Media must tell the truth, says priest

JOURNALISTS must “lift the torch of press freedom and truth” not only as reporters of events but also as harbingers of good news despite threats to their lives.

This was the message of Monsignor Elmer Abacahin to media members at the opening of Press Freedom Week in Cagayan de Oro City on Monday.

“You have a duty and responsibility to tell the truth no matter what,” said the priest who is executive secretary of the Office on Basic Ecclesial Communities of the bishops’ conference.

Monsignor Abacahin said that while it is ideal for journalists to work in an atmosphere free of threats and challenges, “the truth is much more valuable when it is gleaned from many challenges and hardships.”

The threat to journalists was underscored hours later after unidentified men failed in a fire-bombing attempt on government-run radio station DZRK-Radyo ng Bayan in Tabuk City.

Meanwhile, journalists from Mindanao also marked 18 months since the “Ampatuan massacre” that killed 58 people, including 34 journalists, on November 23, 2009.

New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described the incident as the “single deadliest event for the press since 1992, when the CPJ began keeping detailed records on journalist deaths.”

The CPJ earlier expressed concern over reports that a provincial radio announcer, Jun Albino of Magnum Radio in Cagayan de Oro City, received a death threat on May 14.

“These sorts of threats must be taken seriously by local police,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator.

He said research shows threats are often the first step in a deadly sequence of events in the Philippines in which local radio commentators accuse local figures of corruption and then end up shot dead.

Report from ucanews.com