Fellow journalist threatened

I would like to express my support for Ms Gloria and the staff of the brave Newsbreak magazine as well as every investigative journalist who only does his/her noble job.

Ipagpatuloy ang patas, malinis at makabuluhang pamamahayag.

Loi Pogi
Makati City
http://www.professionalheckler.blog-city.com

The people behind these threats must be very, very scared of Glenda Gloria.
Hmmm…. Walang balls?

I would like to call the attention of both the COMELEC and ISAFP dirty tricks department operators to desist from harassing and venting your ire to unarmed, legitimate, and responsible members of media.

your energies, if spent in more meritious projects e.g. finding Garci for the Congress as there is a pending arrest warrant for him - for COMELEC and gather solid info/evidence for the twin bombings in davao city - for the ISAFP, will surely be appreciated.

PCIJ, Newsbreak and the like are not ‘enemies of the republic’ . Their job is simply to provide alternative source of information not readily available to us- a form of public service and self-sacrifice.

Their kind, to my mind, is your equivalent of straight guys in and out of the military.

Well havnt really read much recently. But reading this is really shocking. Indeed, you can see the black power of the government. Its sad indeed. Well, I express my support for ms. Glenda Gloria. Even if Iam not a journalist. God will be here to guide you and keep you safe ms. Glenda! And to all the other brave souls out there!

Godbless always!

speaking of journalists….is this true?

in any case, envelopmental journalism which i hear ails most of our journalists is different from being compensated for professional (with the attendant ideal industry standards) and “above board” writing.

getting paid as a hack and for selective news reporting/non-reporting is a whole different ballgame.

“Philippine paid press

COCKTALES doffs his hat to his colleagues at Newsbreak magazine and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) for adroitly skirting the constitutional ban on foreign ownership of local media and foreign lobby money restrictions, and even coming out smelling like roses at the expense of their colleagues in the mainstream media.

Thanks to a Manila-datelined report by The New York Times’ Raymond Bonner, we now know that Newsbreak received $10,000 from the Swiss embassy to underwrite the present issue of the magazine, a special edition on federalism.

Newsbreak did disclose that it had received — “solicited” was how Bonner put it — Swiss support, but never mentioned the amount. “They [the Swiss embassy] have left editorial judgment to us,” the magazine said, to dispel any thought of a possible quid pro quo arrangement for the donation.

Still, the same issue carried a whole-page spread on Zurich and Geneva, complete with a smiling visage of, surprise, Swiss Ambassador Lise Favre.

Bonner added, in the approving reportage, that Newsbreak also received $42,000 from the United States Institute of Peace, “a congressionally funded nonpartisan organization based in Washington,” for the magazine writers to conduct more reporting on Mindanao.

What the visiting Bonner failed to report is that the majority of the Newsbreak/PCIJ staffers — who sniff at “envelopmental” journalism that afflicts many locals — are themselves correspondents or stringers for the foreign press.

In fact, a number of them also report to the same Washington/New York editors that Bonner reports to.

So what’s our point? That here we have the US press interviewing and glorifying their local lieutenants, who receive US and foreign funding and travel grants for what other locals quietly toil for devalued pesos.

Even better, Newsbreak/PCIJ picks up foreign journalism awards, while the Inquirer suffers advertising boycott and is charged with libel for carrying their stories.

What a neat arrangement.

(Newsbreak’s managing editor Glenda Gloria told INQ7.net the following in reaction to this item:

“No one in Newsbreak strings for the New York Times. Not a single writer strings for a foreign news agency. Marites [Danguilan-Vitug, Newsbreak editor in chief] writes for Newsweek only occasionally.”

Newsbreak is a content partner of INQ7.net.)”

http://money.inq7.net/columns/view_columns.php?yyyy=2005&mon=07&dd=29& file=6

That’s the problem with the typical military mindset grounded on the national security ideology. Anyone or any organization critical of government wrongdoings and excesses are dubbed enemies of the state. This gives us a glimpse of how life would be like in the event (God forbids) of a military adventure. Ironically, military putschists churn out rhetorics similar to the ones employed by the mass movements, democracy, justice, accountability, ad nauseum in seeking to overthrow civilian government. This is not meant to disparage the legitimate grievances of the military rank-and-file though.

