CALABARZON media sign protocol on crisis coverage in PRO4-A
- Monday, 07 February 2011
- Written by Calamba Super Administrator
February 3, 2011/Camp Vicente Lim --Local media organizations in CALABARZON region have ratified this morning the protocol that stipulates the rules that media practitioners must observe in covering hostage situation and similar crisis in the future.The PNP CALABARZON facilitated and provided the venue for the ratification of the protocol at Camp Vicente Lim headquarters in Canlubang, Calamba City, Laguna.
CALABARZON police director, Chief Superintendent Samuel D Pagdilao Jr. said the signing of protocol by publisher of local newspapers and presidents of media organizations based in Southern Tagalog was a significant event in the history of PNP-media relations as it coincided with the founding anniversary of PNP.
Pagdilao said that the creation of the protocol on the role of the media during coverage of hostage crisis was conceived following the call from both media and law enforcement sectors to come up with a set of rules that will define the proper conduct of coverage of media during crisis situation in a way that their work will not impede in police operations and in negotiation with hostage perpetrators as well as to ensure their own safety.
Pagdilao told media attendees during the protocol signing that the creation of rules in covering crisis situation was first brought upon the attention of the PNP and some members of national media organizations after the Siege of Manila Peninsula in November 2007.
Following the tragic hostage incident in Quirino Grandstand last August 2010, the protocol was urgently formulated as a joint effort of the PNP in Western Visayas where Pagdilao was then the police regional director and the members of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).
The NUJP in Western Visayas derived the protocol from the handbook of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR). The protocol that the media has ratified this morning in Camp Vicente Lim was the revised edition of what the NUJP has adopted, which suits the local situation of media practitioners in Southern Tagalog region.
Pagdilao stressed that the protocol is not a hindrance for media in carrying out its duty to inform the public nor it should not be misconstrued as a rule crafted by the PNP that is enforceable upon the media. He said the PNP cannot impose rules on how media should conduct the coverage of crisis situation that is why it sought the help of media organizations to facilitate the drafting of the protocol.The protocol stipulates that, when crisis situation arises anywhere in Southern Tagalog, the media who gets the information ahead of the police must see to it that they immediately inform the police authorities and refrain from making moves that may aggravate the situation or endanger their lives.It was also agreed upon in the protocol that, before releasing information, media should seriously weigh the benefits to the public as against the potential harm the information may cause. Interviews with terrorists and hostage takers should be avoided.The local media also agreed through the protocol they have ratified that police operational plans such as assault plan and positions of the quick response units should not be reported live to the public during the conduct of operations and that they should take more efforts to explain to the public why certain information is being withheld by the authorities.With the ratification of the CALABARZON media protocol on covering crisis situation, Pagdilao expressed hope that the media will properly observe its binding rules in the occurrence of a crisis situation.Pagdilao also hope that with the help of the media, efforts in coming up with a similar protocol for local media will be replicated in other regions.--PIO// Arlene P. Mariposque
