The Ces Drilon Kidnapping and the Changing Face of Philippine Journalism

Written on Saturday, June 14th, 2008 at 4:24 pm | by butch

Today’s Inquirer headline whines “We Asked for Ces, Got Angelo Instead”, quoting negotiators acting in behalf of the hostages. Well, Duh. A kidnapping is not a fast-food meal, where you get exactly what you ask for. In a kidnapping the kidnappers have the upper hand, in case this fact wasn’t obvious to the negotiators, and gets to chose who stays and goes. And how does this make poor Angelo Valderama, the freed cameraman, feel ? Like a turd, that’s how. I wish it were Ms. Ces instead of me, too. The Inquirer should think twice about running this sort of headline which hurts other people’s feelings.

But it should be no surprise that Ces Drilon was not released. Although it’s not politically-correct to say so, she’s the prize catch, the star of the show, so to speak. The rest are merely bit players, even respected academic and peace advocate Octavio Dinampo. Why would the Abu Sayyaf release her first when she’s obviously worth more than all the others combined, both in terms of ransom and publicity ?

That said, it might not be too early to do a post-event (I hesitate to use the word “post-mortem”) analysis, seeing as how Drilon and company will in all probability be released upon payment of ransom, sooner rather than later.

The Inquirer editorial for today, June 14, 2008, asks:

Why would TV Anchor-Reporter Ces Drilon and her crew place themselves in harm’s way to interview the latest mutation of the Abu Sayyaf bandit group ? Why put journalists in harm’s way ?

Why indeed ? The Inquirer’s attempt at a high-minded answer is valid. Sometimes there is no other way to get the story. While no story is worth a journalist’s life, risks must be weighed. The duty to inform the public often trumps the inherent dangers of going after a scoop.

But the changing face of Philippine journalism may also be the reason. It’s no secret that the business of providing news has been radically altered over the years. News organizations are not merely that, but entertainment conglomerates as well. Obvious case in point: ABS-CBN.

These entities exist not only to provide information, in the form of news, but also to entertain. With the entertainment part often predominating. No surprise, as entertainment, not hard news per se, is where the big money is. And the marriage of news and entertainment is seen most acutely in television broadcasting. Case in point: ABS-CBN again. There are as many clowns as there are serious journalists in this network’s line-up. Its sensationalistic, tabloid-type approach to delivering the news attests to its orientation: news as entertainment.

In this kind of environment, there’s tremendous pressure to create compelling content. It’s no wonder that a bright, enterprising and ambitious (she’s easy on the eyes too) broadcast journalist like Ces Drilon felt she had to go after the Abu Sayyaf story, despite the clear dangers. There’s no other way to get noticed, to stand out in this crowd of talking heads except to be there first, when the next big story breaks. Compounding the situation is the well-publicized network war between the two T.V. giants, GMA-7 and ABS-CBN, each trying to outdo the other and in the process blurring the boundaries between news and entertainment. Is there really a distinction anymore ?

The competition engendered by the rise of new media may also be a factor. Mainstream media has to deal with the tremendous amount of news and information going around the internet at warp speed. MSM has to fight to keep itself at the forefront of the information and entertainment marketplace. One way is to create unique content. For journalists, this simply means going after the scoop, and beating everyone to it, with all the attendant difficulties and complications.

A recent post by Amee pointed out another another possible reason why Ms. Drilon is in the pickle she’s in now. Quoting Julie M. Moos from Poynter Online in an article “Journalism continues to be a risky occupation”:

Journalists are no longer seen by others as objective … The cover of neutrality has been blown away now, and the combatants and guerrillas see them as on one side or the other.

If journalists feel increasingly targeted because of their profession, that may be because they are.

“The rest of the world knows how to get attention,” Scherer says. “Targeting a journalist will get attention because journalists give attention to each other.”

Which is not to say that there may not have been other, more personal reasons for Ms. Drilon to have gone to Sulu. In the cutthroat world of T.V. broadcasting, Ces Drilon more than held her own. The psychic, and material, rewards of being a topnotch T.V. reporter is certainly not something to be sneezed at. And Ces Drilon is top-tier and knows it. The rush must be awesome and hard to resist.

She was smart and street-savvy, she may have thought. She pulled it off many times before and there was no reason why she could not do so again. She had a good crew and solid contacts. As Alfred E. Neuman would say “What, me worry?”

As it turned out, she had plenty to worry about. Let’s just hope and pray that she does not pay too high a price for her, and her news organization’s, miscalculation.

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About The Author: butch is a lawyer by profession and blogs as The Warrior Lawyer.

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23 Responses to “The Ces Drilon Kidnapping and the Changing Face of Philippine Journalism”

  1. cvj on June 14th, 2008 4:54 pm

    I wouldn’t say that journalist getting into a pickle because of their hunt for the story is a new thing. A few months ago, the History Channel showed a documentary where eight American-network journalist were killed by the Khmer Rouge forty years ago. The motivations of these unfortunate journalists, the pressure by the American networks they worked for is the same. What i think has changed is the reaction of the public (gauging from bloggers’ and commenters’ reactions) to such incidents which borders on blaming the victims.

  2. butch on June 14th, 2008 9:00 pm

    True, journalism has always been a dangerous profession. We need not look far for examples. During the martial law years, Marcos harassed, jailed and very likely caused the disappearance of numerous media practitioners. Despite this, courageous journalists never abandoned the search for truth, as exemplified by the late Joe Burgos.

