{"id":215,"date":"2009-03-20T21:47:52","date_gmt":"2009-03-20T11:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/?p=215"},"modified":"2009-03-20T21:47:52","modified_gmt":"2009-03-20T11:47:52","slug":"right-of-reply-in-philippine-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/?p=215","title":{"rendered":"Right of Reply in Philippine Media"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" \/><meta name=\"ProgId\" content=\"Word.Document\" \/><meta name=\"Generator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 11\" \/><meta name=\"Originator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 11\" \/>\n<link href=\"file:\/\/\/C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cdino%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml\" rel=\"File-List\" \/><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags\" name=\"country-region\" downloadurl=\"http:\/\/www.5iantlavalamp.com\/\"><\/o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags\" name=\"place\" downloadurl=\"http:\/\/www.5iantlavalamp.com\/\"><\/o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:WordDocument>   <w:View>Normal<\/w:View>   <w:Zoom>0<\/w:Zoom>   <w:PunctuationKerning\/>   <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas\/>   <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false<\/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>   <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false<\/w:IgnoreMixedContent>   <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false<\/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>   <w:Compatibility>    <w:BreakWrappedTables\/>    <w:SnapToGridInCell\/>    <w:WrapTextWithPunct\/>    <w:UseAsianBreakRules\/>    <w:DontGrowAutofit\/>   <\/w:Compatibility>   <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4<\/w:BrowserLevel>  <\/w:WordDocument> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState=\"false\" LatentStyleCount=\"156\">  <\/w:LatentStyles> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object  classid=\"clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D\" id=ieooui><\/object> \n\n<style> st1\\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } <\/style>\n\n <![endif]--><\/p>\n<style> <!--  \/* Font Definitions *\/  @font-face \t{font-family:\"Arial Narrow\"; \tpanose-1:2 11 5 6 2 2 2 3 2 4; \tmso-font-charset:0; \tmso-generic-font-family:swiss; \tmso-font-pitch:variable; \tmso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;}  \/* Style Definitions *\/  p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal \t{mso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmargin:0cm; \tmargin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";} p \t{mso-margin-top-alt:auto; \tmargin-right:0cm; \tmso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; \tmargin-left:0cm; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:12.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";} @page Section1 \t{size:612.0pt 792.0pt; \tmargin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; \tmso-header-margin:36.0pt; \tmso-footer-margin:36.0pt; \tmso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 \t{page:Section1;} --> <\/style>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 10]> \n\n<style>  \/* Style Definitions *\/  table.MsoNormalTable \t{mso-style-name:\"Table Normal\"; \tmso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; \tmso-tstyle-colband-size:0; \tmso-style-noshow:yes; \tmso-style-parent:\"\"; \tmso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; \tmso-para-margin:0cm; \tmso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; \tmso-pagination:widow-orphan; \tfont-size:10.0pt; \tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\"; \tmso-ansi-language:#0400; \tmso-fareast-language:#0400; \tmso-bidi-language:#0400;} <\/style>\n\n <![endif]--><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">It has been reported in Philippine newspapers that both the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives are bent on passing into law a controversial bill. The \u201cRight of Reply\u201d bill mandates that any party who feels aggrieved or offended by any material published or broadcast in any form of media should be allotted the same space or airtime to publish or broadcast his or her own reply within a specific period at no cost. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">The Senate, voting 21-0 passed the bill which also stipulates penalties that include fines and possible imprisonment if the media involved fails to comply. The question now arises \u2013 Is there any sense in having such a law?<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Media groups claim that the \u201cRight of Reply\u201d bill is unconstitutional as it breaches freedom of speech and freedom of the press. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">While journalists try their best to get both sides of any story, it remains the prerogative of the editor, publisher or producer to decide what to publish or what to broadcast. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">When proven in court, libel laws in the <st1:country-region w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">Philippines<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> already provide stiff penalties. Publishers may also worry about the costs involved. One version of the bill stipulates that a response must be published within 24 hours. That, of course is very impractical.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Personally, this writer believes that legislators have no right to impose editorial judgment on the media industry. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Proponents of the proposed law appear to hide under the guise of fairness because Philippine media is often critical of the government. If it were not for the vigilance of media, the Bolante case, the Euro Generals, the NBN-ZTE deal would never have reached the public. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 3pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\"><o:p>\u00a0<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial Narrow'\">Philippine Tribune recognises the fact that people are quick to judge based on what they read in the papers or what they hear on radio. We cannot deny the fact that editors and publishers may from time to time have their own interests. Being aware of this, we do our best to adhere to basic principles of journalism. \u2013 <strong>DMC<\/strong> ?<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It has been reported in Philippine newspapers that both the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives are bent on passing into law a controversial bill. The \u201cRight of Reply\u201d bill mandates that any party who feels aggrieved or offended by any material published or broadcast in any form of media should be allotted the same [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}