ESTABLISHING new avenues for digging-in and delivering on the muckraker’s craft is a double-edged sword: freeing investigative journalists from kowtowing to advertisers but requiring that they navigate through some lean times.
“The commercial model has been: make money from advertising. And you rarely go after your own advertisers,” longtime investigative journalist Charles Lewis told a packed room on Saturday in a panel discussion on successful business models at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC13).
“Most media models function from advertising. You could see their ads. When you noticed the paper wasn’t investigating their biggest advertisers, you at least knew why.”
“To understand an organization and what it cares about and who supports them, that’s essential,” he said. Every nonprofit newsroom should develop, make public and adhere to an ethics policy that assures their funding sources are transparent to the public.
Lewis spoke alongside Reg Chua, data and innovation editor at Thomson Reuters and Sheila Coronel, director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University.
Coronel founded the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism in 1989. When they opened their doors, only one person in her office earned a paycheck — her assistant.
“We started out in a borrowed office with DOS computers,” she said. “We had donated furniture and a lot of free labor.”
They earned money by syndicating their stories although it’s often impossible to recover the costs of an investigation; and they applied for grants from foreign foundations.
“I tried everything — coffee mugs, books, business plans for a café or mailing center,” she said. “The only lesson I learned is that you will make mistakes. But you have to move on. There’s no time to cry.”
Just as funding models have shifted, so have the delivery mechanism for – and even the very definition of — “investigative journalism.”
Coronel has come to embrace a simple description: the exposure of wrongdoing in the public interest “in whatever form and on whatever platform where it reaches the audience,” she said.
Reg Chua said new models must also consider how they package their content.
“Are you selling investigative journalism or a product that happens to have investigative journalism in it,” Chua encouraged entrepreneurs to ask when they develop a business model.
“People come to restaurants because of ambiance, service, location, health ratings, branding. You have to put it in a broader package.”
Purely investigative centers will continue to exist, as well general interest news organizations that do no deep-dives. The question is, what mix will provide sustainability?
“Some of the best work that can be done is the less episodic but really sustained regular coverage of a subject, that in the course of doing helps you develop great stories,” he said.
“Watchdog reporting is the classic investigation. You expose it and bring people to justice. Scarecrow reporting is the regular day-to-day reporting, the threat of which keeps wrongdoings at bay.”
NATIONAL MEDIA GROUPS have criticized the Armed Forces of the Philippines for red-tagging an online media outfit following the arrest of a University of the Philippines professor on charges of being part of the communist New People’s Army.
Physicist and UP professor Kim Gargar was arrested by government troops on October 1 following an encounter with communist rebels in Davao Oriental. The military claims Gargar had been part of a rebel band that attacked a government patrol. Gargar was allegedly captured with an assault rifle, ammunition, and explosives. Gargar has denied the charges.
But in trying to link Gargar to the communist rebels, the military took it a step further by also saying that Gargar was married to a journalist working for a “leftist” news organization.
TV5′s news web portal, Interaksyon.com, quoted the Army’s Eastern Mindanao Command public affairs office chief Capt. Alberto Caber as saying that Gargar admitted to joining the New People’s Army in 2012.
The same report quoted Caber as saying that the scientist’s wife is “a writer of the leftist Bulatlat.com online news website.”
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines chairperson Rowena Paraan demanded an apology from Caber for “slandering” the news organization and putting its staff in danger.
“Even if the military’s claims about Gargar are true, we do not see how his wife’s work with Bulatlat.com, which has been operating for several years, is relevant at all to any statement Caber has to make,” Paraan said in a statement released by the NUJP on Monday.
“Caber’s pronouncements are disconcerting because they suggest that “Bulatlat.com’s perceived leanings somehow make Gargar’s wife—and the whole outfit—complicit in the insurgency,” Paraan pointed out.
“It is the likes of you, Capt. Caber, who are the real enemies of the state because your blinders and one-track minds are anathema to the democracy you claim to protect and defend,” Paraan added.
Paraan said the red-tagging of Bulatlat by the military is reminiscent of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (ISAFP) 2005 PowerPoint presentation entitled: “Knowing the Enemy,” where the NUJP—and even the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines—were branded as “enemies of the state.”
Until now, Paraan says they continue to receive reports that “Knowing the Enemy” is “still shown in schools and other venues throughout the land.”
