Tag: freedom of the press

social / media

On freedom of the press and the ABS-CBN franchise renewal

July 10, 2020 by
O

by Rep. Edcel Lagman

The freedom of the press is an overriding issue in the long-drawn renewal of the legislative franchise of ABS-CBN Corporation.

The freedom of the press, which is an integral component of the freedom of expression, is accorded primacy in the constellation of civil liberties which are guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

Notwithstanding occasional alleged violations by ABS-CBN in its operations, the decision of the Joint Committees on the issues of “biased reporting” and “meddling in politics” should take into consideration the relevance of the following jurisprudential pronouncements:

1. Chavez v. Gonzalez (G.R. No. 168338, February 15, 2008) penned by Chief Justice Reynaldo Puno:

“In this jurisdiction it is established that freedom of the press is crucial and so inextricably woven into the right to free speech and free expression, that any attempt to restrict it must be met with an examination so critical that only a danger that is clear and present would be allowed to curtail it.

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social / media

On the Ressa verdict

June 20, 2020 by
O

by Andrew Fornier

Well. I think we all saw that coming, much as we hoped against hope that the verdict would be different somehow. I guess it was like walking into a McDonald’s and expecting to find Chickenjoy on sale. I mean, there are some very specific elements that would have to converge for it to happen, and it isn’t exactly impossible, but you wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to come up empty-handed.

I should preface this by saying that I’m not a Ressa fan. (This is important.) I have little patience for the kind of journalism she has represented, in which the reporter is a celebrity of greater importance than the stories she has to tell. There’s a constant undercurrent of arrogance that oozes from the paragraphs of Rappler, particularly from its opinion pieces, which seems content to berate the common citizen for their “ignorance” and proclaim, in all self-righteousness, that there is only one way to look at the news.

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