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The problem with bloggers

EDITORIAL

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01/13/2009

Some sectors in media have been hailing bloggers and blogging, seeing it as the media of the future, with mainstream media taking blogsites and bloggers’ written word as gospel truth, base their conclusions on their posted articles and even conduct a trial by publicity on the basis of what one wrote on the individual’s blog.

There are bloggers and bloggers. Some are responsible, respected and respectable bloggers, some of whose opinions certainly can be quoted by media but certainly other bloggers — and there are too many of them, can hardly qualify as responsible or reputable bloggers. And certainly too, media are making that big mistake of taking bloggers’ word as gospel truth over incidents and even try and worse, convict the blogger’s target by widespread publicity.

Save for some reputable blogsites, the Tribune does not attach importance to bloggers and certainly never takes their word as gospel truth.

A case in point is the Valley Golf Club brawl involving the Delfin de la Paz and the Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman families, where the blog of the daughter of De la Paz and her version of the brawl hit the headlines of mainstream media during the long Christmas break that suffered a dearth of newsworthy stories.

Mainstream media virtually accused, tried and condemned the Pangandaman family for the golf brawl simply on the basis of what De la Paz’s daughter, Bambee, had written on her blog, which was circulated via e-mail. The word was out that the Pangandamans, being in power, abused power and position. De la Paz was made out as the victim by media, and the family appeared to revel in media sympathy, playing up their version of the brawl.

But mainstream media should have known better than to take the word of Bambee de la Paz as truth. Being the daughter, she certainly would not have been expected to bring out accurately that which had occured. She omitted, for instance, the fact that it was her side of the family that started the brawl, or that her brother came swinging with a baseball bat or that her mother came forward with a bladed weapon.

It is accurate, however, to state that a brawl did take place and the Pangandamans, or at least their bodyguards, were involved in a mauling. Still, that should not be enough for media to mount a trial and conviction by publicity on the basis of what the De la Paz daughter had written on her blog.

Golfers however, were said to know better, as the golfing reputation and golf ethics of De la Paz in the greens are hardly impeccable. Still media went on with their trial and conviction by publicity.

Finally comes the Valley Golf and Country Club probe results which point to De la Paz having started the brawl. As a result, he and his children have been banned for life from playing in that golf club.

Pangandaman Sr. was suspended for two years while his sons were also suspended for life from playing in the club.

It may be no big deal for some golfers to be suspended or banned for life from playing in a particular golf course of which they are members. But this penalty can be deemed stiff when the golfing community is in the equation, as a golfer’s reputation is virtually soiled for life. Still, these golfers who do not abide by the ethics and rules of the game and the clubs have brought this penalty on themselves.

But that is hardly the point of this editorial. It is the local media’s quick acceptance of the version of an irresponsible blogger, and worse, conduct a trial and conviction via publicity, then hail blogging as the future of media.

The same media treatment is being applied on the drug buy-bust case, with the media making the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency agent, an active service Marine assigned to PDEA as a hero for all time when he, along with his chief, may not be all that the media now make him out to be.

Yellow journalism, through this type of blogging, was never this bad.