President-elect Rodrigo Duterte
THAT President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has chosen to suspend his press conferences and instead issue statements via the state-owned television, even prior to taking his oath of office on聽June 30, has raised alarm bells among communications experts who said such policy undermines a free press.
A person in authority鈥攊n this case the incoming President鈥攃an always manipulate information coming from state media, veteran journalist Vergel Santos warned.
鈥淒uterte has been antagonizing the media to provoke a boycott and when that didn鈥檛 happen, he decided to go to the government station which he can always manipulate,鈥� Santos, chairman the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) Board of Trustees, told the Inquirer by phone聽on Saturday.
The control of the flow of information was the same strategy used by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, which kept people blind to the transactional politics and the corruption that took place in government.
鈥淢arcos decided to do more by imposing martial law. All Duterte wants to happen now is to avoid media because he cannot handle the media鈥� He has been unraveling,鈥� Santos said.
Unlike the more independent private media entities, state-controlled media 鈥渉ave always been suspect鈥� precisely because they take orders from the authorities, Santos said.
鈥淲hile fairness is not always a guarantee in private media entities, what they give is a plurality of viewpoints,鈥� Santos said.
He added: 鈥淏y the very nature of democracy itself, the private media are thinking in terms of competition and thus naturally would strive to have credibility鈥� to gain more audience.
Santos believed that Duterte 鈥渨ill lose鈥� in his attempt to issue statements only through PTV4.
The other media that Duterte wants to isolate would be forced to get stories from second hand sources, such as those within the incoming President鈥檚 inner circle, Santos explained.
Santos recalled that then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had also imposed a similar policy, announcing that she would only take questions from journalists pertaining to the economy.
鈥淏ut the media that time still did a pretty good job of putting together a good picture of the political situation by interviewing other sources,鈥� Santos said.
Freedom of information
In a separate interview, Communications professor Edson Tandoc, Jr. pointed out that Duterte had announced two days after his election that he would implement a freedom of information (FOI) policy by issuing an executive order.
Congress failed to pass the FOI bill, a campaign promise of President Aquino in 2010.
Over the weekend, Duterte鈥檚 communications team reiterated that the President-elect would push for the FOI, even after his tirades against media and his decision to talk only to the state-owned television.
鈥淚t is important to examine this in relation to the incoming administration鈥檚 earlier promise of prioritizing freedom of information and eliminating corruption,鈥� said Tandoc, who teaches at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
Tandoc鈥檚 recent research showed that 鈥渃ountries with strong freedom of information laws also enjoy very low levels of corruption.鈥�
鈥淪o clearly, there is a link here. Of course, it is Mr. Duterte鈥檚 right to choose whether or not to grant interviews, but restricting media access to him and coursing all statements through the state-controlled network do not fit into the framework of granting citizens, represented by journalists, free access to information,鈥� Tandoc, a former Inquirer reporter, explained.
Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said聽Saturday聽that the mission of the People鈥檚 Television 鈥渋s to bring true, relevant, and correct information to the citizenry.鈥�
Coloma heads the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), which oversees Radio-TV Malaca帽ang (RTVM) and state-run media PTV4 and Radyo ng Bayan.
Coloma, on state-run Radyo ng Bayan, explained that even if Duterte has yet to take his oath as the next President, his use of government resources normally utilized by the incumbent President, is part of the 鈥渢ransition process.鈥�
Coloma likened it to the use of Duterte of the Malaca帽ang of the south, the presidential guest house in Davao City built during the time of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The building is in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) compound.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 see any problem with that and it is within the bounds of the law,鈥� Coloma said of Duterte鈥檚 use of the presidential facilities.
Duterte鈥檚 camp announced聽on Friday聽that the President-elect would no longer hold press conferences or grant interviews. Instead, he would only speak to PTV 4 and course his statements through the government channel.
The decision was arrived at 鈥渟o that there would be no more errors,鈥� according to Duterte鈥檚 chief aide, Christopher Go.
Duterte, 71, came under fire for defending the murders of journalists, saying those who were killed were corrupt, and when he catcalled a female television reporter at a media briefing.
But as expected, the incoming President was unapologetic.聽On Thursday, he delivered yet again another rambling press conference where he dared the media to boycott his press conference.
He also vented his ire on the United Nations in response to a question about foreign media groups that were critical of him.
However, the journalists鈥� criticisms had not been linked to any UN protocols.
鈥淔uck you UN, you can鈥檛 even solve the Middle East carnage鈥� couldn鈥檛 even lift a finger in Africa鈥� shut up all of you,鈥� Duterte, a long time Davao City mayor known for his profanities, said at the聽Thursday聽press conference.