Anger and Concern over President Benigno Aquino's words
對於菲律賓總統阿基諾三世諉過傳媒直播馬尼拉挾持人質事件，讓槍手洞悉警方的部署，為菲警的突擊行動失敗作開脫，更揚言日後會考慮對傳媒作出限制。記協對有關指責深感憤怒。
針對菲總統的言論，記協義務秘書曾錦雯及執行秘書鄭偉強代表記協，於今天下午三時半前往菲律賓駐港總領事館遞交聲明，表達不滿。
菲駐港副領事Ms. Lorena Joy P. Banagodos 親自接信，她表示，對挾持人質事件有港人死亡感到悲傷，並向港人致意慰問。她亦向本會承諾，稍後會將有關聲明轉交至菲律賓總統府。
有關聲明內容如下：(只提供英文版本)
Dear President Aquino,
The Hong Kong Journalists Association expresses its deepest condolences to the families of those who died in Manila’s hostage tragedy. We also want to express our appreciation and respect to those who acted bravely and astutely during the long standoff, thus allowing some of the hostages to survive. We are, however, filled with anger and concern over the blame being heaped on the media for allegedly contributing to the tragedy.
The HKJA notes with concern that President Benigno Aquino of the Philippines made the media the scapegoat when he said: “Media coverage of his brother being taken into custody further agitated the hostage-taker…” Using this flimsy excuse, Mr. Aquino said he would consider imposing new restrictions on media coverage should a similar crisis occur.
We have no idea what further restrictions are under consideration but what we are sure of is that President Benigno Aquino’s words were uttered hastily and without careful consideration. Without a thorough investigation such conclusions cannot be taken seriously and the HKJA views the president’s hasty conclusions with grave misgivings.
The role of the media is to tell the world what is happening and what has happened. This is the essence of what the democratic world has come to know and to accept as freedom of the press and freedom of expression. The media’s presence is vital to the preservation of human rights of minorities in any conflict. As in the case of Manila’s killings, nobody can tell if the same tragedy would not have taken place without the presence of the media. What we can be sure of is that without the presence of the media no knowledge of this horrific tragedy would have been known to the outside world.
Moreover, the police force of the Philippines should have known that negotiations were going on between the gunman and his brother, and that this was being telecast. The act of arresting the brother would, clearly, irritate the gunman. Yet the police forcibly wrestled the brother down and handcuffed him, all directly in front of the media.
The police, clearly, had neither strategy nor the necessary know-how to deal with such a situation. With the development of the new media, it is unrealistic to ask the media not to broadcast live in a matter of huge public interest not only to the Filipinos themselves, but also to people in Hong Kong and elsewhere. Proper media arrangements, including a safe area for the media at the scene, in accordance with internationally accepted standards, are of paramount importance. None were forthcoming.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association calls on the Philippines government to refrain from using this incident to introduce harsh measures against the media in order to cover up their incompetence. We will closely monitor the incident and any further deterioration of press freedom in Philippines arising from this tragedy.
With Kind Regards,
Hong Kong Journalists Association
26th August 2010
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