2 weeks Ago By Editorial
Cheers to our media colleagues who covered the 16-day standoff between the state authorities and members of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) in Davao City for standing up and holding their ground despite numerous harassment and threats during their coverage of the government’s operations to arrest fugitive religious leader Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. In a joint statement signed by various journalists and media groups, they stressed that they have to endure verbal abuse, intimidation, threats, harassment and humiliation from KOJC members for simply doing their jobs. “We experienced being bullied or cajoled and used by one party of the conflict to outsmart another.
We documented these incidents of harassment and even went to the police for the blotter,” the statement read. They also pointed out that during their coverage, disinformation, half-truths and lies spread like wildfire on social media, stressing that they know where these came from. “They came from interest groups who wanted to control the narrative by manipulating the media.
In their bid to control the narrative, they harassed and threatened us when we wrote or broadcast stories that did not match or follow their storyline. We want to send these people a message: It is not our role to carry your propaganda line or push your own agenda,” the statement stressed. Information is an essential commodity, but it’s not the media’s role to bend the truth to cater to somebody’s whims and caprices.
“Our role is to deliver timely, relevant, accurate information to the public, information that will allow them to take part meaningfully as citizens in a functioning democracy,” the statement further said, as they reiterated that their “bias is for the truth.” Standing up to the truth and against the bully is a clear message from the media: that the press is not a propaganda machine that will serve someone’s interests and parrot their spin..
