Let Press Freedom Ring

For the layman, press freedom is the right to access accurate information, with to-the-point details, no more, no less, through news channels that are collectively known as the tri-media ? print, radio, and television.

While the Internet had become another news medium, it still needs to prove itself that it’s not just a rung higher than word-of-mouth sources in terms of reliability because its often faceless writers aren’t as yet answerable for what they write.

For the media practitioner, press freedom is essentially the freedom to convey information to the public and having access to sources of information, for such are the raison d’être of news writers and broadcasters. Press freedom for opinion writers and broadcast commentators meanwhile is being free to express themselves, equaled by the freedom to ask questions.

Our country’s press is known as one of the freest and most rambunctious in Asia.  That is why I was aghast that we are ranked at 128 in terms of press freedom out of 169 countries in the latest survey of Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF), or Reporters Without Borders.

Iceland ties with Norway at the top of the list of the freest press in the world.  At the bottom is Eritrea at 169, tailing North Korea, which is ranked 168.  The top ten countries with the freest press in the world are all in Europe.  The USA, at 48 between Nicaragua’s 47 and Togo’s 49, is outranked by Israel, 44.  The two most populous countries of India and China are ranked 120 and 163 respectively.

Countries and city-states of the ASEAN, of which the Philippines is a founding member, fare as follows:  Hong Kong 61, Cambodia 85, Indonesia 100, Malaysia 124, Thailand 135, Singapore 141, Laos 161, Vietnam 162, and Myanmar 164.  Obviously the Philippines is somewhere in the middle in terms of press freedom in Southeast Asia, and way behind Hun Sen’s Cambodia.

Of all the members of the Gulf Cooperating Countries (GCC), those Middle East Arab countries often perceived by the Western press as undemocratic, only Saudi Arabia, at 148, ranks below the Philippines.  Kuwait is ranked 63 while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is 65.  Qatar is 69 and Bahrain is ranked 118.  Ironically, these supposedly undemocratic countries outrank our democratic country in terms of press freedom.

I have no way of knowing the technical aspect of this survey or how the data were analyzed.  What is glaring and easier to understand is the numbers.  I can only surmise the reason behind our country’s low rank.  Could it be the number of press people brought to court or, more ghastly, brought to the grave?

An interesting take on press freedom in the UAE is the developing media standards. I say developing because its media association continues to integrate clauses to its laws as the need arises.  The country has climbed up 12 notches higher than its previous year’s rank in the same survey, and is proud of it.

The local media have their share of lawsuits, really minuscule in number compared to our country’s, and no murders.  I believe it’s because the UAE’s media are serious about self-censorship, integrity, credibility, and ethics.

Their so-called Journalism Charter of Honor is a code of ethics with 26 clauses.  Respect for privacy is one, the reason why news on crimes or accidents have only the nationalities and the initials of the names of the people involved, consciously avoiding embarrassing and hurting any individual.  One never gets to see pictures or television footages of crime suspects or accident victims.

To avoid bias in their stories, care for the media’s personal relationships with news sources is a must, and under no pretext should stories hint at discrimination of race, sex, language, faith or national and social background, the code also stresses.

Another clause is that accepting cash and gifts from news sources is a breach of the code as it may cause a journalist to be biased in his coverage.  This excludes accepting souvenir gifts given to the public.

In our own country, how low can the integrity of a journalist sink if he solicits cash for a project from a news source, like an elected official, and top it off with harassment and implied threats of negative coverage?  In such instance, it’s easier to accept that we simply get the kind of press freedom we deserve.

(20 Jan 2008)