THE NATIONWIDE sound and fury created by the alleged De Lima sex video is truly unfortunate and lamentable. For several days now, the controversial issue has become probably the single most viral topic in both traditional and social media.
As things are, no one may blame radio commentators, in particular—much less mere newscasters—as day in, day out they keep asking the public to text back to the station their respective agreement or disagreement on the planned showing of the controversial sex video, be it in public or only in the halls of Congress. It is undeniably among the media’s paramount mandates to let the whole nation know what is happening daily in our midst and times. And so, chances are some stations are even tallying for eventual public consumption the pros and cons of this issue, guided by the time-honored principle that in all democratic societies the majority rule prevails.
But if these stations believe that by so doing they are helping to temper or moderate this widespread controversy, they are terribly wrong. On the contrary, since there are always two sides of a coin, the more they are unduly aggravating the nation’s divisiveness, not only on this but also on since-time-immemorial public issues.
Let it not be ignored that in our system of laws and justice, it is solely through elections and referendums that the much ballyhooed majority rule can be validly determined. And radio stations are certainly not the Commission on Elections to rightly and exclusively undertake this role.
That said, I keep asking myself no end: Why hasn’t somebody yet gone to the courts to question the showing of the controversial sex video?
—RUDY L. CORONEL, rudycoronel 2004@gmail.com