Local Press Club Condemned nasty comments on FB

BY MICHAEL M. MEDINA

ZPPI Logo

PAGADIAN CITY - MEMBERS of the Zamboanga del Sur-Pagadian City Press Club, Inc. (ZPPI) denounced and condemned the indiscriminate statements made in the social network Facebook (FB) talking about them as “under the payroll of politicians” and "practicing envelopmental journalism."

Despite FB’s fairly strict guidelines about what is permissible and what is not, some comments or documents outsourced are published and what was displayed recently was a degree of bias against provincial and city journalists that now the ZPPI want to stern the indifference and rising opinion against them.  

Led by Victor del Pilar, president, the local media club categorically said the comment was “damaging and derogatory” apart from “being unfair, unjust, hostile, injurious, downgrading, malicious.”

The personalities identified by ZPPI as the persons behind the message were Elbert Ang-og aka Elbert Fuentes, a resident of Sibugay province, and Rey Quisumbing from this city.

The said message was seen printed as a comments in Facebook in the early part of November by Ang-og and Quisumbing.

Ang-og’s was quoted to have written: “Karamihan sa media ganun ang ginagawa nila para lang kumita… lalo na [dyan] sa media sa Pagadian puro kabulastugan.”

Charnyl Albarracin, former ZPPI president, told this paper Ang-og may have referred to the familiarity and interactions between journalists and politicians that the latter lavishly gives gifts and favors to reporters.

Albarracin sees nothing wrong with this, he said.

As for Quisumbing, his comment was: “Envelopmental Journalism – tanan nakapayroll sa mga politiko nya magkunwari socially concerned.”

“Envelopmental journalism” is a colloquial term where journalists are given money in envelopes given ostensibly as tokens of appreciation for attending a press conference so they would write favorable reports about the person giving them money.

ZPPI added that such derogatory remarks are not true while admitting that there are media practitioners in government service who are also pledging membership with the local media club, these personalities are only “earning a decent living and performing their duties and functions as PIOs of their respective offices.”

The remaining lot are not in government service but are practicing in private capacities, observing the proper set of rules of journalism, the group said in their statement dated November 28.

On the issue of envelopmental journalism, the same is not true because never did ZPPI engaged in it except to receive payments of commercial placements on newspapers and radio time slots for coverage. And these transactions are covered with official receipts, ZPPI likewise said.

The local media club is demanding both Ang-og and Quisumbing to “rectify, correct and make a public apology on print and in radio” as a reparation for the hateful and negative statements. 

This paper failed to contact Ang-og and Quisumbing for comments. (PHILIPPINE PREVIEW)