Media blackout applied in the Philippines?
MANILA: The context of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's clampdown on news about the abduction of 20 people at Dos Palmas by the Abu Sayyaf is that it applies to military operations to rescue the hostages and crush the outlaws. The appeal for media cooperation in observing the news "blackout" was made both at the President's press conference and in a meeting with media executives and editors.
With the understanding that the blackout applies to operational aspects, the media should not expect the government and the security forces to reveal sensitive details of the offensive. As far as this aspect of secrecy is concerned, the President's appeal is reasonable. She has leveled with the press, and she has laid down the ground rules. The idea behind the news blackout is that the outlaws should not be tipped off about the details of the operations so that the lives of hostages will not jeopardized and the terrorists can be neutralized.
Withholding of news involving military and police operations does translate into a curtailment of press freedom. Veteran editors and experienced reporters are familiar with the importance of temporarily withholding the broadcast or publication of news to avoid the use by criminals of prematurely disclosed information to escape police or military action.
Our experience with the Abu Sayyaf abduction of 21 hostages in April last year provides ample evidence of the harmful consequences of untrammeled flow of information coming from different sources, highlighting the worst aspects of the principle of the "free market" of information.
The aspect of the blackout involving non-operational matters is, however, dicey. In which case, the judgment on whether to use or withhold information relating to developments on the abduction rests on the sense of responsibility of editors. In last year's abductions, the Abu Sayyaf manipulated the press to gain leverage in negotiations over their hostages and to raise their demands for ransom from governments or foreign parties.
This time, extortion might not yield exorbitant returns to the outlaws. The United States, three of whose citizens are hostages, have a tough policy against paying ransom. The Philippine government, which is strapped for cash, is in no position to negotiate the release of hostages in exchange for money. The families of the hostages might try other channels of negotiations but our lesson from the past is that ransom demands tend to escalate and can be very messy, without guarantee of release.
This time, the government is better able to deal with the bandits more coherently. The police and the army are not at odds over how to conduct rescue operations, unlike in last year's saga when the police and the military waged a very public war over how to crack down on the Abu Sayyaf.
The media like to have scoops, to be ahead in the center of action, often putting the lives of reporters at risk. But last year many journalists who crossed military lines to get the story first were themselves abducted for ransom, and their free- wheeling activities got in the way of military operations.
The primary concern in the second Abu Sayyaf saga is not getting exclusive reports on the spot but the safety of the hostages and the success of the operations against the bandit group. This is what the President meant when she appealed to the media for cooperation in observing the government's news blackout.
The Abu Sayyaf, or any terrorist for that matter, has learned how to use the press to increase their leverage in securing their demands. They like to be seen on television strutting around with their high-powered weapons to impress upon the audience their power of life and death over their victims and to intimidate governments to grant their demands. They use media as a propaganda tool to win monetary objectives, thinly disguised as political objectives.
There's a thin line between reporting legitimate information and being manipulated by terrorists. In a crisis situation where the flow of information can influence the success of military operations, we have, from experience, learned that regular briefings on the progress of operations, help tremendously in keeping the media informed and decided judiciously what information to publish or broadcast.
-- Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network