Boosting safety of journalists in the Philippines
A safety office for journalists on the conflict-ridden island Mindanao in the Philippines has made a significant impact, according to the island’s journalists
By Martin Landi and Ranga Kalansooriya
In meetings with colleagues from International Media Support, Mindanao-based journalists described how the safety office has acted quickly in support of journalists in stressful situations, provided access to safety houses and assisted the families of the Ampatuan massacre victims.
The Mindanao Safety Office was set up in 2010 in Northern Mindanao city of Cagayan de Oro to improve the safety standards of journalists in the wake of the Mindanao Amputuan massacre in November 2009 in which 58 people died, 32 of which were journalists.
Working to protect journalists
The Mindanao Safety Office is part of a broad Philippines Journalism Safety Fund which is being jointly implemented by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) with the support of International Media Support (IMS) and Open Society Institute (OSI). The office has so far offered assistance in a dozen safety-related cases in the Philippines which includes four killings of journalists.
– The Safety Office not only finances the interventions and responsive mechanisms, but also provides moral and advocacy support, said Richel Umel, Head of Lanao Union of Journalists in Mindanao.
Strengthening safety standards
The journalists in Mindanao asked to be trained in international best practices in order to uplift their professional standards.
– We are not exposed to good practices. We are not updated. It is a process which will not happen over-night. But we must start somewhere, said Alex Dane of Newsline Mindanao.
According to NUJP General Secretary Weng Paran, it is a question of ethics.
– In many safety-related cases, there is the underlying commonality on ethics. Our union is trying our best to address this issue on various levels, she claimed.
No platform for discussion
Prof. Rommel Banlaoi, Director of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research feels that the Filipino media has failed to create the desired platform which would allow for a free exchange of views by the different stakeholders in the conflict.
– A violent religious radicalisation has developed in the country and media is not playing the role it is expected to, he argues.
Carol Arguillas, head of the only Mindanao-based online news service, Mindanews, says that the main reason for this failure by media is the lack of understanding of the conflict by the journalists.
– The issue in question is the capacity of the journalists to report on the conflict. Current reporting is limited to individual events. It focuses only on body counts and who said what. There is no deep analysis of the conflict. For media, competition and ratings are what count, not the reality of the conflict, she said.
However, the past few killings in the Philippines have been not been in Mindanao and according to Redempto Anda, a Correspondent from northern Philippine city of Palawan, this phenomenon indicates that concerns for the safety of journalists have now moved beyond Mindanao. The killings of journalists are said to be related to exposing corruption and other commercial interests.
In response to the continued safety concerns facing journalists in the Philippines, IMS is now contemplating expanding the regional scope of its safety fund project in consultation with its other partners.
Background:
The murder of Len Flores-Sumera, a female anchor at the Manila-based dzME radio station only a few days ago on 24 March 2011, magnifies the peril linked to the journalist profession in the Philippines.
In 2010, the Philippines was named one of the most dangerous places for journalists to work in the world by UN special Rapporteur on press freedom, Frank LaRue. In the same year the country ranked third on the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Impunity Index, reflecting one of the world’s worst records in solving press murders.
