Spare the media

Being chairman of the National Press Club’s press freedom committee, I am of the position that no member of the press should be held liable for the tragic August 23 hostage-taking at the Quirino Grandstand.

On the eve of the 38th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law, Malacanang has announced that some members of the media who covered the incident may also face charges, along with government officials whose ineptness led to the tragedy.

We at NPC strongly believes that not one member of the media who covered the hostage drama can be held criminally just because the crisis ended in tragedy.

First, it is very clear that not one of these media men, all from broadcast sector, connived with the hostage-taker. It is also very clear that the journalists merely covered and reported the events as these transpired during the drama. Part of that coverage was the interview of Erwin Tulfo and Mike Rogas to Mendoza.

Of course, there is no criminal law that punishes the act of interviewing a hostage-taker. There is also no criminal law that punishes the act of covering all incidents in a hostage crisis as these events unfold.

Neither can the journalists who interviewed the hostage-taker be held liable for criminal negligence. It cannot be stretched beyond imagination how the interviews of Tulfo and Rogas could proximately cause the deaths of the eight Hong Kong tourists. Proximate cause means that even if there was presence or absence of other interferences, the said interview will surely end in a killing frenzy. For sure, it must have been things other than the interview that drove the hostage-taker to go into an uncontrollable rage.

Tulfo and Rogas were even helping to calm down the hostage-taker. It showed more that the one that triggered Mendoza into a killing frenzy was the arrest of his brother policeman and relatives, which arrests were seen by him through the television inside the star-crossed bus. There are sufficient clear and convincing proofs to show that the hostage-taker saw his brother policeman, SPO2 Greg Mendoza, and other relatives being dragged out of the scene and that this pushed Mendoza’s mind beyond its limits.

The testimonies and the tape records of the broadcasts of Tulfo and Rogas would show that they convinced Mendoza to give them five minutes to tell the hostage negotiators to stop the arrests. However, the effort was in vain.

Now, there can also be no criminal liability on the part of the television crewmen and anchormen and radio reporters who broadcast live the arrest of the relatives of the hostage-taker. Their only intention was to deliver to the world the news scenes as they happened.

If this is a crime, then all journalists are guilty.

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