Threatened? Shout it out!

With the canvassing of the election results remains chaotic and bloody, are we seeing more threats against journalists covering it? Journalists -- whether they are based in the provinces or in Manila like Ricky Carandang -- remain under attack for only doing their work.

I was able to catch ANC (ABS-CBN News Channel) reporting about the threat against two of their journalists. The two journalists were in the studio talking about the threat. While ANC and ABS-CBN have been reporting about these media threats and attacks in the past, I hope they would also give cases involving other journalists who might not be connected with their network the same airtime they gave to Carandang and their radio reporter Noel Alamar.

Having that said, ABS-CBN is right to quickly report, and condemn, the incident. When a journalist gets a threat, he or she should quickly report it -- nay, shout it out -- to media organizations and authorities.

Reporter receives death threat after exposing election anomalies
Source: Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility

A television and a radio reporter for the ABS-CBN network received death threats in Lanao del Norte, a province located in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), after reporting election irregularities in the province. ARMM is in Mindanao, the second largest and southernmost island of the Philippines.

ABS-CBN television news program TV Patrol World reported on 28 May 2007 the threats received by reporters Ricky Carandang and Noel Alamar, which came after they reported election anomalies in Lanao. Carandang is a television reporter/anchor while Alamar reports for DZMM, the flagship AM station of the ABS-CBN broadcasting corporation.

ABS-CBN news and current affairs head Maria Ressa released a statement on the 29 May 2007 episode of TV Patrol World condemning the incident.

“ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs condemns in the strongest possible terms, these attempts to intimidate the members of our newsgathering team. We would like to warn those involved that their identities are known to us,” Ressa said.

Ressa also added that they are “prepared to take legal action should these threats continue or should any harm come to Mr. Carandang, Mr. Alamar, or any member of ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs.”

Read more here.