Journalism, Broadcasting, and Multimedia Marketing Communications

[normandb]

Nice view of EDSA.

[pau_p1]

yeah nice view... that must be taken on a weekend or a holiday.....

anyways.. the Close-Up Wattamouth photo mosaic is now setup on that billboard with a cellphone

[mhe-ann]

Originally Posted by pau_p1

just like a stretch in SLEX right beside the Splash! Island resort... adjacent to the expressway is their giant slide... and its a policy in Splash! that everyone who'll use the pool should be in swimsuit... there has been a lot of traffic accident on that area.... boy.. drivers can't get their eyes off bikini-clad ladies.... hehehehe

:

[bagel]

Marked for Death

CPJ identifies 'Most Murderous Countries for Journalists'

New York, May 2 2005—Murder is the leading cause of job-related deaths
among journalists worldwide, and the Philippines is the most murderous
country of all, a new analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists
has found. Iraq, Colombia, Bangladesh, and Russia round out CPJ's list
of the "Most Murderous Countries for Journalists."

In issuing its analysis to mark World Press Freedom Day, May 3, CPJ
called murder with impunity the most urgent threat facing journalists
worldwide. CPJ studied more than five years of death records beginning
January 1, 2000, and found that the vast majority of journalists
killed on duty did not die in crossfire or while covering dangerous
assignments. Instead, 121 of the 190 journalists who died on duty
worldwide since 2000 were hunted down and murdered in retaliation for
their work.

In more than 85 percent of these slayings, CPJ found, the killers have
gone unpunished. The five Most Murderous Countries have the worst
records. Of the 58 murders in those nations, all have been committed
with impunity. Alleged gunmen have been arrested and charged in a
small handful of cases, but no charges have ever been brought against
those who directed the killings.

"By failing to investigate and punish the killers, the governments in
these five countries embolden all those who seek to silence the press
through violence," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said. "The
violence becomes self-perpetuating and the free flow of information is
cut off."

Other patterns emerged in CPJ's analysis:

o In most cases, journalists were murdered in retaliation
for reporting on government corruption, crime, drug trafficking, or
the activities of rebel groups.
o Time and again, murders were reported in the same lawless
regions—such as Mindanao in the Philippines and Khulna in Bangladesh.
o Even in war zones such as Iraq, journalists were
frequently targeted in reprisal for their work.
o Many of the slain journalists were overtly threatened
beforehand, illustrating the brazen nature of their killers.
o And the five Most Murderous Countries stand well apart
from the rest of the world. Together, they account for nearly half of
the murder toll since 2000. (See attached "Facts at a Glance.")

"The problem is enormous, but not intractable," Cooper said.
"Governments must recognize what's at stake is not only justice for
those murdered but also the collective right of society to be
informed. Journalists cannot do their jobs in a climate of violence
and impunity. Governments, particularly those in the five most
murderous countries, must devote the resources and exercise the will
to solve these crimes."

Here are summaries of the Most Murderous Countries:

Philippines
In the Philippines, 18 journalists have been slain for their work
since 2000. All had reported on government and police corruption, drug
dealing, and the activities of crime syndicates.

Many were rural radio commentators or reporters who were ambushed in
drive-by assassinations. Philippine journalists attribute the violence
to a nationwide breakdown in law and order, the wide circulation of
illegal arms, and the failure to convict a single person in the
murders.

The Philippine victims include Edgar Damalerio, the managing editor of
the weekly newspaper Zamboanga Scribe and a commentator on DXKP radio
station in Pagadian City—a violent port on the southern island of
Mindanao. Damalerio, who was known for denouncing corruption, was
gunned down on a crowded street across from the local police station
in May 2002. The trial of one suspect, a former police officer, could
begin this year. Damalerio is among six journalists murdered since
2000 in Mindanao, a region rife with crime and lawlessness.