“Caber’s thinking has clearly not evolved beyond that of a brute who immediately brands anyone with a different perspective an enemy, the kind of thinking perpetuated during Martial Law that, alas, somehow continues to infect the minds of officers such as him,” the NUJP statement reads.
Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) deputy director Luis V. Teodoro says Caber’s statement puts mediamen in danger, and adds to the worsening media situation “in which journalists are being harassed, threatened and even killed on a regular basis.”
“In the current environment in the Philippines in which journalists continue to be killed with impunity, any attempt to link a journalist to the New People’s Army—as the Armed Forces of the Philippines was implying when it mentioned that the wife of UP physics professor Kim Gargar, who is accused of being an NPA guerilla and is currently in military detention, writes for the “leftist Bulatlat.com online news website”—can invite harm to the journalist,” Teodoro said.
That Gargar’s wife writes for Bulatlat.com doesn’t prove that Gargar is with the NPA, and neither does his being accused of such an involvement prove that his wife, the journalist Ina Alleco-Silverio, is herself also involved in anything illegal. While the term “leftist” is in this country used to condemn diverse groups and individuals, it is not a crime under Philippine law either,” Teodoro points out.
“Why, may we ask, did Captain Caber feel the need to mention Gargar’s wife’s work with Bulatlat.com? In what context and for what purpose did Captain Caber accuse Bulatlat.com of being leftist?” Bulatlat’s managing editor Benjie Oliveros asked.
“(Is) the Armed Forces of the Philippines accusing Bulatlat.com of being leftist because of our reportage of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, which earned us numerous awards and citations from agencies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross,” Oliveros asked.
He says that Caber’s insinuation is evocative of martial rule where “anyone critical of the Marcos dictatorship was branded as a communist, leftist and subversive, and therefore was subjected to arrest, detention, torture, and worse, enforced disappearance or extrajudicial killing.”
“Organizations and news agencies accused of being leftist and subversive then were declared illegal, its offices padlocked, such was the case of the former We Forum of press freedom icon Joe Burgos,” recalls Oliveros.
The National Bureau of Investigation-Region 10 (NBI 10) has released the artist’s sketch of the two suspects in the killing of local radio commentator Fernando “Nanding” Solijon.This, as Iligan City Mayor Celso Regencia added Php 150,000 to the bounty initially offered by the city’s lone representative Vicente Belmonte, Jr, raising the amount to Php 450,000.The two still unidentified suspects gunned down Solijon—who anchored a political commentary program “Sandiganan”—while the latter was on his way to his parked car at about 10:30pm, August 29 in Purok 1, Buru-un village, Iligan City.
Solijon sustained multiple gunshot wounds on his forehead, abdomen and shoulder. He was later declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital. Police found seven shells and one slug of a .45 caliber pistol at the crime scene.
In a report by Violeta Gloria of the Mindanao news cooperative Mindanews, City councilor Providencio Abragan, Jr, chair of the committee on police, public order and safety was quoted as saying that he considered Solijon’s killing to be politically motivated and work-related.
Abragan—a lawyer by profession—was also quoted in the same report as saying he was willing to assist in prosecuting the suspects.
Local police said Solijon is the 35th victim of extrajudicial killing in the city this year.
Solijon is survived by wife Mely, 44 and 19-year old daughter, Jed, who is currently a second year hotel and restaurant management student.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said in a statement that should Solijon’s murder be proven to be work-related, he would be the 159th media worker killed since democracy was restored in 1986, the 19th under the Aquino administration and the 5th murdered this year.
doctors failed to revive radio broadcaster Solijon (photo by PNP Iligan)
THE CONTINUING CULTURE OF IMPUNITY under the Aquino administration has claimed the life of another mediaman, this time in Iligan City in Mindanao.
An alert issued Friday by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines identified the slain mediaman as Fernando “Nanding” Solijon, 48, of DXLS Love Radio Iligan City.
Solijon was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen at around 10:30 p.m. Thursday night.
Preliminary investigation by local police showed that Solijon—coming from a dinner invitation of a close friend in Purok 1, Buru-un village—was crossing the street toward his parked car when two suspects riding on a motorcycle shot him several times at close range.
