Opinion

Honest news, fearless views

AS A MATTER OF FACT - Sara Soliven De Guzman -

March 9, 2009 | 12:00am

The Right to Reply Bill goes to the freezer – just the proper action made for a nonsensical idea that just wasted our time for the past weeks or so. I agree that people must be given the right to reply just as everyone is given freedom of speech. But aren’t we already doing this? The problem with us is that we always want to defend ourselves and believe that we are always right even if we are not.

Now that we are threatened by the news bits in radio, television and the internet, we need more newspapers that will dedicate themselves to the principle of honest news and fearless views.

My father the late Maximo V. Soliven believed that “a newspaper has a major role and a major responsibility in the life of a nation. It must not merely seek to inform, it must strive to form, to direct, to develop the character of the people it claims to serve.” It may sound too self-righteous but he told me that this was his homespun philosophy that we need to try to live up to.

In the Philippines, we have won back “press freedom” from very controlling times of the Marcos regime. Should it be taken away again? What culture do we want the press to be founded on? Is it a media that cooperates with the government or a media that takes an adversarial stance? Should editors and reporters work hand in hand with government, or must they particularly in ‘controlled’ societies risk themselves to publish what they believe to be the truth?

Nobody enjoys criticism, least of all leaders of government. Journalistic gadflies, therefore, are unwelcomed even in such supposedly enlightened “democracies” as the United States, Great Britain, France and Scandinavia. Less so, for that matter in Asia, where authoritarianism reigns. By the same token, journalists are far from perfect. It can be pointed out that nobody anointed them to be messiahs or arbiters on culture and civilization, defenders of public morality, and critics of government and society, except themselves. It has already been repeated, ad infinitum, that while lawyers have to take bar examinations to qualify to practice, doctors must hurdle medical board exams, dentists must pass similar examinations to qualify, and even veterinarians, no journalist is required to take a test, not even a psychological examination, before inflicting himself on the world. Politicians love to underscore that media men were never elected by the people to public office as they (the politicians) were, and thereby, have no license to preach.

On the other hand, as Lee Iaccoca pointed out in his bestselling book years ago, journalists and radio-TV media persons are “elected” every single day of the year. The disgruntled reader, who finds fault with the reportage or the editorializing of a newspaper can simply refuse to buy the next copy. A newspaper without circulation soon withers on the vine. Retaliation comes even more swiftly in the case of television and radio newscasters and commentators. The disappointed viewer or listener can simply switch off, cutting off a commentator in mid-sentence, or switch over to another station or another channel.

This brings us back to the question: should the press, instead of carping, criticizing and nitpicking help governments instead by emphasizing the “good news” and downplaying the bad?

During the 21-year Marcos rule, the press was so much controlled. All newspapers sounded the same. There were no press releases only praise releases. Reading one newspaper alone was sufficient enough. The radio and television programs were no different. The chorus of praise was deafening. And yet, the Marcos regime fell. Truth, like murder, always will come out.

Freedom of the press, it must be admitted, is and can be abused. There are over 42 daily newspapers in the country that vie for circulation, or pursue their own power agendas. Only a handful of them are able to make money. I wonder how the other newspapers survive? Why do they continue to persist and exist? As Hamlet, once said, “that is the question.”

* * *

The Man from Manila (the title of a hit song in the nineties) was Francis Magalona – he passed away last Friday. Upon hearing the news over the radio, I felt sad. I have never met this man but he became famous in my generation singing Filipino hip hop songs that called out to us quite loud and clear. He loved our country. This was evident in his works and songs.

He has touched the hearts of many Pinoys – making us proud of our heritage and culture through his songs like Mga Kababayan Ko (My Fellow Countrymen), Tayo’y Mga Pinoy (We Are Filipinos) and Three Stars and a Sun.

Francis, indeed, you are a fighter in the true sense. You taught us that living is not worthwhile if we do not make use of our God-given talents just as you did. As you wrote in your blog, “I guess if we just loved our country so much we would be willing to die for it. I would. But a dead me is a useless me. I am more useful alive. As long as I live, I will continue to espouse this dedication to uplift our country and our people.”

Another hero has reached the gates of heaven. He has completed his duty on earth and so God has taken him back. Rest now dear one, you have inspired us enough through your voice that echoes through the islands of our homeland and in the homes of our Pinoy brothers and sisters around the world. We truly admire you for your courage and faith in the Filipino people and in this country.

Three stars and a sun, in one sky, so high,

I live and die and die will I for my motherland

this is the land of my birth,

No purse is worth the price of this earth

Can we rise, can we all…or should we all just take the fall?

Bless the man if his heart and his land are one

Three stars & a sun! I’m ready to defend the three stars & a sun!

Bahay kubo kahit munti, may pula,

Bughaw, dilaw, at saka puti

There is a need to sow the seed,

Toil the soil and plod until your hands bleed

‘’cause this land is sacred,