Iraq
In Iraq, crossfire is the leading cause of death among journalists.
But even in this war zone, 13 of the 41 work-related deaths were
murders, CPJ found. More than half of those murdered were Iraqi
journalists who were targeted by insurgents because of their
affiliation—real or perceived—with coalition forces, foreign
organizations, or political entities.

Several of the slain journalists had been threatened beforehand. Dina
Mohammed Hassan, an Iraqi reporter for the local Arabic-language
television station Al-Hurriya, had received three letters warning her
to stop working for the broadcaster. In October 2004, she was killed
in a drive-by shooting in front of her Baghdad residence.

Two of the victims had been held hostage by armed groups. Italian
journalist Enzo Baldoni was murdered in August 2004 by kidnappers from
a militant group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq.

Colombia
Eleven journalists have been murdered since 2000 in Colombia, where
reporting on drugs, paramilitary organizations, and local corruption
has placed reporters at great risk.

All of the journalists murdered in the last five years reported on at
least one of these topics; at least eight received death threats and
warnings before being gunned down. Here, too, these murders took place
in regions of extreme lawlessness, with competing groups fighting for
territorial control.

Radio Meridiano-70 in the town of Arauca lost two journalists in less
than a year to assassination. Gunmen killed host Luis Eduardo Alfonso
as he arrived at work one morning in March 2003, just weeks after he
had been threatened by members of a right-wing paramilitary army. The
previous June, paramilitary gunmen shot and killed the owner of Radio
Meridiano-70, Efraín Varela Noriega. Varela had alerted listeners to
the presence of paramilitary fighters in the region days before he was
killed.

Bangladesh
Nine journalists have been slain in Bangladesh since 2000—eight in the
lawless southwestern Khulna district, which is rife with criminal
gangs, outlawed political groups, and drug traffickers. Seven received
death threats beforehand.

Bangladesh has long been a violent place for journalists; they are
routinely beaten, harassed, and threatened while carrying out their
work. A CPJ delegation traveled to Bangladesh last year to urge the
government to prosecute those responsible.

Manik Saha, a veteran correspondent with the daily New Age and a
contributor to the BBC's Bengali-language service, was brutally
murdered in January 2004 when assailants threw a bomb at his rickshaw
in Khulna. The underground leftist group Janajuddha claimed
responsibility for the killing. Saha, who had received several death
threats, was known for his bold reporting on the Khulna region's
criminal gangs, drug traffickers, and Maoist insurgents.

Russia
In Russia, contract-style killings pose a grave threat to journalists.
CPJ found that at least seven journalists died in contract-style
slayings in direct reprisal for their work; it continues to
investigate the motives in four other contract killings that may have
been related to the victims' journalism.

Most of the victims were print journalists investigating organized
crime and government corruption, while a few were broadcast
journalists who had criticized the policies of influential local
politicians. A politicized criminal justice system, crippled by
corruption and mismanagement, has perpetuated a climate of impunity in
Russia.

Paul Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes Russia, was gunned down on a
Moscow street outside his office in July 2004. An American of Russian
descent, Klebnikov had written a number of books and articles on
Russia's shadowy business tycoons, organized crime, and the conflict
in Chechnya. In February, Belarusian authorities extradited two ethnic
Chechens—identified as suspects in the murder—to Russia

Click here for a list of journalists slain in the five Most Murderous Countries:
http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2005/mu...derous_05.html

See attached "Facts at a Glance."

The Committee to Protect Journalists is a non-partisan, nonprofit
organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide. For more
information, visit www.cpj.org.

