Last week I received by email a copy of an April 22, 2016 memorandum issued by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) setting guidelines on the May 9 election coverage of their officers and members.
The memorandum signed by its chairperson Ryan Rosauro and secretary general Dabet Panelo directed members from all over the country not to engage in the following: run as candidate, act as media or public relations consultants, take part in the media bureau of candidates and parties, use journalistic outputs to directly campaign for or against candidates and their political parties.
The same memorandum urged its officers and members to resign from their post or take a leave of absence from the organization if they are engaged in these activities.
Members who are not following the directive are automatically considered resigned from their positions and membership.
Despite the nature and essence of journalism as a discipline of objective reportage, it is an open secret that many of our journalists consider election season as a period when they can recover from the prohibitive economic nature of the industry by engaging in any of the limitations set by NUJP.
The limitation imposed by NUJP is not something new, but many journalists and media workers, including those who underwent formal training in undergraduate and graduate schools, still continue to violate ethics.
Many quarters believed that ethics is hard to follow because it could easily be dismissed.
That what is taught in school are ideals that could not be translated into reality or something that is abstract that doesn’t have a corresponding physical or symbolic representation.
As a former full-time journalist and at present an academician, I am almost resigned to the fact that changing the landscape is an arduous task if not impossible.
Even in Cebu which takes pride in having the most “objective and honest media” in the entire country, envelopes are readily exchanged during press conferences.
For the last three years, interns of the University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R) have been turning over envelopes that contained cash given to them by press conference organizers despite having turned it down as a matter of school policy. Sometimes the giveaways are in the form of gift certificates, although the same have monetary value and could be negotiated to buy a merchandise.
The money and gift certificates that the interns received during those press conference were all donated to charities and receipted in the name of the organization distributing them.
What the interns are doing is worth emulating and for somebody who is waging a personal campaign for the ethical practice of journalism, it is a battle partially won because the gesture of returning what is not dutifully theirs would be etched in their hearts.
But what bothers me is the reality that in every press conference covered by the interns where envelopes are distributed, many have also pocketed the money and rationalized that what they receive is manna from heaven to compensate for the financial difficulties they endure as journo.
I appreciate the NUJP’s move in warning their officers and members not to engage in unethical journalistic practice. Personally I am with you on this and hoping that the current NUJP leadership will continue to wage a battle against erring members.
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