Senate summons TV execs to hostage probe hearing

The Senate has summoned the executives of at least three major television networks as it investigates the role the media played during the August 23 hostage tragedy, Senator Gregorio Honasan said on Thursday. Honasan said they invited GMA Network's Assistant Vice-President for News Grace Dela Peña-Reyes, ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs head Maria Ressa, and TV5 News Operations head David Jude (DJ) Sta. Ana to the Senate on Tuesday next week. Honasan said they also invited TV5 news anchor Erwin Tulfo and Radyo Mo Nationwide (RMN) anchor Michael Rogas, who interviewed hostage-taker Rolando Mendoza during the crucial moments of the crisis where eight Hong Kong tourists were killed. "We will have an inquiry based on the manifestation of Sen. (Joker) Arroyo that will focus solely on media. We should have determined who was in charge (of regulating the media)," Honasan said during a weekly forum at the Senate on Thursday. "His request is actually reasonable," said Honasan, who chairs the Senate committees on public information and mass media as well as on public order and illegal drugs. Arroyo had earlier manifested that the Senate should probe whether the broadcast media's actions affected the outcome of the hostage crisis. Aside from the TV executives, he said that other journalists are free to attend Tuesday's Senate hearing. Self-regulation Honasan said the Philippine National Police (PNP) already has an existing memorandum on how to handle the media during crisis situations. However, the memo does not impose any penalty on those who violate the regulations. "These are all toothless," he said. This, he said, is why the media should come up with a "structural" way to regulate themselves especially in crisis situations. "You are overprotective of your profession (but) now is the time for self-examination which should lead to self-regulation. Media should regulate itself," he said. Should the media refuse to cooperate, he said they might look into the legislative franchise of abusive outfits. "Pag di pinakita ng media na di niya kaya mag-self-regulate (Only if the media fails to self-regulate)," he said. FOI bill He noted, however, that the probe will not endanger the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill. If any, he said, the investigation would actually have a positive impact on the bill's future. "This is a chance for us to get initial inputs... based on real situations," he said, noting that the investigation will help improve the transparency aspect of the bill. President Benigno Aquino III had earlier said that the media’s live coverage of the hostage incident "severely hampered" the effort to rescue the hostages. Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo explained that the live coverage robbed police of the “element of surprise" in dealing with the hostage-taker. He added that at least three of the hostages said that the hostage taker became agitated after seeing what was happening on television. — RSJ/VVP, GMANews.TV