  3. Spoiled Brats « smoke on June 15th, 2008 6:51 am

    […] Posted on 15 June 2008 by rom Over at Filipino Voices, butch insightfully discusses the kind of pressure journalists are under to provide […]

  4. bogart on June 15th, 2008 1:26 pm

    she’s looking for trouble and “scoop”.. right? well.. she definitely found what she’s looking for. problem is, this group is not like the military who has the moral values not to “really hurt” them. masyadong matapang eh..tignan na lang natin ngayon. too bad everybody who’s not thinking enough is still blaming the government. but for me..no body else is to blame but ces, her crew, and their vanity for their work. they forgot that there’s no such thing as “journalist’s immunities” with criminals and terrorists.

  5. benign0 on June 15th, 2008 5:57 pm

    As smoke said:

    Take Ces’ abduction, f’rinstance. It doesn’t just endanger her. It makes her entire family suffer; it has put her industry in an unflattering light because of that news blackout, and - by emboldening and giving her abductor’s renewed bragging rights - it has empowered enemies of the state

    It’s time journalists take their place amongst all the other professionals who are making a living. The days when they enjoyed this holier-than-thou place in a heroic pedestal erected during the dawn of “press freedom” back in the 1980’s is long gone.

    Some of us here are shocked by the less-than-sympathetic response to her plight. It is a reality check on the profession.

  6. Ding G. Gagelonia on June 15th, 2008 7:06 pm

    Philippine press freedom did not dawn in the 80’s. Filipino journalists,misunderstood and derided as they are, warts and all, have helped the cause of freedom to awaken our countrymen and mobilize action against oppressors since the time of Plaridel.

  7. BrianB on June 15th, 2008 8:20 pm

    Lesson is: don’t be a hero. Use technology like spy cams, etc. I’d rather watch a spycam footage these days than listen to a journalist.

    Besides, I view journalism, really, as blue collar work (not to disparage blue collar workers, but journalism is not something you do on a desk). reporters are the eyes and ears of the people. Okay, often the news need interpretation and in political news, propaganda needs to be parsed, but journalists these days act like pedagogues, lecturing rather than showing.

  8. benign0 on June 15th, 2008 8:41 pm

    I think cheap labour allows the kind of news coverage ABS-CBN’s Bandila do. Even the most trivial stories are not spared ample coverage by their armies of reporters that are paid a pittance.

    Ale, natalsikan ng mantika! Pataaaaayyyyy.

  9. cvj on June 15th, 2008 10:01 pm

    Brian, kinda like bloggers?

  10. Jon Limjap on June 16th, 2008 1:00 am

    I wish it were Anthony Taverna who was kidnapped, not Ces. That guy annoys me in his political faux-analyses, seems like he’s been sitting on a desk for too long.

  11. BrianB on June 16th, 2008 1:06 am

    CVJ,

    I might have sounded more territorial than I intended.

  12. cvj on June 16th, 2008 3:48 am

    Brian, on the demarcation between a blogger and a journalist, this account of the pamphleteers in the American Revolution is relevant. It mirrors Ding’s tracing of Filipino journalist roots to the Propaganda Movement.

  13. cvj on June 16th, 2008 3:50 am

    Sorry, here’s the t correct link.

  14. BrianB on June 16th, 2008 4:13 am

    CVJ,

    Of course, information has to be more professional what with the dominance of the mercantile class. And don’t we all want to belong in the mercantile class save for a few crazy ones.

  15. jonas on June 18th, 2008 6:18 am

    Is it really about journalism, information, etc.? Isn’t it about exposing one’s life to a blood-thirsty and criminal group like Abu Sayyaf? Whether you’re a good swimmer or not I don’t think we have to talk about swimming technique or the passion about it when you are about to jump on a shark-infested water. It’s suicide for Christ’s sake!

    I mean, common sense. You go in the ASG lair, expect to be abducted if not killed. No matter who you are no matter what your profession is you will be a target of vicious and dirty act. Sharks or criminals do not distinguish. It’s all opportunity to them.

    Ces & company gave that opportunity to them and they just grabbed it.

  16. Ces Drilon Kidnapping Underscores the Dangers of Going After the News in the Philippines » The Warrior Lawyer | Philippine Lawyer on June 18th, 2008 9:26 pm

    […] The Ces Drilon Kidnapping and the Changing Face of Philippine Journalism […]

  17. Ransom for Ces Drilon and Company: To Pay or Not To Pay » The Warrior Lawyer | Philippine Lawyer on June 18th, 2008 9:27 pm

    […] The Ces Drilon Kidnapping and the Changing Face of Philippine Journalism […]

  18. ydenuiom on June 20th, 2008 10:44 am

    you suck

  19. jhester on June 26th, 2008 6:03 pm

    ?

  20. mark on August 4th, 2008 8:46 am

    puro ka salita…
    “ur sona is very poorly”

  21. bon on August 4th, 2008 8:55 am

    puro ka salita…
    “ur sona is very poorly”

  22. mr.nice guy... on August 4th, 2008 8:59 am

    gawin moh ang dpat mong gwin………….
    hindi ung puro ka salita….

  23. mr.humble guy... on August 4th, 2008 9:12 am

    sna gawin ninyo ang ika2gnda ng bansa…….
    pra s ating pamu2hay…..
    slamt poh…….

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