[...] Inside PCIJ reports that Glenda Gloria, the managing editor of Newsbreak magazine, recieved a chilling death threat yesterday. Ms. Gloria’s recent reporting has focussed on the Philippine military. [...]

we would like to express our support to ms. glenda gloria and the rest of the journalist and other media personalities who are just performing their duties with all honesty and sincerity. the people of the philippines salute you for being brave and truthful. wala po kaming inaasahan na magbigay ng totoo at makatarungan na mga inpormasyon. kayo po ang tunay na mga bayani dito sa pilipinas. ilan na ba ang nagbuwis ng buhay sa paglalahad ng katotohanan? marami na di ba? the truth hurts talaga. mayroon na bang naresolba sa mga kaso ng mga pinaslang na journalist? wala pa d ba? bakit? your guess is as good as mine. sino kaya ang mga sindikato na ito. bakit di maresolba ng mga pulisya? kawawa naman mga biktima. pati pamilya nila damay. talagang risky at mahirap maglahad ng katotohanan. karamihan sa tinatamaan ay mga powerful & influential & maybe the authority itself. alangan naman imbistigahan nila ang sarile nila. kaya dapat maging vigilant mamayan. tulungan natin itong mga journalist na mga nagbubuwis ng buhay para sa katotohanan. to pcij good luck po sa inyo. huwag kayong matakot. God will always guide you. more power!

Cocktales is being selective about giving its information here. The same Bonner piece mentions that Newsbreak was also the result of Pinoy venture capitalists wanting to invest on a newsmagazine that gives intelligent and in-depth analyses of events. Furthermore, Newsbreak never denies that fact that it solicits funds from outside sources, but if Masha bothered to read what the magazine has been publishing all these years, she would have also noticed that the magazine has kept its independence (it is critical of US presence in Mindanao even as it received money from the US Institute of Peace).

And what kind of quid pro quo did Newsbreak promise the Swiss: the promotion of federalism? Agustin obviously did not read the issue very closely (the particular issue refers to the economic prospects that each region face if federalism is implemented — something concrete, unlike Agustin’s inane tsismis section in the Inquirer).

I read PCIJ and Newsbreak for their solid, in-depth, and timely reporting. Reading that piece by Agustin, with it’s “alam mo ba” stylings reminds me why I don’t much read the Inquirer anymore. Anyone know why they chased away their best reporters, like Carolyn Arguilles? They’ve not been the same newspaper what seems like a couple of years now.

There is a dark side to GMA that most people are not aware of at all because of her diminutive stature, cute looks, and ever-plastered smile. Her mean temper has never been recorded on camera, not out of shyness but out of a sly awareness of every context, a lucid determination to always present Dr. Jekyll, and never Ms. Hyde.

Perhaps the message to all in the death wreath sent, is that the gloves are coming off because both PCIJ and Newsbreak have, alone among all the media, been able to stick closest to the journalistic ideal of commitment to the truth, come what may.

Slowly, the truth IS coming out, but It is the “come what may” that always tests that commitment.

If there is any relationship that PCIJ/Newsbreak ought to sever, it should be with the Philippine Daily Inqliar, which despite a daily posting of its “ownership” is really beginning to disgust me with its hypocrisy, double-standards and too-clever spins.. Shame on its editor-in-chief and publisher who’ve kowtowed to the Romualdez-Prieto demand for “loyalty” to GMA.

Media needs to examine Media too, who are in no small measure already a part of the government in a “symbiotic” relationship and definitely a part of the problem. Talk about corruption and unclean hands. Ahem.

I’m sure that’s an untouchable Sacred Cow for many in Media, even for PCIJ?

For whatever it’s worth, here is the letter I wrote to Inquirer editor Letty Jimenez Magsanoc on Vic Agustin’s column:

1 August 2005

Ms. Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc
Editor in chief
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Dear Ms. Magsanoc:

Everything that Victor Agustin wrote about PCIJ in his column dated July 29 is wrong. Everything.

First of all, we are a completely different entity from Newsbreak. The entity called “Newsbreak/PCIJ” doesn’t exist except in Mr. Agustin’s mind. Secondly, we get grants mainly to train journalists (free of charge) and to produce journalism manuals. These are grants to help raise the standards of Philippine journalism, not investments or equity, because we are a nonstock, nonprofit company. By what stretch of the imagination, therefore, can we be accused of skirting the constitutional ban on foreign media ownership?

Thirdly, no one in PCIJ is even remotely connected with any foreign news organization. I was with The New York Times from 1986 to 1995 and have severed any relations with them since then. Finally, unlike Newsbreak, we have no formal arrangement that allows our stories to be carried by the Inquirer website. And much to our regret, the newspaper has not printed PCIJ reports for some time. Mr. Agustin cannot, therefore, say that the Inquirer is incurring risks by publishing our reports.

This is not the first time Mr. Agustin has written erroneously about PCIJ. We hope he gets his facts right the next time he writes about us.

Sincerely,

SHEILA S. CORONEL
Executive Director

cc: Ms. Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez
President

Amen to that Bato — the “disappearance” of Carol Arguillas and, may I add, the majority of the Inquirer Mindanao staff (notably people like Joel Canuday) is something the Inquirer has not explained. And for Agustin to come up with such nasty insinuations at a time when Newsbreak’s Glenda Gloria is receiving death threats…well, gives you a sense of what the man is all about.

