Media Sensationalism and the Church

The purported reason for the suicide of a young girl in Davao was proven to be an issue hyped-up by media sensationalism. At first the media projected that the young girl committed suicide because of poverty. The initial reports had her diary as a basis. As a result, a Bishop commented that her death is everybody’s fault, activists used the poor child’s name to put the blame on the government, Davao politicians blamed each other and one politician even cursed his political rival on television. All of these are consequences of the emerging trend of decadence in the quality of journalism in the Philippines. As the body of the child was exhumed, the medico-legal found out that there is evidence that the child has been raped. This is the real cause of the child’s suicide. It is horrible that the child, even in her death, has become a victim of media sensationalism all for the sake of a sure-hit banner story or headline that would sell newspapers and tabloids and draw the attention of tv viewers.

Most journalists could no longer separate raw news from a commentary. It is one thing to report the news per se. It is another thing to comment on the news. The Church is also a victim of such journalistic trend. For instance, every time a Bishop speaks, news items would refer to it as a “CBCP stand”. On television interviews, I have noticed on several instances that before they show the bishop being interviewed, the CBCP building in Intramuros is first shown. One bishop or a group of bishops is not the CBCP. Sometimes the Bishops are caught off guard and are pitted against each other (in one case, a bishop said that the Church condemns suicide, the other bishop says the Church has softened its stance and the headline for it came out as “Bishops divided on suicide”). Sadly, the bishops have unwittingly allowed themselves to be victims of media sensationalism. The CBCP media office should step in and put things in proper perspective so as not to mislead the laity on things that pertain to faith and morals.