Not our job, senators

Here is a lesson in media literacy: No public official is entitled to favorable coverage from the press.

Again, for emphasis: No public official is entitled to favorable coverage from the press.

Let this reminder disabuse a pair of senators of the notion that news organizations are obligated to report about them positively.

Or even to mention them at all.

The press is not the public relations arm of the Senate or any government body, and no self-respecting journalist will capitulate to lawmakers’ demands for attention, however loudly or proudly they throw a tantrum.

That distinction was lost on Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, who accused members of the press of being “bayaran,” or paid hacks, during a recent Senate blue ribbon committee hearing organized by the recalcitrant minority led by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.

An old grievance

Faced by public rebuke, Marcoleta later apologized, saying he spoke “out of frustration.” But then he took the occasion to air an old grievance against the media, complaining he was not mentioned in the reports of two broadsheets, including the Inquirer, of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) rally in January last year.

“I spoke for about 45 minutes in that rally,” he said in Filipino. “When the Philippine Star reported on that incident, eight reporters worked on a single report.”

“On the other hand, three reporters from the Philippine Daily Inquirer worked together on the same story. So 11 reporters heard it, yet my name was not even mentioned,” he added. “How come 11 reporters did not see me or hear me as though I did not exist?”

First, Marcoleta overestimates our staff resources in presuming three reporters were deployed to cover an INC rally that was billed as a “nonpolitical” event. The fact is, only one Inquirer journalist was physically there, while the others were working different assignments related to the rally.

Second, Marcoleta is mistaken in thinking our report deliberately excluded him over some imagined grudge or partisan agenda.

The obvious explanation is Marcoleta hadn’t said anything newsworthy enough to print.

He is not wrong to feel frustrated, like any news source who has spent minutes explaining an issue only to be reduced to a one-line sentence or a 10-second soundbite.

But it does not excuse Marcoleta from making sweeping accusations that erode public confidence in the press. Newsrooms do not exist to quote every speaker or to indulge a politician’s fragile sense of self-importance.

Not stenography

The Senate media covering the chamber condemned Marcoleta’s remark in the “strongest possible sense,” calling it dangerous and irresponsible. And rightly so.

In fact, the same June 4 hearing showed that Marcoleta wasn’t alone in his deep misunderstanding of the news profession. Cayetano waved around a pile of newspapers to question their news judgment, pointing out that only one broadsheet carried a headline highlighting his claim to the Senate presidency. His implication was that coverage should have mirrored his preferred framing.

But journalism is not stenography. It does not parrot claims at face value, nor does it phrase headlines to curry favor. The job is to weigh claims, provide context, and make sense of confusing information to help readers better understand what is happening around them.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines described Marcoleta’s tirades as “clear attempts to undermine the public’s trust in the media.” By casting journalists as “bayaran,” the senator gives disinformation networks a new target and reduces accountability reporting to a smear campaign.

But as the Senate media noted, there’s a world of difference between constructive criticism and wholesale vilification.

Convenient scapegoat

Journalists are not above scrutiny, and they are certainly not without fault. Marcoleta and Cayetano are free to criticize media organizations for any ethical lapse or absence of fairness.

But it’s a different story when they accuse the entire press of bias or corruption simply because reporting does not go their way. Few understand that news coverage is blind to the egos of news subjects and the reporters who cover them. It is not quid pro quo but an exercise in discernment.

As a result, political leaders are at times central to the news and other times relegated to the periphery. On occasion, they are left out entirely because the story is about something of greater significance.

Editorial judgment is not personal. What is personal, and harmful, is when officials use the media as a convenient scapegoat whenever reporting does not align with their expectations. Worse, it gives paid trolls fresh ammunition against the press and distracts the public from issues that truly require national attention.

Politicians with an axe to grind against the media must be responsible enough to present evidence instead of using reckless rhetoric to poison the people’s trust in journalism. If Marcoleta and Cayetano want to make the front page, they should stop attacking the press and, for once, start serving the public interest.