Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 8)— The government should not interfere with how news organizations and media agencies craft their editorial content, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said Wednesday.
“Ang gobyerno, hindi dapat nakikialam sa laman ng editorial, lalo na. Opinion nila ‘yun eh,” Sotto said in the virtual Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum. “They could be wrong, but that’s their opinion.”
“‘Pag may mga pagkakamali o may mga violations, okay, punahin mo. Pero that’s different from pakikialam or pagme-meddle,” he added.
[Translation: The government should not meddle with content— especially with the editorial. That’s their opinion. They could be wrong, but that’s their opinion. If there are wrongdoings and violations, okay, criticize them. But that’s different from meddling.]
Sotto said officials who feel alluded to by some news reports should instead face the issue as the truth will eventually come out.
Earlier, some lawmakers from the House of Representatives called out ABS-CBN’s supposed “bias” in its reportage — one of the issues tackled during the chamber’s deliberations on the media giant’s new franchise bid.
The network has said that its personnel have strived “to keep biases in check” as well as to report news accurately and fairly.
