At a time when Philippine journalism is being challenged by many Filipinos to be true to its vow of being truthful, balanced and fair in our reportage and commentaries, we hereby reaffirm our commitment to the same.
At a time when it has become even more difficult to ferret truth from lies, spins and fakery, we hereby restate our firm promise to a high sense of responsibility and honesty in the practice of our chosen profession.
We do so as we express our support to our esteemed colleague Ed Lingao who is now being pilloried and threatened by some quarters.
According to the Philippine Broadcast Code of 2011, we should observe the following:
1. To broadcast (and publish) commentaries only by persons who have thorough knowledge of and practice of broadcast (and journalism) ethics, present opposing or contrasting views fairly, and not allow our personal bias or prejudice to distort the facts (Article 2. ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARIES);
2. To prohibit personal attacks and unfair criticism (Article 4. PERSONAL ATTACKS)
3. To acknowledge and rectify mistakes as soon as possible (Article 5. CORRECTING MISTAKES);
4. To prohibit offensive, obscene, profane and vulgar words and phrases as well as name-calling and personal insult (Article 25. SEX, OBSCENITY AND PORNOGRAPHYand Article 27. ON-AIR LANGUAGE);
5. To adhere to the basic principles, ethical standards of journalism as well as code of conduct for broadcast media (Article 29. QUALIFICATION OF ON-AIR/PROGRAM PERSONS and Article 33. UNIVERSAL ETHICAL STANDARDS);
Admittedly, some colleagues have forgotten these ethical standards that should govern our work as broadcasters and journalists. We believe Ed Lingao’s main intention in calling out a fellow broadcaster who commented on a fake news item was to remind us of these and to protect our profession from further erosion of the people’s trust and respect of Filipinos.
We take Mr Lingao’s criticism as a general challenge to all journalists and broadcasters.
Indeed, we, from time to time, need reminding.
National Directorate
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines
NUJP Hotline 09175155991