a responsibility to report such events, a gray area remains on how far such rights can be extended. “I still believe that the media has a responsibility and a right to report on events like that. My question is, how far do those rights extend? And at this point we're not talking about a media blackout," he said. A day after the hostage tragedy, Cebu Rep. Luis Quisumbing filed House Bill No. 2737 proposing the imposition of a news blackout during crisis situations. The proposed measure prohibits media personnel from reporting positions, movements and actions of the police and military during hostage-taking situations and other similar incidents like bomb threats, coup d’ etat, and kidnapping. Quisumbing has insisted his bill does not aim to curtail press freedom. "Our bill guarantees that once the crisis is settled, media will have full access to information about the police or military operations and coverage shall not be restricted." Article III, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution states that "No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances." The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) has urged media organizations to reject proposals to legislate mandatory news blackouts, but asked them to regulate their own ranks during sensitive situations. “No matter how seemingly well meaning, in the Philippine experience, such bills end up covering more than they originally intended. With public support... such bills will take on lives of their own, and are likely to end up imposing greater restrictions on press freedom itself," the group said. Protocols Instead of waiting for legislation to impose protocols on sensitive coverage, the CMFR reminded media of international, well-established protocols that discourages “live broadcasts of interviews, police operations and other reports." [See: Poynter's Guidelines for Covering Hostage-taking Crises, Prison Uprisings, Terrorist Actions by Bob Steele] Carandang is set to meet with at least three media organizations starting Wednesday to find a “common ground" on media coverage in crisis situations in the future. “I know that the media organizations have done their own postmortems of how they handled this. We are in the process of doing our own postmortem of how we handled this. I think if we talk to the media organizations we can come up with some common ground so in case something like this happens again, what can we the government expect from media organizations and what can media organizations expect from the government," he said. TV giants GMA Network and ABS-CBN have both issued statements saying they will examine their coverage practices in light of the hostage situation. Carandang said he hopes to come up with an agreement with media outfits on when news blackouts are necessary. “News blackouts are probably the last resort. I know the media is hesitant about something like that," he said. — KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV