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10 | MEDIA TIMES 2013 Center for Media Freedom &
Responsibility
BY LUIS V. TEODORO
MEDIAS RESPONSIBILITY
THE PHILIPPINES IS A PARTICULARLY DISASTER-PRONE COUNTRY YEAR
ROUND, BOTH BECAUSE OF ITS GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION (IT SITS ON THE
PACIFIC RING OF FIRE AND IS DIRECTLY IN THE PATH OF
PACIFIC-GENERATED STORMS) AND THE FLAWED AND EVEN NON-EXISTENT
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES OF THE GOVERNMENTS THAT HAVE RULED IT.
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It is during the rainy months of July to September and even
beyond when typhoons, loods and landslides decimate entire
communities. But this year a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the
provinces of Bohol and Cebu during the same season, and was
followed by the most powerful typhoon to ever make landfall in the
Philippines. Yolanda (Haiyan) smashed into Aklan, Samar, Leyte,
Antique, Mindoro and Palawan inlicting on those islands the worst
devastation in nearly a century, with Tacloban City in Leyte
bearing the brunt of the typhoons 315 kilometer-per-hour winds.
With 2,360 deaths, the Philippines led all other countries in
the number of people who died from disasters in 2012. It was ahead
of China, which was second with 771 deaths, according to the
non-governmental Citizens Disaster Response Center (CDRC). The
Philippines was second to China in terms of the number of people
displaced by typhoons, landslides and loods, who lost their
belongings and homes and suffered various economic losses. In 2012,
12 million people were so affected in the Philippines compared to
43 million in China. But the Philippines is likely to lead all
other countries this year in terms
Typhoon Haiyan image by NASA
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Responsibility
of the casualties from typhoon Yolanda over 5,000 and still
rising as of this writing if not in the number of people affected.
The countrys vulnerability to disasters is the context in which,
come the rainy season, some of the biggest media organizations
launch disaster relief and even rescue operations and make sure
that their publics learn about it through their own capacities for
disseminating the information via the airwaves, online or in
print.
Although it is seldom so described, these activities could be
explained as indicative of Philippine media organizations
commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR is part of
a business model intended to demonstrate that corporations are not
solely devoted to proit-making but are also interested in promoting
the social good. Oil companies take pains to show that theyre
guarding the environment, for example, and drug companies that
theyre promoting public health.
WHATS IN A NAME?
However, most Filipinos and the media themselves are more
familiar with epal, rather than with CSR. Epal is from the word
papel, or paper, which when made into a verb in the Filipino
language means to play a role. It refers to the practice of
self-promotion common among Filipino politicians who, between,
during and after the countrys frequent elections, hang up streamers
claiming that a street is being paved, or a village hall built,
courtesy of the mayor, councilor or congressman of the town or
district.
During the holiday season or when students graduate in March and
April each year, the streamers also wish everyone a Merry
Christmas, or congratulate new graduates. During disasters such as
typhoons and earthquakes, one of the most pernicious forms of
self-promotion is that of stamping repacked relief goods meant for
stricken communities with the name of the local politician. In most
cases public funds have been used for the streamers and the
repacking. Epal efforts use the citizenrys own money to promote the
politicians focus on keeping his or her name in the public
mind.
Civic groups have been campaigning against the practice, as a
result of which the media have also condemned it and ridiculed
self-promoting politicians. But the reality is that the media too
call attention to their relief and other efforts, lest these escape
the attention of their viewers, listeners and readers.
Media self-promotion was evident not only in the aftermath of
typhoon Yolanda but also during the typhoons multiple island
landfall. It was basically of two types. The irst consisted of
emphasizing how much of a risk their reporters on the ground were
taking, to the extent that they later interviewed their own
reporters themselves, which happened in the case of ABS-CBNs Atom
Araullo. While Araullo did provide the information millions of
Filipinos were anxious to receive when the typhoon struck Tacloban
City, his networks interviewing him was in violation of the ethical
imperative during the coverage of disasters that the journalist
should be not be part of the news or even be the news himself. The
same lapse was in evidence in the case of the same networks Ted
Failons dramatizing his presence in Tacloban during the typhoon,
and focusing on his own news teams sentiments and fears.
The second type of self-promotion consisted of some networks
publicizing not only their pleas for donations from the public
donations they distribute in their (the networks) names rather than
those of the donors but also in their publicizing through
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Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility 2013 MEDIA TIMES |
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PHOTO BY ALANAH TORRALBA
Among the ruins and rubble in Tanauan, Leyte, Philippines, aid
had been slow in reaching the millions who were
displaced by typhoon Yolanda. International efforts have been
building up as food and other basic necessities were
airlifted to remote communities.
