Not at the price of dignity
An interview conducted by two broadcast journalists of Brigada News FM on a fouryear-old girl who had allegedly been raped is now drawing condemnation from netizens as well as the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters ng Pilipinas (KBP) and the Cebu Federation of Beat Journalists.
We will no longer provide the details here why the interview was controversial. You can look it up online for yourself and see why. Suffice it to say it is cringe-worthy and disturbing.
That interview should not have been conducted in the manner it was. Those who heard it cannot be blamed for thinking it was meant to highlight the more salacious details of what the child suffered through.
The KBP also said the interview should not have been done how it was, or even at all since it was conducted without the presence or consent of the child’s legal guardian.
“For KBP-Cebu the occurrence in this said video is unacceptable, deplorable, and very disturbing. KBP would like to refresh Cebu broadcasters of the Ethics Standards that seasoned the sound Cebu broadcast industry for decades regarding children Broadcast Code of 2007,” read part of the statement issued by the KBP.
As veteran journalists, the two should have been more aware not only of the violations they were committing when interviewing the child, but also the manner with which the interview was conducted, not to mention the nature of the questions they were asking.
We realize that anything controversial or scandalous will draw attention as well as listeners, and in today’s competitive world any edge you can have over the competition should be taken. However, and this goes especially for journalists, this should not come at the price of a victim’s dignity.
While the two journalists have not expressed their regrets they say they will accept whatever action their media outfit will take against them.
Of course, we are all just human and everyone makes mistakes. However, owing to the fact that journalists have responsibilities to the public as well as ethics to follow, this is one act that should incur the appropriate penalty.