Mr. Alwin Joseph Alburo is a Senior News Editor GMA Channel 7. He is also a professor of Broadcasting and Journalism majors in Colegio de San Juan de Letran-Manila. He is the Chairman of National Union of Journalists of the Philippines GMA Chapter.
I was kidnapped with the ASG before and even if it was just three days, still, we were held hostage at gunpoint and naturally without our consent and we were only freed after a lot of people negotiated for our freedom and ultimately after some ransom was given in exchange for our lives.
Looking back, I was only concerned of two things: that information should be let out as soon as possible that we were kidnapped (but should be handled sensitively at that) and that I would be able to get back to the world at least alive (along with my fellow abductees).
I wanted the information about our abduction out as soon as possible and as much as possible because we needed to let the world know what happened so that the proper courses of action will be taken immediately and properly.
I cannot speak for the whole National Union of Journalists of the Philippines NUJP which has advocated the media embargo as its belief is that “safety first” should be followed.
While I believe that no story is worth dying for, I also believe that my first responsibility as a journalist is to get the information out to my public no matter the cost.
I cannot even speak for the NUJP GMA 7 Chapter of which I am the Chairman as we have not taken a stand on this.
I can only speak for myself as a journalist. So, personally, I am not in favor of following the embargo because as I said my first responsibility as a journalist is to get the information out to my public no matter the cost.
What happened was that media became sensitive when something happened to one of our own but then we don’t even give this same treatment to normal, ordinary people (cases of exception include children and women as ruled by the law which we follow). So in effect, what happened was that media exercised a double standard here, violated the public’s right to information and worse, allowed a media giant with a bad reputation (ABS-CBN) to now be in the debt of its media rivals.
Would having reported the story as soon as it was confirmed endangered the lives of the kidnapped journalists? Who really would know? But it is precisely the lack of information that allows bullies and terrorists like the ASG to continue their tactics that’s why they need to be reported immediately.
