Media watchdog raises alarm on attacks vs journos as polls near

MANILA, Philippines — A media watchdog raised alarm on increasing attacks on members of the Philippine press as the 2022 national elections come near.

Center for Freedom and Responsibility Executive Director Melinda Quintos De Jesus told ANC’s Rundown on Thursday that the interaction between the media and the government, as well as with candidates, stem from what was experienced in the last six years where the Duterte administration has “always been hostile unless you are friendly media.”

“That level of hostility will provoke more incidents as we move nearer elections. That level, the starting level when the gun says ‘go it’s the campaign,’ if you have a level of hostility already shown,” she added.

De Jesus noted that the National Task Force to End Local Communist Task Force has not stopped red-tagging journalist, which in turn would make people identify them as their enemies.

The Duterte administration also saw the shutdown of media giant ABS-CBN after it failed to renew its legislative franchise at the Congress.

Continuous red-tagging is not the only challenge that members of the press face amid the elections season.

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism earlier this week reported that since the start of the filing of candidacies in October 2021, two journalists have been killed, and at the start of the campaign period, three journalists have been barred from coverage.

At least nine news organizations also continue to experience DDoS attacks that make their websites—and news reports—inaccessible to the public. Online harassment and red-tagging also continue, the PCIJ said in its March 15 report.

Online harassment can also be demoralizing to a journalist and can diminish one’s sense of self.

“The danger is higher. The danger of that action becoming violent is certainly a reality more than it has been just because social media has always been chosen by this administration as part of propaganda to attack those they are not pleased with,” she added.

De Jesus stressed: “We must at least allow the media to do the job they are assigned to do because that is how the system has been designed to work.”

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ global rankings report in 2021 it has monitored 13 unsolved murders of journalists in the country between Sept. 1, 2011 and Aug. 31, 2021.  — Kristine Joy Patag