Media watchdog warns Manila not to charge reporters

A New York-based media watchdog yesterday called on the Philippine government to withdraw a threat to prosecute journalists who get in the way of police operations.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said that reporters in the politically volatile Philippines have long covered "dangerous emergencies without the threat of being charged as criminals."

"We urge the government to withdraw this advisory," the group's Asia coordinator, Bob Dietz, said in a statement.

The advisory warned all media outfits that reporters, photographers and cameramen "may incur criminal liabilities" if they disobeyed lawful orders from the authorities during emergencies.

It said that failure to clear an area after being ordered to do so amounted to "obstruction of justice."

The warning followed a bitter row between government and the press stemming from the coverage of a brief takeover of a Manila hotel in November by a group of rogue military officers pressing for President Gloria Arroyo's ouster.

Several who stayed inside the hotel to cover the unfolding events were briefly detained but released without charge.

Troops the hotel and captured the conspirators, but in the process were also reported to have roughed up members of the press.

The event led to a heated debate on press freedom, which was restored when the 20-year regime of dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in a popular revolt in 1986.

"One wonders what sort of effect this directive would have had on reporters covering the dramatic events which ousted the Marcos regime and paved the way for what were supposed to be more democratic governments," Dietz said.