I’ve been holding back on writing about this since so many of my colleagues in the industry have been posting about this on social media. I didn’t want to write it down because it makes my brain bleed. As I posted on FB:
As a journalist, you must ask the most obvious question. If you didn’t and just swept it under the rug, you are not doing your job. Or you have an agenda, which may not be noble.
Fluff piece? Yes. What’s your agenda?
Vico Sotto, the incorruptible, young mayor of Pasig, has attacked celebrity broadcasters Korina Sanchez and Julius Babao for allegedly practicing “envelopmental journalism” by featuring the Discaya couple, whose questionable wealth was featured in both of their magazine programs right after they filed for candidacy last year. They were DPWH contractors whose flood control projects were a total waste of public funds. Both shows were “lifestyle” shows that flouted the lifestyle of the rich.
The couple admitted in Julius’ show that they started to get rich when they became government contractors.
As a journalist, I would have raised hundreds of red flags right there and then. But no, Julius didn’t.
Korina didn’t.
Both of them swept it under the rug.
If I were in their shoes, I wouldn’t have accepted that interview, especially when everyone knows about the Discaya couple’s reputation and also the timing of the interview (right before the elections). Just the same I refused to write about Maharlika Investment Corp, the sovereign wealth fund that was formed by Sandro Marcos, Bong-bong’s son, and his uncle, Martin Romualdez. You know, sovereign wealth funds and Marcoses do not really spell “trustworthy”. Ever.
They said Karen Davila turned down the “opportunity” to interview the Discayas.
As a journalist, even if you are doing soft features, you still have the news judgment of whether the subject is worth featuring, even if it would just be a fluff piece. What would be the news value of such piece? You have to ask the questions, “Am I going to be an instrument of corruption and perpetuation of lies? Am I going to hurt the public?”
Korina Sanchez’s show, Balitang K, sent a press release to Philippine Star in an attempt to discredit Vico’s claim. The badly written statement inadvertently admitted that there was a “fee” for features. They later asked Philstar to take down the statement and sent a new one for publication.
Then they quietly took the interview off the internet. This does not do them any favors.
Then Korina threatened to sue Vico for cyber libel.
One of my bffs asked me if it’s true that Korina and Julius are corrupt. I told her, I don’t have evidence but I wouldn’t be surprised. I’ve heard whispers. I told her, only a few are clean in our industry. I told her, I know which columnists are worth PHP 50,000 per column (this was 10 years ago; I don’t know how much is the going rate now). I know how much is the budget for killing a story or an issue. I know who is asking for condo units or free phone bills or whatnot.
Media corruption is cancer killing our industry that is on its last legs.
Now, I told my bff, I’m on Vico’s side BUT there is a better way of doing this expose that he should have employed so that any libel case against him would not prosper. I took a semester of media ethics and media law in grad school so I would know how to cover our (me as journo and editor) asses. Vico was a bit careless in his statement, which gave Korina’s cyber libel threat legs to stand on. I’m on the fence if I should write down here the merits of the case, if ever she files a case, and the possible defense that Vico can use.
If I detail it here, I would be doing a disservice to my profession since this cyber libel will be a precedent and be used to torture every innocent and responsible journo in this country. It’s a tricky slope.
If Korina has brains, she would not pursue this case. The court of people has already nailed her to the wall as guilty and she would lose either way in the eyes of the public. She has nothing to gain. Vico will be vindicated either way. If I were Korina, she should take the road her husband, Mar Roxas, took after he was constantly vilified by the public, especially after his disastrous run against Duterte in the 2016 presidential elections. She should just keep quiet and let the issue die down. Like it or not, the news cycle in the Philippines is only two weeks and after that a new issue would crop up and this Discaya-Korina-Julius issue will naturally die on its own.
There, I said it. It made my brain bleed.
