How to air a fake news?

Alleged Rape?

            I stumbled upon a video clip of a rape case and I thought it was a simple rape case but when I played the video, it was stated that a woman allegedly raped her boyfriend twelve times. This was posted on June 27, 2014 by ABS CBN and was aired on Bandila.

           First things first, the way the news anchor Karen Davila introduced the news.

She said: “Kumakalat ngayon sa social media ang larawan ng isang babae na taga-Bontoc, Mountain Province umano. Sabi sa post, ilang beses pwinersa ng babae ang boyfriend na makipagsex sa kanya.”

            The news was on Bandila and the program airs late at night but nevertheless, the word sex seems inappropriate on Philippine TV given the contemporary sensitivity of Filipinos.

            Another thing is the news item itself. It was aired even though the news was a complete hokum. It was only spread online by some people and labeled an Igorot woman raped her boyfriend. Naturally, the elders of the community and the mayor of the area reacted. The elders were even interviewed and they said they teach Igorot women to be modest and not mingle with boys so this particular story is actually very offensive to them.

            To avoid these kinds of presumptions, the anchor could have already said in the introduction that the story is not true before going into detailed reporting and offend some people.

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(Editor's note: The actual canned report is properly contextualized. However, as the blogger pointed out, the lead-in or intro of the report would have been better if the context was already clear -- that it was a fake news.)

A Rape Story: Balancing complete truthful reporting and sensationalism

UPDATED! New blog appended below!

Journalists are tasked to report news daily; to deliver news, to inform and to entertain. But what comes out of the newsroom, particularly television, is a rush of who will do this and that. With this kind of environment, always running and hurrying, someone along the way will make a mistake –professionally or ethically –but we [journalists] should always keep in mind that we are supplying information to millions of people and that we need not make mistakes.

I was browsing on YouTube when I came across the ABS-CBN TV Patrol News published last August 18, 2014 entitled ‘The family of the latest rape victim calls for justice. A woman in Calumpit, Bulacan was raped then killed’. I thought it was a simple rape case, and then I found out that yes it was a simple rape case with an ethical lapse of reporting.

TV Patrol News is aired from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm when many watchers are having dinner. And by merely describing how the rape was done, it can invoke a loss of appetite. Reporter Doland Castro specifically described, “…halinhinang hinalay ng higit sa dalawang lalaki ang biktima bago tuluyang sinaksak ng screw driver at tinalian pa ang leeg ng kadena…”

It is always important to present accurate reporting at the same time upholding truth telling and providing the right basic information. However, when sensationalism is involve by adding unnecessary details in order to boost ratings or appeal to the emotion of the people, you become guilty of violating the journalist’s code of ethics. Whereupon,

“I shall scrupulously report and interpret the news, taking care not to suppress essential facts nor to distort the truth by omission or improper emphasis. I recognize the duty to air the other side and the duty to correct substantive errors promptly.”

            In order to avoid such mistakes, we should always check and recheck news stories, taking care to omit unnecessary details that will only appeal to the emotion of the people. When reporting a rape case it is enough to state the who, what, where, when, why and a little of how. Since rape cases sometimes result to more traumas to the victims when repeated descriptively, we must refrain from doing so.

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Morbid Representation of a Rape-Slay Case by ABS CBN

On August 18, 2014, ABS CBN covered a rape-slay case at Calumpit, Bulacan. The images and descriptions shown in the aired report were the ones that caught my attention.

At first, they showed pictures of the victim that they got from Facebook. Naturally, I assumed that the next pictures are the same but I was wrong. They showed the actual picture of the girl in the actual crime scene without even blurring the content. She was faced down and her head was submerged in the water. This already violated Article 24. Sec. 3 (Violence shall not be encouraged and horror shall be minimized. Morbid and gory details are prohibited.) of the KBP broadcast code. Yes morbid is relative to people but I did consider that particular picture as very morbid and a very wrong representation of the victim.

     

            Second, with the same violation, the way Doland Castro relayed the crime to the public.

Doland: At dito nga po sa Baranggay Sapangbayan, halinhinang hinalay ng mahigit sa  dalawang lalaki ang biktima bago tuluyang sinaksak gamit and screwdriver at tinalian pa ang leeg ng kadena.

            Rape cases are very sensitive subjects to air. So please practice sensitivity. Again, morbidity is relative.

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