ACCOUNTABILITY
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The story came out of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, front page treatment, even.
What’s a beat reporter to do?
Get the reaction of the Palace, of course.
Manila Times reporter, Sam Mediavilla did just that.
Here’s what happened while she was doing her job.
Here’s the exchange of text messages between her and Secretary of the Cabinet Ric Saludo.
SAM: “Sir good am, Sam here of Manila Times baka you kay react naman on reports PGMA allegedly give away cash gifts to local execs of Visayas region? Hindi ba ito magfuel lalo speculation na bumibili admin local support para sa success of chacha initiative? Sagot ka naman please? Sam”
SALUDO: “Responsible, professional media do not pay attention to speculation and allegations without a shred of evidence supporting them. Kung hindi ninyo papatulan ang haka-hakang walang patibay titigil ang mga naninira nang walang basehan. Salamat.”
SAM: “But sir, may basis ba iyong report na P20 to P50, 000 na pinamimigay pgma sa mga mayors and local execs ng western Visayas? Sa tingin niyo bakit lumalabas iyong ganitong report?”
SALUDO: “why are you asking me if there is basis? You should ask those who put out the report or made the allegation. Can you please show me the journalism or law textbook that says it is the accused who should provide the basis for charges against him. Ano ba naman!”
And guess what? Saludo supposedly called up the office of Sam to report the incident.
Talk about shooting the messenger.
Please note that Sam didn’t want the incident to be blown out of proportion. In fact, a lot of MPC members found out about it only in the afternoon after Secretary Bunye’s briefing (where he was asked about the same issue and Bunye answered and handled it better than Saludo, di naman pala kailangan ng galit sa pagsagot eh).
Sam even asked for the permission of her editors before she talked to us, the TV reporters in Malakanyang.
She told us that she accepts the fact that when we do our jobs, it is expected that not all our subjects are pleasant. Parte daw iyun ng trabaho niya, ang ma experience ang ganyan.
Sam’s case ain’t unique.
A lot of MPC members experienced the same thing when they tried to interview Saludo in several occasions.
A print reporter once asked him about his declaration that Typhoon Milenyo’s to blame for the slow down in the economic growth during the third quarter of the year. He got his flak when the reporter gave him facts that will prove his statement wrong. You see, Milenyo hit the country on the last few days of September. Pray tell, how could a storm wreak havoc in our economy for just a couple of days in the last days of the given time frame or quarter?
Another print reporter received some tongue lashing from Saludo when she asked for a reaction on Senator Pimentel’s statement about Charter Change. Since when was it a crime for journalists to get a reaction from their subjects? Kapag hindi sila kinuhanan ng side nila, yun ang kapalpakan.
And just recently, Saludo called for a televised presscon (attended by the MPC) and there he declared that it is the media who should be blamed for the low ratings of the President.
Talk about experiencing the hazards of the trade.
But based on the repeated experiences of reporters covering the Presidential beat when dealing with Secretary Saludo, please tell us if we can go right ahead and tag him as “THE consistent hazard of our trade”.
Many MPC members played with the idea of boycotting his presscons.
But this suggestion takes the cake: “Why bother boycotting him? Notice that even if we continuously submit them (his stories), nobody in our respective agencies uses his quotes or soundbytes anyway!”
Correct.
Saludo handles important stories about governance for the palace. The fact that he is not being taken seriously (by reporters and news agencies) makes him an ineffective soldier of the President.
Was he correct in declaring weeks ago that the media is the reason why the ratings of the President continue to slide down?
Someone from the media (MPC) tried to do her job this morning, look at what he did. So tell, us: is it really the media that should take the blame for their low marks?
Typical | The BLIPS Network Said:
on July 28, 2009 at 11:55 am
[...] Jove Francisco: SAM: “Sir good am, Sam here of Manila Times baka you kay react naman on reports PGMA allegedly [...]