Solijon succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds on his forehead, abdomen and shoulder. Bystanders rushed Solijon to a nearby hospital in the city. Solijon however was declared dead on arrival. Police found seven shells and one slug of a .45 caliber pistol at the crime scene.
Local police have yet to determine the motive of the shooting although NUJP Iligan Chapter chair Ronnie Enderes said that Solijon has been receiving death threats since the midterm election campaign period.
Enderes added that witnesses could not give a clear description of the assailants because the incident happened in a dark portion of the street.
residents place a marker on the spot where Solijon fell (photo by Richel V. Umel)
In the same media alert, JB Deveza, NUJP Mindanao Media Safety Office coordinator said Solijon—who anchored “Sandiganan,” which airs every Monday to Friday at 8am—is a known supporter of Iligan City Lone Representative Vicente Belmonte and “had criticized several local politicians on his program, even linking a barangay chairman to illegal drugs (trafficking).”
Belmonte has reportedly offered a Php300,000-bounty to anyone who could give information on the indentity of the suspects.
Solijon is the 19th mediaman killed under the Aquino administration and 5th killed this year alone.
“Those who have less in life should have more in law.” Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay, 7th President Republic of the Philippines.
With these words, Magsaysay tried to set the tone for a more socially-attuned administration of justice. Yet 56 after Magsaysay’s death, his words remain a mere slogan.
On November 23, 2009, 58 people — 32 of whom were media workers — were waylaid in what has become known throughout the world as the Maguindanao Massacre, the worst case of election violence in the country, and the biggest case of violence against mediamen in the world. The incident has caught the country flat-footed, yet it also exposed several long-festering, and in many aspects, long-known yet unaddressed issues. On one hand. the incident served as a grisly wake-up call for both national government and local and international civil societies on the issues of election violence, clan politics and dynamics, and violence against media. On the other hand, ending impunity became the priority mission of both the Philippine government and civil societies.
In coordination with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Libertas, a legal policy non-government organization, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines (CHRP) launched a research project that dissected the massacre case as a way to understand these issues and offer recommendations for reforms in the country’s judicial system.
The research project output is a book entitled “Maguindanao Massacre: Case Study for Breaking Impunity, Increasing Accountability, and Broadening Access to Justice.” It is a compendium of interviews, focus group discussions and dialogues with “family members of the Maguindanao Massacre victims, key informants who are private or public prosecutors, officials from the security sector, relevant government agencies, and representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs) and media organizations.”
At the crux of the case study is the fact there is still no clear-cut definition of extrajudicial killing (EJK) especially for state players prosecuting the criminal act. The study posits that a good definition is important to set this specific criminal act apart from the other crimes. It further suggests that this particular crime be called “unexplained killing” and “to let it cover both state and non-state perpetrators.” In this way, the study broadened its scope of coverage to be more inclusive of other similar cases of EJKs, not just in Maguindanao or Mindanao, but all over the country as well.
Red-tagging of this type of crime, or identifying specific cases for special attention, also puts “value” since red-tagged cases are more closely monitored by the justice department at the regional level. The label also attracts more public attention, thereby potentially increasing the confidence level of the witnesses. “It is suggested that red-tagging be done at the point of filing informations in court, and that red-tagged cases no longer be raffled. Aside from special handling by the prosecution, this will also facilitate human rights documentation and monitoring,” the case study reads.
The case study proposes that special courts be designated to hear this type of crime continuously. Study proponents also proposed – by way of citing one of the observation of its key informants — the resumption of peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), because “while peace talks are ongoing, extrajudicial killings are seen to slow down and become intermittent.” In order to further speed up the court processes on EJKs and other human rights violation cases, the case study also proposes there be mechanisms in the rules of court to allow the perpetuation of testimonies of witnesses.
According to the case study, key informants from both the government and civil societies agree that there should be an enabling law on command responsibility to exact criminal liability and for command responsibility to be applicable to all criminal offenses under the country’s Revised Penal Code. The case study also recommended that there should be “transparency in the conduct of internal investigations and in the military justice system.”
Presently, the rules on command responsibility in the Philippines cover only as high as two degrees. However, a respondent from the Philippine Army conceded that — with respect to civilian supremacy over state security forces — court martial will surrender the “subject and the case even if there is a separate crime or administrative case arising under the Articles of War,” provided that there will be clear parameters.
