By Atty. Egay Uy
I would not have ventured into this kind of discussion but each time I hear one-sided and biased commentaries I could not help but entertain the idea that the communication pandemic has also hit the city, if not the entire nation.
The airwaves and the mainstream and social media and news, including gossip outlets, have repeatedly discussed topics closely related to the government’s response to Covid-19. Could the anchors have helped much more in this war against Covid-19? Yes they could have and they ought to know how by now.
Daily programs of some anchors on radio and live stream feeds have been mouthing, rather shouting, convoluted criticisms about how the local government has been handling the pandemic. Along the way, the commentaries have mutated, just like the coronavirus, into personal attacks.
And I would understand why. In the usual exercise of public discourse, reason and constructive ideas seem to have faded into oblivion. More often than not, ad hominems are the emerging game plan. A part of a grand design perhaps. Of course, there are plenty of others who stick to the issues and I have always admired them for that.
Some others may be of the belief that if they shout their lungs out when stating a proposition or attacking a person's integrity, they are already speaking of the truth. As if their listeners and viewers do not know how to distinguish a demolition job from an honest-to-goodness discussion of issues.
Then there are those who believe that what they bark through their passive microphones is gospel truth. And there may be some others who are good at spinning the truth into something untrue. Or thinly disguising a lie into what would appear as true.
This is one reason many of us cannot co-exist harmoniously. One camp could talk about one thing and color it white, while another will talk of the same thing yet paint it as black.
Freedom of expression? Probably, but certainly not freedom to spread lies and distorted pieces of information.
Why? Simply because of a communication pandemic.