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their own facilities their repacking and distribution of relief
goods.While the public need for information can be satisied even by
self-serving and grandstanding reports, and while there is nothing
wrong with providing relief during disasters, what is problematic
is this focus subtracting from the time and space other, even more
relevant reports, such as how many bodies have been recovered, how
survivors can contact their relatives, where medical care for the
injured is available, and those other crucial, even life and death
issues, require.
Disaster reporting is after all about the disaster, particularly
the victims and their communities, and its aftermath. The ethical
prohibition against grandstanding, otherwise known as
self-promotion and, in the Philippine context, as epal, is based on
the sound principle, fundamental to journalism, of providing the
public meaningful information when it is most needed, as in the
time of disasters.
PROVIDING INFORMATION
The medias main responsibilities are after all still those of
reporting the news as accurately, as fairly and as completely as
possible, and supplementing these with the commentary and analysis
that will help their audiences to better understand the events
around them and that includes the loods, landslides, earthquakes,
typhoons and the many other disasters Filipino lesh is heir to.
Self-promotion aside, however, in the Philippines, discharging
that particular responsibility has mostly been in the form of
providing pro-active information on the imminence of weather
disturbances, the communities theyre likely to affect, and the
measures those who might be affected need to take to prevent both
casualties as well as damage to livelihoods, the property and the
economy.
Left map showing the main plates surrounding the Philippine
Archipelago. Right: Major tectonic features of the Philippines. The
gray shaded area is the Philippine Mobile Belt (PMB) of Gervasio
(1967). The stippled gray shaded area is the Palawan-Mindoro
continental block. AR= Abra River Fault; VA=ViganAgao
Fault; C=Cordilleran Fault; P=Pugo Fault; D=Digdig Fault;
LD=LaurDingalan Fault. Lagmay et al.,
2009.http://www.nigs.upd.edu.ph/
EARTHQUAKE-PRONE PHILIPPINES
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Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility 2013 MEDIA TIMES |
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NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION (NCR). The fl ood maps show areas
affected by fl ooding induced by severe
or signifi cant rainfall (as experienced during Ondoy). Smaller
volume of rainfall may still produce fl ooding
but with signifi cantly less height and extent of fl
ooding.http://nababaha.appspot.com/static/fl ood/manila.html
High Flood Hazard> 1.5 meters
Moderate Flood Hazard0.5 - 1.5 meters
Low Flood Hazard0.1 - 0.5 meters
In responding to typhoon Yolanda, the Philippine media did not
fail their audiences. They provided island-by-island reports as the
typhoon passed, and interviewed the responsible local government
oficials they could reach. Later, practically on a 12 to 18-hour
basis, they reported on the conditions of the stricken communities,
how the efforts at providing the food, water and medical services
the survivors needed were proceeding, and the foreign support the
country was receiving. These reports, which included accounts of
survivor complaints about the absence of government action ive days
after the typhoon smashed into central Philippines, as well as, in
contrast, how some local oficials were ably meeting their
responsibilities to their constituencies, also helped prod the
government into accelerating its relief and other efforts.
THE GOOD NEWS
In the reporting of the disasters that have recently visited the
Philippines, whether the Bohol-Cebu earthquake or typhoon Yolanda,
much of the Philippine media did act pro-actively.
The major broadcast networks and broadsheets were already
watching the weather at the tail-end of the summer season. They
devoted ample time to reports on the progress of storms and their
impact on the communities throughout the peak of the rainy season,
and when the Bohol-Cebu quake struck, reported on the casualties
with restraint and with reminders that the reports were incomplete.
They also provided background material to explain the extent of the
damage as well as to warn the public and government on the
imperative to review the building code, and retroit vulnerable
structures.
When typhoon Yolanda was barely six days away, they were already
tracking the typhoons path courtesy of the governments weather
agency Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical
Services Administration (PAGASA), and warning their viewers,
listeners and readers that the weather disturbance was likely to
develop into a super typhoon. Signiicantly lacking, however, was
information in laymans terms on the storm surges that were among
the major causes of the thousands in Yolanda casualties, many of
whom were unaware that a storm surge can whip up 40-foot waves and
inundate even three-story buildings.
What the media could do in the future is to provide that kind of
information when typhoons approach. But the Filipino public also
needs, on a regular basis and throughout the year, the information,
now available from the scientiic community, on the impact of
climate change, the fault lines that make many parts of the country
susceptible to earthquakes, what local governments as well as the
national administration is doing to enhance the communities and the
countrys preparedness, the areas to which citizens can be assured
of a safe haven in case of tsunamis, typhoons and earthquakes,
etc., in furtherance of the need to reduce the cost in casualties
and property losses of the disasters that regularly strike the
country. As the entire country has learned from its experience with
Yolanda, information can save lives and the lack of it can kill. In
disaster-prone Philippines, where disasters have never been
seasonal, that information has to be provided on a year round
basis.
NCR FLOOD HAZARD MAP
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