Manic Media

Filipinos seem to have a great fascination with the lives of the popular, the scandalous and of things that are blown out of proportions. If one is observant enough: lives of celebrities are seen everywhere in the newspaper. Even the lives of politicians and government officials are scrutinized rather than their work. It seems that the media is taking advantage of this phenomenon, which is why they keep on hyping up issues like these rather than put into the limelight economical, environmental and political issues among others. Issues that require the push of the people so that they would be urged to actually do accordingly.

I believe this stems from the misuse of the Freedom of Expression of people. They just randomly go out there and say whatever they want to say. News reports are not even objective anymore. And if people seem to have crossed the boundary, they use the Right as an escape goat: Freedom of Expression.

I believe the power of this right comes from its ambiguity and vagueness. Due to the fact that the provisions are not clearly stated it holds much power than we know of. Just a couple of hours of exposure to media, we seem to question our own views and change them accordingly. The media has the power to sway people's minds into their own benefit. The question now is: Where do we set the line?

I think that what we really need here in the Philippines for this matter is a Freedom of Responsible Expression. Though this may hold as vague and ambiguous as well, it tells us that there should be responsibility in what we say. It is just appropriate sometimes to hold back on information as soon as it is verified. Consequently, it is also considerate to hold back on information that would send the citizens panicking. Lastly, it is also just right to hold back on information that would not do any good to the interests of the country.

Some may say that this is a form of censorship or biased information. Some may say that this is controlling information dissemination. What I am trying to get at is that, we should be careful as to what we give to the audience. It is not about who gives the juiciest blow by blow account of the Hostage Taking in Luneta (which also led to the failure of the operation), but rather it is about responsibly holding back information until it is deemed appropriate to release it. As Cardinal Thomas Wosley would put it - "Be very, very careful what you put in that head because you will never, ever get it out."