Heads should hang in shame

We will be hated for saying it but say it we must. Scorned and villified by the terrified rich though they may have been, only DZEC radio and Net25 -- both Iglesia ni Cristo stations -- delivered the news when there was news, to a nation thirsty for information. For six days the entire country had only one source of information, be it only on terms the management of the station had decided. What the heck. It was an exercise of editorial bias that the viewers of the major networks should be used to by now.

When you think of it, what difference was there between DZEC and Net25's partiality for the latest mob at EDSA, and the rank ignorance of the major networks' vapid commentaries during their televised broadcasts of People Power 2 and the earlier impeachment trial?

The refusal of the major networks to cover the biggest news event of the year -- the first irruption of the masses into our history, whatever the motivation -- is a deep cause for shame. For that event has been formally recognized as a state of rebellion. And yet the major networks banned all coverage of it -- until now when, frankly, it is all but over.

Yes, the news on DZEC and Net25 was skewed, but far less so than during the media's sychophancy when Estrada was at the height of his power and its base vindictiveness when he fell there from. The major networks could have attempted to shine light where there was darkness but chose instead to keep the nation in the dark. In the dark about the most momentous event in its history -- the first irruption of the masses unto the social and political scene.

Even after the Iglesia ni Cristo was finally persuaded to get its stations off the air, the major networks still shied away from giving the pro-Estrada rallies the full coverage of which they are capable. And in the last crucial day, the major networks limited themselves to only the most token coverage -- filling in the yawning gap of footage with the inane and insipid remarks of their hosts and invited guests.

We cannot emphasize enough this crucial betrayal -- there is no other word for it -- of the ethics and responsibilities of the profession of journalism, as shown by the paucity of news until the country learned, to its panic, that a sea of redolent humanity was on a swelling tide and moving toward shore. The crucial speeches, the historic moment when what was pent up finally spilled out into the streets and toward the Palace -- all that was never put on tape so that we shall have to depend on the written accounts of journalists. Which is to say forget it.

So, for six days the country and not just the fanatics depended on DZEC and Net25 for the news, while the major networks only carried the self-righteous whining of a civil society on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It was as if the major media had so little faith in the rightness of People Power 3.

Civil society and the Church -- members of whom had gathered as a buffer in front of Malacanang, only to be trapped like rats in San Beda church to which they fled at the sight of the marching mob from EDSA -- must reflect on their sudden changes of mood from triumphalism to hysteria. For such swift and extreme mood swings are bad for mental health.

As they staggered out of their hiding places in the church, they could only bleat to the media that no one will believe what they had been through. Well, believe it they better. It was coming and if only the major networks had shown it, they would have long seen it coming. Coming in the teeth of texted sneers about smells and elitist jokes about dental problems.

And come it did, through at least eight lines of defense. Bravely beating down the police and military lines in the dangerous dark of night. It came so quickly and with such audacity that the civil society was caught on its knees while the police were pushed aside and the military found itself lacking manpower -- or willpower to resist. After all, these were just like their own friends and families back in their squatter neighborhoods. Only the iron willpower of the President, who took personal command, saved the day.

The nation will long remember her high-pitched voice, grimly issuing directives that stemmed the populist tide, pushing it back from the gates of the palace and over the bridge.

The nation will long remember the police and soldiers who were, from time to time, overwhelmed, but time and again regrouped to retake in the light the ground they had lost in the night. All the while exercising a disciplined tolerance that was such a stark contrast to the wild abandon they displayed in that very spot 14 years ago when they met a much smaller and tamer crowd of leftists. No, this time the gutters did not run with blood, though two policemen lost their lives.

We can pay no finer tribute to the President, the ARmed Forces and the National Police than pointing this out: even in a moment of the greatest danger, the President and her soldiers kept their heads -- and their hearts.

Yet the poor are out there still, abandoned by leaders who had hoped to step up to power on their corpses. The danger has not fully passed; the poor's last gamble may be failing but it has not completely failed. Te Deums may be sung at the reclaimed EDSA Shrine, but a lasting peace and order are a long way away.

That it reached this point; that the government and the public were caught napping; that the ringleaders can still cackle about due process and peddle their lies; this calls for a recognition of a failure of the major media to report what it had the temerity, the arrogance, and the stupidity to dismiss as beneath their sense of news -- or rather opportunism.

The big lie, uncontradicted and repeated often enough, becomes the truth to the masses. And no one tried to counter those lies, not when it mattered, not least because the major media networks chose to keep the public in the dark about those lies.

Of course, this is not to overlook the bravery and resourcefulness of certain mediamen who tried to cover the events of recent days, including those who rushed to Mendiola at dawn yesterday and faced danger as well. But it was a case of too little, too late.

Now there is only mopping-up to do. But when the all clear is finally given by the palace, a lot of people and institutions should hang their heads in shame.

TODAY was a Philippine news daily broadsheet. It ceased publication in 2004.

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