Media groups ask SC to reconsider ban on live broadcast of Maguindanao massacre trial

Several media organizations have filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling barring live media broadcast of the three-year-old trial for the grisly Maguindanao massacre, where 58 people — mostly media workers — were killed.

 

The petitioners requested the high court to sit down once more with them and draft guidelines for live coverage of the high-profile trial, similar to what happened when the high court initially allowed live broadcast coverage. Among the petitioners were the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, GMA Network, ABS-CBN, BusinessWorld, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), Manila Times, Philippine National Police Press Corps and TV5.

 

In its original June 14, 2011 ruling, the high court allowed live radio and television coverage of the trial, under certain conditions like requiring media entities to apply for broadcast and to continuously broadcast a hearing with no commercial breaks. The guidelines also disallowed the media from re-airing recordings of the trial and giving annotations while the hearing is on-going.

 

In its latest decision, however, the court totally scrapped live broadcasts but allowed audio-visual recordings of the trial for documentary purposes and for transmittal in closed-circuit viewing areas within the Camp Bagong Diwa premises and trial court in Maguindanao, Koronadal, South Cotabato, and General Santos City, where relatives of the victims currently reside. Right to know

 

In their petition filed Thursday, the media groups contested the high court's argument that the rights of the accused and suspects in the massacre case should come before the public's right to know.

 

"[T]he right of an accused to fair trial is not incompatible to right to free press... and widespread publicity through live media coverage therefore does not in itself violate the right of accused to a fair trial," the media groups argued.

 

The media groups also said that allowing only a closed circuit television camera to document the proceedings instead of a live broadcast was an "unsatisfactory compromise."

 

"It delimits the viewing possibilities to those who have the time and opportunity to go to the designated courts where CCTVs have been placed," the petitioners said.

 

Under the latest SC ruling, witnesses would also be prohibited from watching the proceedings, whether inside the court room or the designated closed-circuit viewing areas.

 

The high court said a single fixed compact camera will be used to provide a wide-angle full view of the sala of the court, with no panning and zooming "to avoid unduly highlighting or downplaying incidents in the proceedings."

SC PIO  

The SC Public Information Office has likewise been tasked to coordinate and assist trial courts involved in the physical setup of the camera and equipment.

 

The high court also said original recordings of the murder trial shall be deposited to the National Museum and the Records Management and Archives Office for preservation and exhibition in accordance to law.

 

The recordings would be placed under the control of Quezon City Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Regional Trial Court Branch 221, even as she is allowed to issue supplementary directives concerning the audio-visual recording, subject to the SC's supervision.

 

On June 29, 2011, the high court had conducted a test livestream of the Maguindanao massacre trial - the first-ever for any court proceedings in the country - in supposed preparation for the regular live broadcast of the trial.

 

Based on the SC's monitoring, at least 15 web users initially viewed the livestream but it quickly ballooned to more than 200 web users in the middle of the hearing at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

 

Regarded as the single-day, worst election-related killing in Philippine history, the Ampatuan massacre left 58 people dead. The victims belonged to an electoral convoy that was supposed to register then-Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, who was challenging the influential Ampatuan clan for the gubernatorial seat.

 

Mangudadatu eventually won in the polls, and clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. and several of his sons were all arrested for the killings. More than 100 suspects have already been arrested, while around 90 others remain at large three years after the carnage. — RSJ, GMA News