If we apply Agustin’s criterion of what is good journalism, maybe we also have the right to ask him if Northwest Airlines gives him some perks for writing positively about their discount fares?

Ah, thanks PN Abinales. I could not remember the name Joel Canuday. He was the other reporter I was thinking of but did not mention.

Good for you Sheila!

I think a further distinction needs to be made between the printed newspaper PDI, and the website, INQ7.net, over both of which the Palace has been able to exert greater and greater influence, through a combination of arrangements with the owners, emoluments, grants of access, and special relationships of people like Bobi Tiglao, who has clearly lost his way in the absolutely corrupting halls of power. I have absolutely no respect for the people running the website, who’ve turned it into an unnavigable crock of commercialism, with blinking banners and other amateurish gimmickry. They may as well turn it over to that whacko Tessa Prieto, who once described her future wake to Boy Abunda like this: seven days in a glass coffin with daily costume changes!

But even the printed paper, as PN Abinales and Bato have pointed out, has already driven away its best reporters leaving sosyal columnists like cocktales and tidbits, who mainly peddle faerie tales and trapo political correctness disguised as “civil society” eck eck.Conrado de Quiros, bless his gouty soul, is merely the fig-leaf of Letty and the Prietos for hiding their double standards whilst making the front page a fiefdom of the merely mendacious editors, deskmen and reporters, who’ve learned all the tricks of casuistry and sophistry needed from that ludicrous guy they call an “ombudsman”.

PDI will never become an institution now, unless it’s Pravda or Izvestia. Or the old Daily Express of Marcos.

Too obvious, the wreath came from the anti-GMA side. Zuce, then this???? Nalalaos na kasi ang telenovelang ito.

Sabi raw kasi ng ISAFP, you should “know your enemy”.

Let’s pray for the safety of Ms. Gloria and the rest of media people who bravely exposing the truth. And condemn people who are harrasing and threatening their lives. More Power to Ms. Vitug!!

What happened to soft touch muna bago kidnapped at death threat ?

Issues are surfacing right now why does this government does not protect journalist.

Shame on you GMA and AFP.

NUJP Statement On Glenda Gloria’s Death Threat

Below is the press statement of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines on the death threat against Newsbreak managing editor Glenda Gloria:

August 3, 2005

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines views with deep concern …

Sorry, I can’t empathize with people like Glenda Gloria. She knew what she was getting into when she took the job. She knew the danger and risks. It would be too naive to say that she’s doing it purely for noble reasons because she still gets paid to do her job.

Of course Verna, Glenda Gloria knew the risks. And one way of trying to minimize that risk it to broadcast the threat in the hope of deterring the plotters to push through with it. But it would be another thing to impute nothing but profit or wages as the main reason why Gloria decided to become a journalist. You made the accusations, prove to us that Gloria is only there for the money. If not, be honest to admit that you have one thing in common with the gossip columnist Vic Agustin: operating by innuendo.

Verna, I suppose true journalists like Glenda don’t need our empathy. We may be missing the point if we think that the wreath-giving to Glenda only concerns herself. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Threatening a journalist concerns you and me, not only Glenda and her fellow journalists. Smothering truth is an assault upon your right and my right to know in an unfettered way.
Vigilance, yes. Exposing threats to media practitioners is one way of defending press freedom from its enemies. This is about defending our people’s democratic victories and not about our own sense of self-importance and cynicism.
Cannot see your logic in saying that since Glenda gets paid as a journalist being a Newsbreak editor, she’s not writing for noble reasons. Cannot find any reason why getting paid as a journalist and pursuing the noble profession of journalism at the same time cannot be reconciled. The teachers of this country get paid starvation wages; yet this doesn’t mean that most if not all of them are pursuing teaching for less than noble reasons. Your observation, if I may point out, is a case of non-sequitur.

To Rizalist, I agree that media should examine media too. Media should be self-regulated though to ensure its unfettered exercise of its function.
The question is : Are you expecting someone else to do it for you? To carry out and execute your own vision? Why don’t you express to Inquirer your own observations and criticisms so that you’d be able to do your part in the development of media? How can we demand accountability when we are not airing our legitimate grievances before the proper fora?
The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility has taken upon itself the task of examining media’s own weaknesses and excesses. And maybe, people’s vigilance, as you pointed out, could also help the media to become more sensitive and responsive to the people’s needs.

It may be good to be a bit sensitive in avoiding unsympathetic remarks relative to the wreath-giving threat to Glenda, given the fact that this cowardly act was committed amid the backdrop of assassination of media practitioners in the country as well as the recent kidnapping and murder of an American journalist in Iraq. The vigilance of our people could be a good antidote to the scare tactics and rapacity of the enemies of press freedom.