Marked for Death
Facts at a glance

The Five Most Murderous Countries:

1. Philippines
2. Iraq
3. Colombia
4. Bangladesh
5. Russia

Murders worldwide since January 1, 2000:
· 121

Deaths overall since January 1, 2000:
· 190

Percentage of deaths that are murders:
· 64

Slayings in the Most Murderous Countries:
· 58

Percentage of slayings worldwide that occurred in the Most Murderous Countries:
· 48

Percentage of murders solved worldwide:
· 14 percent

Murders solved in the Most Murderous Countries:
· 0

--

***********************************************************************
NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF THE PHILIPPINES
www.nujp.org
105-A Scout Castor Street (near Morato Avenue)
Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.: (+632) 4117768
Email: info@nujp.org
***********************************************************************

Are you a journalist under threat?
Report it to NUJP's Threat Hotline: (+63) 916-7512522
or email it to threat@nujp.org
********************************************************
"There can be no press freedom if journalists
exist in conditions of corruption, poverty or fear."
********************************************************

[bagel]

For a country which values its free press, there doesn't seem to be much done in protecting it from violence.

[bagel]

More intimidation? Here's a columnist's viewpoint on media intimidation. So the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines was named an "enemy of the state" by the armed forces. That's one way to silence critique. What I don't understand is that also named in the same list of enemies of the state is the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Phlippines. Is anybody who is speaking out for social justice now on the communist watch list?


VANTAGE POINT



KNOWING THE ENEMY

By Luis V. Teodoro



THE National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) is
understandably alarmed. A military Power Point presentation
entitled "Know Your Enemy" includes NUJP in its list of groups that
supposedly comprise the "legal machinery" of the Communist Party of
the Philippines (CPP). Besides NUJP, the presentation also puts the
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) in the same
category.

NUJP says it heard about the presentation last December from
someone who sat through it, but its officers saw an actual copy only
last week. Journalists who somehow managed to sit through the
briefing say it was meant for field intelligence officers, and that
the source seems to be ISAFP (Intelligence Service of the Armed
Forces of the Philippines).

Apparently, however, the intelligence boys, as usual, have been
sloppy in keeping secrets. Not only did some journalists manage to
see the presentation, the militant fisherfolk organization
Pamalakaya seems to have gotten hold of a copy too.

Pamalakaya has confirmed that both NUJP and PCIJ are indeed
identified as NUJP said, but also revealed that the same briefing
lists as part of the CPP "legal machinery" the Catholic Bishops
Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the Association of Major
Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP), as well as an
alphabet soup of political, sectoral, student, farmers', teachers',
women's and party-list groups.

NUJP says its inclusion in the AFP "state enemies" list would be
laughable if journalists were not being killed like flies, and if
some suspected killers of journalists were not from state security
forces.

NUJP has issued a statement demanding an explanation from President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the AFP Chief of Staff. NUJP wants to
know if "Knowing Your Enemy" represents official policy. If not, it
says, the President and the AFP should issue a categorical statement
to that effect, "investigate the authorsŠ, order a stop to the smear
campaign, and educate them (the authors) on the basic concepts of
democracy."

I'm afraid NUJP is asking for the impossible by demanding that the
military educate its ranks on the basics of democracy. The
inalienable right to dissent as a democratic necessity is at the core
of the idea of press freedom. But it is a concept totally alien to
the security forces (the police and the military primarily) of this
country.

These institutions were created during the early US colonial period
as instruments for the suppression of the remnant forces of the 1986
Revolution and of the social unrest bred by an unjust society. Their
members were steeped in the defense of the US colonial order for 50
years, and of neo-colonial Philippines in the succeeding 50.

The police and the military leadership can no more conceive of
dissent as a democratic right than it can imagine a world in which
generals with P30,000 monthly salaries can't afford a condo in New
York, or a P20 million Corinthian Gardens mansion.

What, for example, could be the reason for NUJP and PCIJ's being so
listed? I suspect that it's plainly and simply because NUJP members
include journalists critical of the government. But there's also
NUJP's outrage over the government's failure to solve (in the sense
of punishing the guilty) any of the killings of journalists since
1986, most specially the 28 (out of 66) killed since 2001, when the
Arroyo government began. In PCIJ's case it could be its continuing
campaign against corruption, which has targeted high government
officials whether civilian or military.

In short, both groups have ended up in the AFP list because, in
keeping with the journalistic commitment to truth-telling, they
refuse to swallow the illusion that all's well in the land of our
nightmares. Dissent and critical thought equals rebellion/subversion.

