Media Laws for Protection of Journalists

Posted on November 26th, 2009 by burgerboy

In line with the recent inhumane tragedy that has occurred in Maguindanao, there were 21 journalists that were included in the massacre. Although Maguindanao is known as a place where journalists already have one foot in their graves, a lot of journalists still venture there. This province still has news that the rest of the country should know and should not be left out of media coverage. This is where our courageous journalists step in and prove their worth.

For the recent massacre, would there have been any media law that could have protected them? As far as their work as journalists is concerned, we have Article 3, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution which states:
“ No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. “
This is enough protection for them assuming that all the things that they write are the truth and accurate. It is true that “the truth hurts” and people who don’t want the truth to be known about them cannot hinder the truth from coming out because of this law.

For a law that can save them from this kind of incident, we’ve got the regular laws that would protect anyone from harm. Journalists are still Filipinos who are protected by our constitution. It is just unfortunate that the same people who should be upholding these laws are the ones who are violating them. Being a journalist doesn’t make anyone immortal; they are still subject to pain and suffering as we all do. They still bleed and die like us so it was made that they are still protected by the same laws that protect us.

I don’t think that there will ever be a law that could have prevented the massacre because people who should have prevented the incident were the ones that caused it. A miracle might have been more useful, only GOD could have prevented it.

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