Thank you so much for your kind words.

Glenda Gloria

Sharing with you the link to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ statement condemning the scare tactics employed against journalists in the Philippines

http://www.cpj.org./news/2005/Phil04aug05na.html

can anyone contact senator lacson to trace this? he is the solution to these types of techniques. this method is a dark move that senator lacson is familiar of tracing. may he have done this in the past or he has access to these types. he knows how.

i believe its time to chose a lesser evil and im sure it was not lacson who did this as he is busy with the jueteng trace.

by the way.. why not let verna take the fall for ms. gloria. if she wants ms gloria dead or terrorized, why doesnt she take the lead of being terrorrized or dead?

so is agustin a paid palace, among others, hack?

re: nwa. he does spew newsadvertisements for the airline.

he seems like a fan of winston garcia, too.

anyway, to verna: you/we should be thankful that writers like ms gloria exist who bring us information you/we wouldnt otherwise get from the likes of pdi.

more importantly we as a people, if we value honor and truth, should condemn ANY malicious and/or evil act, whether it is a president cheating or her mercenaries (aka the military) threatening or killing journalists, in the same way we condemn murder, stealing, rape etc. it is a testament of how low, morally, we have come as a people when a filipino like you think that a writer in search of the truth deserves to be hurt because she had it coming to her.

extrajudicial executions even during the time of marcos, particularly the ones carried out by the secret marshalls, slowed down a bit somehow in the wake of the public outcry against this state brutality. violence has its own limitations. but our people’s own resolve to fight terror would prevail at the end of the day. the point is: let’s continue to fight collectively the enemies of press freedom.

in the near future, if ms gloria will make it…

she wont make it the next time soon.

sa laki ng kickback ng mga militar. wel.. sundalo sila sa opisina, mersenaryo sa gabi.

try reaching out to senator lacson.

Alam ko na ang pagiging journalist ay hindi ginusto ng bibig kundi ng puso, malaki ang tiwala ko sa mga tulad nyo, ang pananakot o pagtanggka ng buhay ng isa sa inyo ay normal ngunit hindi dapat nangyayari, WALANG DUWAG NA MAMAMAHAYAG kaya para sa mga gumagawa ng pananakot wag kalimutan na nakikita ng diyos kung ano man ang ginagawa nyo! there is no way to hide! sisingilin din kayo sa huli!!!!MORE POWER SA MGA TAGAHATID NG BALITA!!!

I am most sorry for Newsbreak managing editor Glenda Gloria being threatened for doing her job. Kudos to pcij and Newsbreak. Were it not for the Garci issue, and my search for the truth, I would not have stumbled into the pcij website and I would not have been introduced to blogging (which is to my compu-illiterate mind similar to posting e-mail messages on a particular subject in a website for interested parties to contribute on - an ever-lengthening list of replies and counterreplies).

In a Western country, something like this, where the editor of a news magazine is given death threats, will be a national scandal.

For us Filipinos in Central Europe, pcij and this blog site are our sources of reliable news on what is really happening there. Please keep up the good work, Ms. Coronel and your team.

The Philippines is the best country for the mafia. Here, the government does everything to make sure gamblinglords, druglords, smugglinglords and all of their hired killers are very much protected.
The Philippine government even allows those crooks to cheat their way into public office.
And since journalists make the government’s protection rackets difficult, the order of the day is bribe them to silence them.
But if the journalists can’t be bribed, the best option is to kill them. Problem solved!

Batangas governor juetenglord Armando Sanchez announced during the flag ceremony on Monday morning that he will the people who makes him angry. These were the exact words: “Kapag ako ay ginagalit, ako ay pumapatay. At kaya kong ipapatay ang sinumang nanggagalit sa akin, kahit pa taga-Maynila. Kayo, (pointing to some people as example) kapag ako ay ginalit nyo, kaya ko kayong ipapatay ngayon din!”

Sanchez’s speech came after the Newsbreak released its Sept 26 issue that carried five pages of stories about the governor’s illegal gambling business, his overvalued assets, mafia-style of managing the capitol, anomalous P350 million computerization project, and a story on software.

Sanchez made that announcement in front of more than 2,000 capitol employees.

Tomorrow, thursday, the Mayors’ League of Batangas will meet in Calatagan to sign a declaration against Newsbreak. The petition, according to a mayor, was supposed to declare Newsbreak people persona non grata in Batangas.

Another declaration will be signed by the jueteng mayors to condemn the Philippine Daily Inquirer for publishing jueteng stories against Sanchez.

[...] agree with him. The courage and dedication of the likes of Shiela Coronel, Marites Vitug, and Glenda Gloria, among other hard-hitting and respected journos, seem to be more of an exception rather than the [...]