"Cooperation" by ARK

Hi everyone! Ark here. Well, our keyboard still has this problem, so it's really hard to post anything right now. But not even that can stop a determined blogger. I have a lot of patience for this, luckily. Soon enough, we will get ourselves a new one. Anyway, I will be posting my midterm article for one of my subjects this semester. It's about the Peninsula Siege, a controversial event in thwe short-term memory of every Filipino. :)

Here it is.

"The Peninsula Siege: A Test of Military and Media Cooperation"

The scene happened as media of all forms swarmed around it: mutineers, headed by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brigadier General Danilo Lim called for the ousting of the former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Not only did they call for it- they seized the Manila Peninsula Hotel for it. The event wasn’t expected to end peacefully, and it didn’t. Military vehicles crashed through the beautiful hotel walls, as Trillanes and Lim surrendered to the government.

The entire nation was shocked as they watched this story unfold. But beyond that are two others sides of a single event: the story from the police and from the media’s point of view. The Peninsula Siege is a controversial news story not only because of the coup but also because of how everything was complicated by the refusal of the media and the police to cooperate with each other.

Analyzing what happened from the perspective of the two camps would help us discover what went wrong…who’s right and who’s to blame.

From the police and the military’s view, the media men were hindering their supposedly smooth operation. They sent orders to keep the journalists away from the scene so as to be able to move easily. What they saw were reporters who selfishly clawed after their scoops, caring very little about their mission. According to them, the media refused to evacuate the scene despite the imminent dangers, thus affecting their performance.

From the eyes of the journalists, they were merely doing what they came there for…their jobs. It was their duty to get into detail with everything that was happening that day. And sure enough, they could not see things from a distance. BUT, I do believe they would have followed an order IF THEY RECEIVED ANY. The media men were supposed to respect orders from authorities, especially with the dangers that have been present. But according to Ces Drilon, a major correspondent of ABS-CBN, no one has given instructions to the journalists. “No one told them to vacate the Hotel as the teams began assault”, said Drilon.

If I were there covering the event and have been officially ordered to leave, I guess I would have followed too. That is, IF I get the instructions. Otherwise, I would practice my freedom and cover all I want. The people are dying to know what was happening there anyway.

It all boils down to who delivered and who received the information. In the end, everyone got to realize how important respect is, especially when two fields of expertise collide. It’s all a matter of give and take.