Media Burlesque in the Shipping Beat

In our image-enslaved world, it has become noteworthy among members of the press to lick, devour and swallow without chewing anything that pleases and sells to readers. So deep-seated has this culture become that sometimes the implications are eroded in the face of selling or getting a story. So ingrained has this culture become that some journalists - reporters, if you like - pursue their beat or proceed to coverage empty-headed and naïve.  Naïve are these purported reporters or journalists that they don’t care about their responsibility or about being circumspect to explain insights and peripheries surrounding the issue.

Handling transport and shipping stories requires patient, religious and extensive research because of its intrinsic nature of being a highly technical, unique and complex beat. It is the kind of beat that does not fall into the 5Ws of a story. That is why I have made it expedient upon myself to research and look into related data first before embarking on interviews or proceeding to coverage.

On Monday, the Special Board of Marine Inquiry formally convened to start investigation on the MV Butuan Bay explosion. Going through my routine of multiple sourcing I interviewed ship engineers, ship captains, safety engineers and even the maritime police long before the Monday hearing. My object was to establish what causes an engine room to explode. I had been wary that the “terror tag” has already besmirched the industry’s travel and security image with so much smudge that to make mistakes on the technical aspects would be to undermine my responsibility as a journalist.

On Monday morning, I then inquired from Coast Guard legal counsel and SBMI law member Donette Dolina if there would be an ocular inspection of the ship when the board convenes. Don advised me that the board still had to agree on the inspection. But as the Gothong team arrived, SBMI panel members Engineer Romulo P. Pepito and Master Mariner Siegfred G. Lanticse proposed that we all board the ship.

My heart skipped that I had done some research beforehand. It then filled me with disgust that after we inspected the engine rooms of MV Butuan Bay, a reporter from one of the media outlets in Cebu approached Engr. Pepito to ask for findings. Because Engr. Pepito gave highly technical answers, I could discern that the reporter did not understand a single thing that the chief engineer was talking because of the stupid questions the person was asking. It bothered me how that reporter could make a truthful or faithful account of findings when the person lacked full comprehension of  coverage.

The shipping industry has already suffered major setbacks by the premature insinuations of terrorism in the blast. It is professionally irresponsible and morally objectionable to go on coverage unprepared and stymie issues some more with incompetence. News editors and directors should know better in requiring reporters to be technically knowledgeable about the stories they are pursuing.

Media burlesque - we go by the pretentious ways of trying to find the truth when the truth about the truth is hard to come by. We go searching for the truth without parameters and are ill-prepared, much more empty-headed during coverage.

A responsible media person especially those covering highly technical beat like shipping should go at length to research before making any interviews. Let me quote the sanctity of truth finding with Ravi Zacharias’ “Can Man Live Without God” where he says the three tests of truth are: logical consistency, empirical adequacy and experiential relevance.

At the end of the day, while the media may sell their paper or broadcast, Media Burlesque makes it difficult for the shipping industry to sell seats.