Media and Peacebuilding
A speech
delivered by Violeta M. Gloria at the Mindanao Peoples Peace Movement
Pre-summit at
Iligan city; November 5, 2013.
Many years ago, I joined MPPM’s summits to document
proceedings. I guess, there were two or three summits that I have documented.
Today seems new as I am tasked to share our experiences from our profession.
From my perspective, let me begin by saying that media
workers are like butterflies. We are involved in the process of cross-pollinating
facts, information, and ideas. If you are all flowers and if we have the luxury
of time to flutter around you, then we could have an enriched discourse of
information and opinions.
In contrast, people relied/gather news and
information everyday from the media industry: radio, television, online, on
print. But as we all knew, the evolution of technology has transformed the
media which completely share reports via social network and instantly put stories under
public scrutiny and criticism.
Thru written stories, people’s issues on social
housing, need for potable water system, policy legislation, economic gaps, social
injustices, cultural cohesion, health or diseases, ecological protection,
lifestyles, social insecurity, conflict situations, and those
relevant/irrelevant opinions are brought into focus. Ideation over variegated
matters, real or imagined, are more clearly articulated, in fact, via information
technology than in person. The social media therefor has reinvented and make it
more creative for us to make our presence more socially relevant as we interact
endlessly and globally. Hence, it capacitated us to maximize the tools to
redefine our social commitment and sense of meaning too, (thru the medium or
platform of social networks). It enabled us to advance our responses and
behaviours to what we considered relevant as we push our social agenda and
personal concerns.
Media
at a closer context
However, we also heard the weaknesses and threats
confronted by media with the unending summary execution of reporters. To date, more than hundred of reporters have
been summarily killed and justice remained elusive notwithstanding
investigations and identification of suspects. The gross case was the Ampatuan
massacre. Of course, we appreciated those cases where suspects have been arrested
and incarcerated behind bars. But the larger number of the victims and their
families still hunger for justice. Anent to this is our continuing desire to
professionalize our ranks by improving our journalistic or reporting
capacities, including the approaches on how investigative research/reports be
undertaken to produce impartial or objective stories. Many media-related
institutions have started to focus too on providing capacity-building for reporters to
make them more reliable and accurate in managing stories.
Part of enhancing the process of gathering
information is the advocacy on the legislation of Freedom of Information (FOI).
The latter is aimed not solely to restore the public trust to our legislative
bodies (amid waning credibility due to PDAF scandal) but to advance a more
accountable and transparent governance. We also wanted to enable or strengthen
the reporters’ resolve to generate information from accurate sources e.g. from government
and its agencies. This is very essential as we are pushing more for the
investigation on issues involving corruption of public fund, for injustices
done by public officials, and for critical re-examination of how domestic
governance is managed by officials (at the local and national levels). Many of
you would agree that most reporters are cowed by threats (covertly or openly
done) by officials and agents when serious issues are dutifully deliberated.
For how could reporters ferret out truth from confusing and
hidden facts when constantly besieged by risks and threats? How could reporters
unveil the essence of social justice when there is lack of enabling policies
that could protect their rights too in the performance of duties? We therefore
look at the opportunity of FOI to safeguard further the freedom of the press
and the peoples’ right to correct information.
Media:
Efforts to support peace-building
Responsible media workers are not only mere
reporters of information. We are pro-active partners in researching,
documenting, and advocating structural and community-based peace processes.
MindaNews and OurMindanao publication, for instance, is practicing
investigative and peacejournalism, (including peace photojournalism) to bring
to its readers the result of peace processes from all fronts. It is tirelessly
listening to all parties of the conflict to vivify confusing agenda behind
political, economic and cultural rifts, hoping that it can contribute well in shaping and
in involving the public or decision-makers in resolving issues peacefully thru
negotiated platform.
When war heightened, media are there in the field to
account the suffering of the civilian communities, of displacement or diaspora,
and worked to elucidate the impacts of violence to all parties involved and to
society. We also partner with civil societies who are constantly engaging
themselves in peace and development agenda at the community level via delivery
of accurate and impartial information. We also investigate to ensure that all
policies and initiatives of the state are translated on the ground truly.
These days, some media leaders in Mindanao are
participating or would be involving too in managing information of the
transitory processes and reform strategies (for peace agenda)... to hopefully
support reforms toward right direction with cultural sensitivity. The challenges are high but we are optimistic to
surmount these with courage and fullness of hope.
Media,
Conciliation and Diplomatic Measures
At an international scale, media workers have been
pro-actively engaging too in global discourse for social cohesion, for development
of third-world economies, for climate risks mitigation, and for security
management. The latter consisted of monitoring initiatives on conciliation
(between conflicting states) and denuclearization in countries where hundreds of
people are displaced by war, victimized by violence, or are threatened or are suffering
from the impacts of resource-based conflicts, or are hoping to enjoy spaces for
peace, and/or dreaming to resolve cultural misunderstanding such as what
happened in Syria, Egypt or Tunisia. I'm pretty sure all of you are very familiar about the Arab Spring.This is also true too on matters relating
to the Philippine-China concerns.
Like how violence with impunity transpired in our
domestic landscape, these reporters are facing risks of double import. While
governments assumed the role of policing civil liberties and human rights,
however, there are critical or crucial decision-points that cannot be solely
left to media workers e.g. magnifying critical issues and the need to increase access
for media’s participation in decision-making free from unnecessary risks. We
however recognize the reporters role in inspiring global leaders too to
rigorously maximize diplomatic options in resolving issues on political
tyranny; move social agents to collectively intervene to stop the use of
chemical weapons (via diplomatic measures); encourage regimes to adhere to
international laws in conflict mediation; and, to motivate allied countries to
coordinate for peaceful and negotiated settlement of regional pol-econ conflicts.
With Prof. Rodelio Ambangan, chair of MPPM and Aya, my mentor.
With Prof. Rodelio Ambangan, chair of MPPM and Aya, my mentor.
Conclusion
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Notes:
Photo 1: Session.
Photo 2: MPPM vice-chair Mabel Carumba and colleagues /execs from different NGOs.
Photo 3: Program of the pre-summit conference.
Photo 4: Execs of NGOs from different areas of Mindanao.
Photo 5: Pose with the chair of MPPM and Aya.
With thanks to Vhong for the photos.