One can see the same twisted logic behind the inclusion in the AFP
enemies' list of the CBCP and the AMRSP, both religious groups that
at various times have protested Philippine support for the US attack
on Iraq, and lately, the killing of political activists in Tarlac by
the military. What's laughable is that while there may be
progressive nuns, priests and bishops in both groups' ranks, there is
no doubt that they're overwhelmingly composed of conservative and
anti-communist church people.

No such nuancing, it may be argued, is possible in the case of the
political and sectoral groups that supposedly comprise the "legal
machinery" of the CPP. But it is also true that the groups so named
are all legal organizations. The briefing itself accuses them of
being part of the "legal machinery" of the CPP.

The CPP itself, government officials from Mrs. Arroyo to military and
police spokespersons have been reminding us, is a legal organization,
there being no law that bans it, and its being in rebellion an issue
no court has yet resolved. To emphasize this point, Malacanang only
last week urged the CPP-led New People's Army to lay down its arms,
and for the CPP to fight for its programs in the legal sphere.

But not only is there this campaign to demonize various groups as CPP
fronts and to justify the use of violence against them, there are
also all those killings of political activists who're members of the
same legal organizations named in the AFP briefing. Apparently a
group can be legal, but at the same time fair game for demonization
and assassination, a fact that makes legality meaningless.

In the Philippines, however, the worst scoundrels are heroes, white
is black, good bad, right wrong, legal illegal-- and those who
pretend to be fighting the enemies of the state are democracy's own
worst foes.

What does legal mean, then, in this mad setting? Like dissent,
democracy, due process, free elections, honest governance, and human
rights, has the term also lost all meaning in the vocabulary of
this country's government and its law enforcement agencies?



#####

[Skyblade]

Originally Posted by boybaha

For a country which values its free press, there doesn't seem to be much done in protecting it from violence.

Ain't it the truth....

[Lili]

It is deplorable to hear such news about the Philippines. Here we are in our discussions trying to prop up the country's image before the world and touting the democratic ideals of our nation, only to realize that the so-called vanguards of these freedoms -- the military and the media -- are victimizing one and are being victimized by the other. We adamantly claim that we are not a warzone, we bridle at people asking if it is safe in our country and yet, we are slapped into reality that this thing is allowed to happen. This is not the type of image that we would want. It hearkens back the era of martial rule when any form of dissent, be it by the media or by the public, was muzzled by the barrel of a gun. It is such a vicious attack on the civil liberties that is supposedly enshrined in our Constitution and the freedoms upon which a republican state and democratic nation is built. We rely on the media to inform us and the military to protect us. Both are important components of our civil society to ensure access to information, proper governance, peace, order and progress. What is now being exposed in this analysis is such a bitter pill to swallow. But perhaps it is this type of national embarassment and international scrutiny that would propel the nation, its citizenry and most importantly, the government to be more vigilant in seeing to it that the rights of civilians remain protected and the fundamental rights under the Constitution such as freedom of expression, of the press, of the right to know and be informed, the right to life, liberty, well-being, safety and protection under the laws remain untrammelled by those who wield power and weapons under the rule of fear, feudal politics and corruption, which should not be tolerated or countenanced any longer.

[bustero]

It would be interesting to weigh those statistics with the total amount of working journalists. The Philippines is one of the most media soaked countries in the world. We have more than our fair share of journalist as compared to most other countries. As an absolute number this would have more journalist open to being victimized.

It's also hard not to point out the fact that many "journalist" are politicians in the making or paid by politicians. One just has to point out how many media personalities we have in senate to see this. IT's a very strange situation. So while surely there are those who were gunned down because of their 'expose" and what not, others are very much politicaly related.

It's ironic actually that we're listed down as a country with poor press freedom because of this when the reverse is actually true. There is very little journalistic integrity and it's so easy to spin (hence the present administrations fondness for everything like it), things here. Anyone can say anything without any consequence (when was the last time a libel case prospered) and get crazy reports on everything on bordering on tsismis and yet there's still no press feedom.

