Note to journalists

Monitoring news on both broadsheet and online sources requires us to take note of the subtleties of editorializing news content. However, there are some media practices that are downright reckless.
We speak specifically of the tendency to report on news while inadvertently affecting international policy. During the crisis on the West Philippine Sea, for instance, many reporters kept referring to it as the South China Sea, whereas our maps have mostly referred to it as the Philippine Sea. Under international law, even columns and news reports can be used as evidence of practice and thus could be taken against our claim on the area.

Likewise, it is disturbing to see major news providers (not PssstCentro) say, Sabah is part of Malaysia (it was a tv news program). The latter is of particular concern because we have not given up our Sabah claim, rather, past — and from the looks of it, the present – administrations have caused the claim to lie dormant. By saying that Sabah is part of Malaysia (wrong!) said news program reflects (incorrectly) the notion that we do not consider the said land as part of the our country.

Similarly, references to Ismail Kiram as “the Sultan of Sulu” are not only incorrect, but misleads both government and the public into believing that he is a. Recognized b. The only claimant and c. Official. Akin to the Cory Aquino’s disastrous recognition of a then-follower-less Nur Misuari, referral to Ismail Kiram has led government into negotiating with him as though in fact holds power and sway over the Tausug peoples. Since he has little influence in Sulu, where his sultanate supposedly lies, what is government doing speaking to him at all and dealing with him as though he is an actual sultan, with actual subjects and a real claim to the so-called throne?

On a lesser note, it is also particularly disturbing to read news articles in highly respected media referring to the katutubong kasuotan or indigenous wear as “native costumes.” Not only are these politically incorrect, but implies that the clothes reflect something they are not, in the same way a Halloween costume is worn to show the person as someone he or she is not.

The local dress shows us who we are and carries with it history, aesthetic sense and continuity. Referring to it as costume debases it. Besides, would one refer a doctor’s lab coat, worn by the doctor himself, as a doctor’s “costume?”
Media must exercise responsibility and avoid becoming part of the news. The insidious influence such misinformation can sow has far reaching consequences.


By: Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles
(Source : PSSST! Centro)





To know more about Trixie Cruz Angeles, check out: I AM TRIXIE CRUZ