Even though the Philippine Senate had not yet given its concurrence to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (the Rome Statute) pursuant to Article VII of the Constitution when the case study was prepared (2010 to 2011), on August 30, 2011, the Philippine Senate gave its concurrence to the Rome Statute. The Rome Statute, among others, defines the coverage of the doctrine of command responsibility to all state signatories of the international
Other recommendations put forward by the study include:
Requiring a human rights clearance process for personnel in all law enforcement agencies.
Enhancing and increasing coverage of the Witness Protection Program (WPP)
Training of paralegals on investigation and legal support in the prosecution of cases
More inter-agency cooperation and evidence-sharing among agencies involved in the investigation and prosecution of the cases
Initiation of administrative cases involving human rights violations by government agencies DESPITE the absence of private complainants.
More effective firearms control through improved logistics management system by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
More concrete measures to depoliticize the local police force.
Engagement of the Anti-Money Laundering Council in cases involving HRVs.
The recommendations for more effecive firearms control and the need to depoliticze the local police forces stood out starkly against the backdrop of the Maguindanao Massacre. The Ampatuan clan, the family accused of masterminding the massacre, has been accused of amassing firearms and ammunition through the help of regional and national patrons. In effect, the Ampatuan clan had been able to build its own legal private army using both government arms and ammunition.
As well, the clan has been accused of using the local police force in Maguindanao in carrying out the massacre. Under the Local Government Code, the local government units have operational control over the local police forces. In the case of the Maguindanao Massacre, the local police units were said to have been compromised by the clan through because the clan had full control over the appointments and perks of the local police officers.
During the course of the case study, it was also recommended that there should be a “community and peer support in the prosecution of criminal cases” and a “rationalized and integrated financial and other support for victims of atrocious crimes, including families of the Maguinndanao Massacre victims.” These recommendations stem from the outcome of a series of FGDs with the families of the massacre victims.
“In this respect, a cohesive financial support program with support coming from various sources may be rationalized and administered just by one agency, perhaps the CHRP or the DSWD, so that the families need only coordinate with one agency, Requirements can be streamlined by such agency, so that the families need not undergo repetitive processes for screening, which merely add to the famlies’ difficulty and frustration,” the case study recommends.
The most recent case in point of this was when news that a number of the families of massacre victims have allegedly opted to settle with massacre prime suspects of the Ampatuan clan. Legal counsel Harry Roque of the Center for International law posted in his blog that the families of 14 massacre victims had reportedly signed a written authority with a “close associate” of the Ampatuans to broker a settlement with the accused sometime in February, this year.
Roque’s law firm is representing four of the 14 families who supposedly opted to settle. However, he claimed that the “settlement” was made without his knowledge and that he got wind of the settlement deal from one of his clients.
Although the news of the 14 families of massacre victims considering a settlement with the Ampatuans may come as a shock for most who have been following the massacre case, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) national chair Rowena Caranza-Paraan said that the move is not “surprising” and that it should not paint the families of the massacre victims as ”sellouts.”
Caranza-Paraan said that there are two main factors that made the families tempted to strike a settlement deal—the snail’s pace of the court trial and families’ lack of sources of income.
“It would always be the decision of the victims’ families. But whether some of them decide to accept a settlement or not, the search for justice for those killed will continue because many of them will never settle,” Caranza-Paraan said.
As observed in the prosecution of EJK and other human rights violations cases in the country, testimonial evidences play a crucial role. When witnesses and families of massacre victims are killed, harassed and often times slapped with trumped up retaliatory charges in court quicker than the respondents of the cases are arrested, then it negates the whole judicial process.
“Hence, there is critical need to secure witnesses. Unfortunately, one common observation is the lack of funds and insufficient of support for witnesses under the Witness Protection Program (WPP),” the case study points out. Thus, the case study also recommends that the justice department’s Witness Protection Program (WPP) be enhanced and its coverage increased.
“Truly, the Maguindanao Massacre was an unspeakable crime. It represents all that is evil in our political system. It shows what is dysfunctional in our legal processes. The only good that can come out of it is that it compels us to train our sights on these infirmities, and galvanizes our resolve as a nation to address it. The above recommendations are made in this light, so that the lost lives of the victims may not be put to naught,” the case study reads in part.