[Lili]

It is also interesting to note that most of these victimized journalists are based in the provinces and rural areas. It is indicative that the remnants of feudal politics and warlordism are still in existence. The killings may have not been perpetrated by the military but by private armies or hired goons.

Politically motivated or not, there is just no excuse for the impunity by which those who resort to violence managed to get away with, no matter how inutile the enforcement of libel laws is.

[ThisFire]

This whole issue is an irony. And a mess.

[coth]

this press release is completely lmao

[bagel]

I fail to see what's so funny. Can you explain?

[coth]

why not, to remember what was in USA a hundred years ago. their press release based on old stereotypes with substituted for explanations events.

for example. in 2004 in Russia was killed one journalist. and that was killed by islamic terrorists.

[Lili]

When you think about it and carefully analyse it, Coth may have a point. But let's not be dismissive or facetious about it (as to say lmao). The way this press release was presented was meant to sensationalize the issue and make it much more bigger than what it is. A case in point is the title of this press release "Most MURDEROUS Countries for Journalists", "Marked for Death" -- words that are so emotionally charged that it really jumps out and tugs at your emotions and sense of indignation. This is what happened to me. So, while there may be some basis in fact for these reports, there is also manipulation of the readers' reception of the message by highlighting or sensationalizing the bad while at the same time downplaying, if not omitting certain facts. As illustrated by Coth, in Russia, there were efforts to extradite the suspects of the killing and to prosecute them but it was lost as a small blurb in all those scathing statements. So, I guess a lesson learned here is to take everything with a grain of salt but not to be dismissive and apathetic about it.

[bustero]

Fourth journalist slain in the Philippines this year
05/05 10:40:02 AM

ZAMBOANGA,(AFP) - A radio broadcaster in the southern Philippines has died after being shot five times in an ambush by unknown gunmen, becoming the fourth Filipino journalist to be killed this year, police said Thursday.

Klien Cantoneros of DXAA radio was declared dead shortly before midnight Wednesday at a hospital in Dipolog city, hours after he was attacked, said Chief Superintendent Vidal Querol, the regional police chief.

"We have no suspects yet," Querol added.

The official said investigators are reviewing the tapes of radio programs hosted by the victim to determine if his radio commentary could have provided a motive for his murder.

"We have to know who were the subjects of Cantoneros' program as we were informed the victim was a hard-hitting commentator," Querol said.

Police said Cantoneros was the fourth journalist to be killed in the Philippines this year, on top of 13 killed in 2004.

The Paris-based industry watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in an annual report issued on Tuesday that the Philippines, along with Bangladesh, was among the world's most dangerous places for journalists.

Six Filipino journalists were killed by suspected hired killers last year, while seven others were slain in cases with unclear motives, it said.

Local politicians were the suspects in many of the cases, it said.

[Lili]

Siyet! I think I'm gonna eat my words.

[bagel]

Does anybody know what kind of newspapers or radio stations these are?

NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF THE PHILIPPINES
www.nujp.org

Press Statement
May 9, 2005

More Filipino journalists report death threats; broadcaster arrested

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) is
concerned about the death threats received by two journalists over the
weekend, as well as the arrest this morning of a radio broadcaster in
General Santos City.

On Friday and Saturday, Suzanne Salva, a 29-year-old reporter for Cebu
Daily News, received text messages on her phone warning her that she
would be killed. Salva suspects that one of her sources was behind the
death threats. The police are still investigating the incidents.

