Open season

PresidenT-elect Rodrigo R. Duterte just declared open season on journalists. Or did he?

Just a short while after he said “Just because you're a journalist you are not exempted from assassination, if you're a son of a bitch…. Freedom of expression cannot help you if you have done something wrong”; his political allies and appointed officials immediately went on explanation spree. They mostly said he was misquoted and the issue was blown out of proportion by, well, the national and international media.

Mr. Duterte’s comment was in response to a question on how he would protect press freedom after another Filipino journalist was gunned down in Manila on May 27.

Whether he really was misquoted as insisted by his mouthpieces or it was more than a veiled threat against the fourth estate; it simply comes down to his only solution to all and any problem—kill.

When he made a Davao journalist an example of why he deserved to be gunned down, it did not even make him rethink why that case has remained unresolved to this day. Add the fact that the murdered journalist was Mr. Duterte’s vocal critic, then it becomes quite clearer why the President-elect believes he deserved to be killed.

But the biggest problem Mr. Duterte created for journalists in the country—and maybe even foreign journalists covering the Philippines—is the fact that he believes that if a journalist is perceived to be corrupt, he deserves to be assassinated.

This shuffles us back to the problem of basic rights that should be afforded to anyone, regardless of perceptions. Without proof of any wrongdoing, how can a journalist be called “corrupt”, “paid” or a “propagandist”? if a journalist exposes wrongdoing and malfeasance in government, a private establishment, or of powerful people, should this person now be called “corrupt”, “paid” or a “propagandist” simply because he/she is writing against the government?

It is true that there are members of the fourth estate that are not averse to accepting fees to publish or air stories. However, most media outlets afford the aggrieved party airtime and paper space to address the issue. More so, most media outlets have built-in mechanisms to police their own people; those who have abused their privileges of being a journalist are usually bundled out—and most of those fired could no longer return to journalism.

The media have long been the voice of the people, the conscience of the powerful, and the enemy of those who abuse their powers. They have helped both in nation-building and fighting tyrants that present clear and present danger to the general populace. Some of us have died while trying to expose anomalies—and to label those journalists who have died in the line of duty as “corrupt” and “sons of bitches” is not only a slap to their memories and dignities but a bitch-slap to the media institution; and a veiled threat against the fourth estate.

Mr. Duterte maybe his own man; and that he does not listen to anyone to decide on anything; but he must understand that as President, he should look after the welfare of all Filipinos—and these include Filipino journalists.

For after all, the institution that is the Presidency is bigger, loftier and more valuable than anyone and all of us.