~ The practice of adversarial journalism in the community level is quite new in Toronto’s burgeoning Filipino community, not surprisingly because of overlapping personal, social and professional relationships. But little do people realize that bonds of friendships are exploited to the maximum by those who try to manipulate the press to achieve their personal goals. The media seem to have very little choice but to give in or else they would be driven to extinction. As a result, the local media are locked in a vicious cycle of ass-licking and flattery.
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By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) and Reporters Without Borders
We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter. – Denis Diderot
TORONTO – Through all these many years of reporting, currently now for Balita, the largest Filipino newspaper in Greater Toronto Area, I try to reflect on whether the way I write my stories serves the interests of the Filipino community well.
Writing in the tradition of adversarial journalism where the journalist takes the opposite side of issues, not to engage in endless debate, but to find out the truth is what I had in mind.
From my perspective, it seems that adversarial journalism is something unheard of in the community. Local newspapers are generally more into pleasing or entertaining readers than serving them a menu of information necessary for their understanding.
I believe many will agree with my observation that the community has long been pampered with managed news that borders on flattery; news that only caters to a select few without regard for the truth.
As a result, people react with hostility to unpalatable but factual stories, even branding them “negative” to highlight their indifference.
In my experience, the practice of adversarial journalism inevitably courts trouble. That is probably the reason nobody would dare go into it without considering the inherent risks. My situation exemplifies this; the risks and the costs have gone beyond the professional level.
I am an advocate of adversarial journalism. I preach and practice it because I believe it brings out the best and worst in men. It brings out stories in the best light possible.
Thinking men would take it as part of the job that had to be done. The emotional ones, especially those with secrets to keep, feel it is an affront on their persons.
However people perceive this kind of journalism, I still go for it even if the consequences on me have been too heavy a burden to bear, professionally and personally.
Then and now, I am its staunch practitioner. I feel a certain attachment to it particularly because I have become a witness to the many goings-on, both good and bad, in the community. For example, I see how Filipinos betray their own kind in pursuit of political agendas.
My belief is that our countrymen need more information about their community and the people who profess to lead it than what’s spoon-fed to them by Filipino newspapers. There’s just not much clarity nor broad interpretation in what they read.
It is better to be well-informed than be ignorant of the many issues in our community – that is my view.
Since moving to Toronto from San Diego, California, I’ve observed the community’s seeming lack of interest in affairs that for the most part will affect them in the long run.
I see that a significant number of individuals and organizations would rather focus on what I call “pa-forma” or “pa-pogi” or “pa-impress” activities through social events, extravagant spending, ostentatious display of newfound status and many more. One fundraising pair is very much into this.
Some so-called members of the media, particularly those in the local press club, boldly take front and centre to be with their subjects rather than stay in the background. A publishing couple is notorious for this kind of “lick-ass journalism”.
Of course I do not fault people who engage in this endeavour. They have every right to do what they want in any manner they want. Their behaviour, however, only highlights the fact that the community hungers for recognition and acceptance by the mainstream.
Yet while we hanker for favourable notice and respect, we never really make an effort to earn them. Instead we relish weekly parties, endless socials, grandiose beauty pageants, questionable fundraising schemes whenever a tragedy hits the homeland – activities that do not improve our stock as a serious, thinking people.
We’re happy and content to see our names and pictures in newspapers which, for a fee, are only willing to accommodate social climbers and aging matrons reaching for the stars.
The unwritten rule – and this is my personal impression – is that newspapers lap up everything spoon-fed to them, specially if it’s greased with some money.
But that is not my kind of journalism. Mine is grounded. I’m not into creating gods out of ordinary mortals, or of putting lipstick on pigs.
To mould people’s minds, it is necessary to tell them the truth. To withhold and distort it to suit personal agendas would be sacrilege.
I hold on to these basic tenets as they are my guiding principles in my many years of journalism practice on the international, national and local levels.#