On Sunday, May 8, a man identified as Boyet Marcelo went to see San
Pablo City journalist Dodie Banzuela and allegedly threatened to kill
Banzuela. According to Banzuela, Marcelo is also a columnist of a
local paper who works at the Barangay Affairs Office at city hall.
Marcelo is identified with the camp of a San Pablo City mayor Vicente
Amante, who is the subject of a corruption complaint filed by Banzuela
and another journalist before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Today, Monday morning, police arrested Al Josol, the station manager
of DXMD, the station of Radio Mindanao Network in General Santos City.
Josol was hosting an early-morning radio show when the police arrived
and arrested him for libel. The complainant is Sarah Jane Manilay, the
wife of GenSan's city tourism officer. Josol is a correspondent of the
Mindanao Daily Mirror based in Davao City.

These incidents indicate just how dangerous the conditions under which
Filipino journalists operate. Aside from the continuous killings of
Filipino journalists, several of them face threats such as these every
day.

NUJP reiterates its position that the country's libel law should be
decriminalized because it is an affront to press freedom.

We call on the police, particularly the Task Force Newsman, to
thoroughly investigate the threats against Banzuela and Salva, which
came on the heels of the death threats reported by journalists John
Paul B. Tia, station manager of MBC-Aksyon Radyo in Iloilo City, by
Negros Defense Press Corps president and Visayan Daily Star reporter
Gilbert Bayoran and broadcaster Annie Calderon, and Louie Logarta of
the Daily Tribune broadsheet.

For reference:

INDAY ESPINA-VARONA
Chairperson

CARLOS H. CONDE
Secretary-General

--

***********************************************************************
NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF THE PHILIPPINES
www.nujp.org
105-A Scout Castor Street (near Morato Avenue)
Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.: (+632) 4117768
Email: info@nujp.org
***********************************************************************

Are you a journalist under threat?
Report it to NUJP's Threat Hotline: (+63) 916-7512522
or email it to threat@nujp.org
********************************************************
"There can be no press freedom if journalists
exist in conditions of corruption, poverty or fear."
********************************************************

[renell]

But isn't the issue of press freedom different from press risking their lives in obviously dangerous areas? Isn't press freedom Marcos shutting down TV and radio, and muslim insurgents kidnapping and beheading them another thing? Or am I just too uninformed at the moment?

[bagel]

Well... as members of the press, they can publish anything that they want. But because of issues of intimidation-- say you want to do an expose of a druglord who may or may not muster the resources to put a contract on your head --the press could be reluctant to do their duty. If the press exists as a group that heralds honesty and transparency in support of a free democracy, then they cannot do their work in conditions where they get killed for doing their job. So yes, legally, they are free. But in reality, they are not. What we have here are violent roadblocks to the excercise of press freedom. It is a kind of pre-emptive censorship. And when violence actually does happen (like in slayings of local journalists in the provinces for daring to report on ill actions by local politicians, police forces, or warlords) that is the ultimate censorship. The journalist's work is ultimately silenced because the journalist is killed. What stronger form of censorship is there than this?

Now we can say that it is the journalist's responsibility to be safe. But the fact is, these slayings are not being solved. The government is not doing what it can to protect these freedoms by prosecuting warlords, corrupt officials or corrupt police officers involved with the slayings. There is also a possibility (POSSIBILITY--- this doesn't imply guilt) that the government (at various levels) could also be involved in silencing its critics.

The second part of this comment is that the in many cases, the intimidating party in question can be the Armed Forces of the Philippines-- a part of the state. If they keep on branding press freedom groups like NUJP, PCIJ ( http://www.pcij.org ), etc. as "enemies of the state" that have "links to the communists" then they're effectively intimidating these groups from committing what they're supposed to do: investigate and report. The military is in essence calling the press terrorists for being the press. Now lest you think that perhaps PCIJ is really in cahoots with the communists, we don't know that. But they do espouse ideas like land reform and social justice, which the military rightists may associate with the communists.

Also targeted on the same list of "communist front" organizations is the Catholic Bishops Council of the Philippines (CBCP) and the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP). This was reported in the Inquirer http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.ph...story_id=32706.

So yeah... Legally there is freedom of the press. But in reality, because of intimidation and violence from various government and non-government sources, there is less freedom than we think.