ON MARGINALIZING THE MEDIA

Marginalizing the media is not a very good way to start a new administration. Treating them as of secondary importance in the scheme of things is the start of a future dictatorial regime. I think that the incoming regime must provide an open space for media to do their job, and not put them in a corner as if they were just one of those objects to be dispensed with at any time. 

When did this acidic relationship with the incoming regime start? That was when the Reporters Without Borders (RWB), or Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) mentioned one time that they were going to boycott his press conferences because of what he had said about some media practitioners being on the "take" in exchange for a favorable write-up.

I think that the incoming President was able to explain his side about that comment but he had taken everything personally. He refused to be covered after that and has had the government bureau alone as the tool for his communicating with the people. 

That smacks of the Marcosian rule before wherein Imelda and Marcos controlled the press so much including which pictures of theirs should appear in the papers or get released on TV. That era is past and should not be resurrected. 

We need not comment on the value of media for disseminating information about how the president and other officials think of serving the people. Media and government should be partners, one checking the other in terms of adherence to truth, service and honesty. 

I think that the people around the incoming president should explain to him that putting media at arm's length is not a good way to educate the youth about how to treat them. The value of media in society is being run aground by his snobbish attitude towards them and could backfire. A second-hand source of news could lead to erroneous opinions and wrong reporting. A second-hand source of news could lead to corruption -- news companies competing with each other for the latest news about the president by bribing those who are close to him. 

Our youth are very watchful now about how the incoming president would be acting -- whether he would be true to his campaign pitches or not. Ergo, their getting varied opinions based on unassailable sources could make them produce their own educated views about how the government should be run and where it should go. 

All mass communication departments of various universities and colleges must make a stand on what is going right now, not only the present crop of mass media