PTFoMS rebuffs 'chilling effects' of media killings, attacks

The government task force on media security on Friday refuted the observation that was mentioned in a US State Department report that killings and attacks against journalists in the Philippines have "a chilling effect."

In a statement, President Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) executive director Undersecretary Paul Gutierrez called the reported chilling effect “a work of fiction” and denied that there were “serious restrictions” on freedom of expression in the country.

“This so-called ‘chilling effect’ is a work of fiction by certain quarters who have the habit of always seeing the glass half-empty and not half-full,” he said.

According to PTFoMS, the three incidents of media violence included in the recent US State Department's report were “all deemed ‘solved’ with the identification, arrest and filing of cases against the suspects.”

For PTFoMS, the chilling effect due to the killings and attacks on journalists, red-tagging, and political pressure was just “a minority opinion among media practitioners.”

“Considering that majority of killed media professionals came from the broadcast sector, the number of radio stations should have remained flat or should have decreased if our broadcasters are afraid as the report suggests,” Gutierrez said.

According to him, the broadcast industry is booming now with the advances in telecommunications and government’s assistance for journalists in distress or under threat.

Based on 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices from the US State Department, journalists continued to face harassment, threats of violence, and violence.

These attacks, it said, came from individual politicians, government authorities, and powerful private persons critical of their reporting.

“Physical attacks, including at least one killing, against journalists continued and several cases from previous years remained unresolved,” it added.

Media watchdogs also claimed of government interference, the report said.

“News organizations generally were not subjected to official censorship, but journalists and media watchdogs alleged several instances of government interference,” the report said.

“Media generally remained free, active, and able to voice criticism of the government, despite the chilling effect caused by killings of and attacks on journalists, red-tagging, and political and nongovernmental pressure,” it added.

The report also cited the continuing push of online news website Rappler and broadcaster ABS-CBN amid legal challenges. 

“The online news website Rappler and broadcaster ABS-CBN continued to fight, with some success, legal challenges arising from allegedly spurious charges levied during the Duterte administration,” it said. —Joviland Rita/KBK, GMA Integrated News