There is a rot, a deep, unsettling hypocrisy, eating at the core of our nation’s media reporting—a sickness that perverts the fundamental principle of presumption of innocence, and turns the act of reporting into an exercise of public shaming.
The question staring us down, harsh and undeniable, is this: What is profoundly wrong with the media of this country?
The answer is laid bare in two starkly contrasting narratives from recent headlines.
On one side, we have Engineer Dennis Abagon of the DPWH-MIMAROPA, an elderly man, an unarmed civil servant who, by his own account, has dedicated 33 years to government work.
When he was arrested by NBI agents inside a house without resisting, he was handcuffed and his clearly distressed face —was splashed across TV screens and social media platforms.
The following day, the mugshots of his colleagues who voluntarily surrendered in connection with same alleged anomalous flood control projects in Mindoro, were also displayed in various media entities and online platforms.
With their mugshots in full display, they were instantly cast as villains and painted as if they were already convicted criminals before any judge could strike a gavel.
We are talking about career professionals, many of them have served the government for the longest time with dignity.
As Engr. Abagon himself pleaded: “We hope you can help us as well and not just be biased against us. We just want to be treated fairly, because we were just doing our jobs.”
On the other side of this ethical chasm is the sickening case of the 14 police officers from the PNP Drug Enforcement Group, who were accused of the truly heinous crimes of robbery and rape against a Grade 9 student in Cavite.
Acts so reprehensible, so profound a betrayal of public trust, that they demand the strongest condemnation.
Yet, where are their faces? They were, for the most part, deliberately blurred or completely concealed by the very same media entities.
Blurred Ethics?
This contrast is where the media’s double standard is unforgivable.
We are told—and rightly so—that the faces of criminals accused of rape, drug trafficking, or other major offenses are concealed to protect their rights to privacy and presumption of innocence as they are yet to be convicted.
This standard of care is ostensibly applied to thousands of “hardened criminals”, who were being arrested by authorities almost every day.
Why, then, is this vital protection instantly revoked for an accused DPWH engineer facing malversation charges?
Why are his colleagues—professional civil servants who are still accused and not convicted—denied the same courtesy as alleged rapist cops and other societal “scums”?
When a respected reporter is embedded with a raiding team and deliberately shows the face of an unarmed, elderly man, he was serving as his instant judge, jury, and executioner in the court of public opinion.
However, when the images of police officers and other criminals accused of sexual violence are scrupulously covered, what journalistic guidelines are they following?
It certainly seems like they are following the guidelines of sensationalism and political convenience.
The actions of the media entities in question are not an act of promoting accountability; they are an act of public humiliation that presupposes guilt.
Indeed, this is not justice; it is the politics of public relations, where the media selectively chooses who to expose and who to protect, based not on the severity of the alleged crime, but on the narrative they wish to amplify.
It’s time for the media to look in the mirror and face the shame of their own double standard.
