In one of my blog entries last week (“Stop killing journalists!!!”) I included some photos of the site of the November 23 Maguindanao massacre taken by Dann Pantoja of the Davao City-based Peacebuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI). He had gone to the site to do some documentation and to find out what really happened, and now he is sharing the group’s thoughts on the matter. (Read PCBI’s statement in my previous entry)
As a journalist, one of the things I find interesting in the statement is this part:
“We therefore decry the media using this incident to war-type the image of Mindanao. This is seen in today’s Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) headline picture showing a column of tanks in Datu Piang Maguindanao on May 26 in the offensive against the MILF, a war story and location of an unrelated image piggy-backed onto the current tragedy. This only cements that image of violence in the national consciousness and the idea that military action is the appropriate or only response. We therefore call on the editors of the PDI to balance their reporting with the pictures and stories of the many peace workers, journalists and advocates struggling to birth a better reality in Mindanao.”
We journalists in Mindanao have long fought against the way the media in “Imperial Manila” picture our island, but over the years we have gained little headway. From PCBI’s comment, it looks like things haven’t changed and Manila-based media still find it convenient (and marketable) to paint Mindanao as a war-torn area where the only rule is lawlessness. Oliver Robillo in his blog also takes the Inquirer to task for placing Mindanao in such a bad light and appeals to mainstream media not to label the whole of Mindanao or Southern Philippines as lawless. “Statements like that won’t help anyone — in fact, it will continue to drag the whole of the island deeper into the mire from which we have been trying to get out all these years,” he says.
The problem is not exclusive to the Inquirer since many other media outfits tend to oversimplify the situation by using adjectives that do not really describe Mindanao. Words like “lawless,” “war-torn,” “conflict-ridden,” and “Muslim” pockmark their reports without regard for the truth; it is simply convenient to use them, and their laziness spells disaster for us who have to contend with widespread perception that Mindanao is a war zone with nothing good going for it.
We can actually challenge the so-called “national” media to come to Mindanao and spend some time here to see for themselves that the words they use to describe it are far from being accurate. Any war or conflict here is limited to certain areas; the rest of the island is at peace and its people live in harmony with each other. As a former Manileño, I can tell you that Manila is a far more dangerous place. Over there, you can get shot dead over a simple traffic altercation. Here the people respect each other and do not, in spite of the media stereotypes, resort to the barrel of the gun to settle scores.
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I would have to agree with you. Whenever we return to the Philippines, I feel far more nervous in Manila than when I am in Davao. There’s absolutely no comparison. Even in Makati or Malate I feel as if I should “watch my back.” I never feel that way in Davao. Hmmmm….
i hear you, steve. i lived in manila for the first 24 years of my life and only felt really safe when i moved to davao.
Don’t get your hopes too high re the Inquirer.
The Inquirer is a tabloid printed in broadsheet format.
@Bdul – LOL
@Jon – Not only the media, but also the bloggers! The Mindanao Bloggers Community has been trying to ‘balance out’ what PDI and the other national outfits have been reporting about Mindanao for 3 years now.
In relation to this, pls read my article on BlogWatch.ph about how mainstream media treats Mindanao.