Arroyo steps up battle with Philippine media

MANILA, Nov. 10 Kyodo

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday stepped up her battle with the country's media, urging journalists to cast off what she perceived to be their ''bad boy'' image and to play up ''the good news'' instead.

''I appeal to you not to be used wittingly or unwittingly as pawns in political games or destabilization schemes,'' Arroyo told a conference of radio and television executives in northern city of Baguio.

''Today I call on you, let us cast aside the 'bad boy' image that the press has acquired. Let us restore its glory as the responsible son of a democratic nation,'' she added, urging the media to ''stop being used in politics or in destabilization.''

Arroyo said the media must act responsibly and report the ''good news'' so that it can fulfill its ''patriotic task'' of convincing the public to embrace the government's economic reforms next year.

''We must take heed of the media becoming part of the national malaise, a hindrance to development rather than an important solution to our problems,'' she said.

''A press that loses credibility as the watchdog of government and the society becomes a drag to democracy rather than a force of freedom. Yes, we must admit that some segments of the media are pushing the negative angle of stories too far and too often,'' she said.

Arroyo has been lambasting the media lately.

On Monday, she virtually accused the media of conspiring with the groups seeking to destabilize her administration. ''Every molehill is treated like a mountain, every accusation is treated as truth, every peace of goodness is stepped on by the bad,'' she said.

She added, ''The easy manipulation of this issue by the destabilizers, and the media who further their agenda, is a case of Chicken Little screaming that the sky is falling. Well, the sky isn't falling.''

Arroyo has been getting flak recently for tagging a television news anchor as a coddler for bailing out a suspected terrorist. Her accusation was based on raw report prepared by the intelligence arm of the armed forces.

She expressed dismay ''when the press is overly sensitive of its prerogatives while at the same time many of our journalists have arrogated the license to fire away at anybody without even circumstantial evidence.''

Violence against journalists has registered its highest rate during Arroyo's watch since the administration of President Corazon Aquino.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said 69 journalists have been killed in the country since 1986, 32 of them since Arroyo came to power in January 2001.

Rowena Paraan, NUJP director, lambasted Arroyo's recent chiding of the media. ''What she wants is 'praised journalism' just like the martial law days,'' Paraan said.

Arroyo has been struggling to unite this fractious country since she took office in January 2001, following the ousting of her predecessor Joseph Estrada in a popular uprising.

The 58-year-old president won a fresh six-year term in the May 2004 poll but her victory failed to help stabilize the raucous, fractious Philippine politics owing to allegations she rigged the poll results.

Two months after moves to impeach Arroyo fizzled out in Congress, the beleaguered leader is now being put on trial by the so-called people's court for alleged election fraud and corruption.

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