Where fairness springs

TWO pieces of news caught my attention recently. Both came from the US. One says that the New York mayor decided to “ban religion” at the forthcoming 9/11 ceremony. The other, that the American communication regulating body finally scrapped the so-called “Fairness doctrine.”

Both are good materials to reflect once again on where we can find fairness in the media as in anywhere else. We should approach the issue with calmness, making deliberate effort to stay clear from the journalistic hypes and stretches that often twist and disfigure things and lead us to make unfair judgments and opinions.

In fairness to the New York mayor, I don’t think he is against religion per se. He just wanted, according to him, to give focus on the families of the victims of this tremendous tragedy. That’s why he would not invite not only religious leaders but also politicians.

He has a point, of course, although I would not agree with it completely. Religion and politics, whether we like it or not, simply have a role to play in such momentous event of remembering a heart-rending national disaster that has affected America and the world not only politically but also spiritually.

But I would not insist so much on my view. If the mayor thinks otherwise, so be it. I would not like to go deeper, at least for now, to see if there’s some hidden agenda, ulterior motive or bigger picture attached to this decision. But I would like that he reconsiders the religious part of the ceremony.

The other news about the discarding of the Fairness Doctrine amused me somehow. The people involved finally surrendered to the challenge of putting that doctrine into practice.

An official aptly said the doctrine was already a dead letter that should remain dead. Resurrecting it would just be an unnecessary distraction. In his rhetorical flourish, he offered to give it its last rites.

This is an interesting development, since fairness in media or in politics as in anywhere else is always a concern to be taken care of. While the decisions of the American officials regarding the specific cases mentioned above could be warranted, I believe everyone agrees that fairness never becomes obsolete.

Fairness should continue to be pursued and observed. But how can this be done? Especially in our Philippine setting, this concern is hardly given any serious thought.

I have read and studied a number of codes of ethics meant for journalists, for example, but I get the impression that they remain good intentions and beautiful words but not in action. They seem restricted to the confines of journalists’ organizations but have failed so far to go out to the real world.

There is a lot of bias and prejudice, bad manners and grammar, knee-jerk reactions displayed in the media everyday. The lines separating news-reporting and advocacy work and partisan politics are intentionally blurred. We have mongrels like “infomercials” and PR offices trained in psywar tactics and demolition jobs.

I believe that for fairness to emerge, everyone has to have a living, intimate relationship with God. Without this, one cannot live full integrity and honesty, his resistance to the demons and temptations around can not go very far. He will relent sooner or later.

The codes of ethics, beautifully crafted, should, of course, be internalized. But they should be rooted on God himself and on no other principle. Otherwise, they will just remain a façade.

Everyone has to rectify his intentions. Any form of communication, any use of the word, oral or written, should be understood as a participation of the living word of God that always conveys the truth in charity. Outside of that orbit, we would be prone to misuse and abuse words.

Everyone also has to make continuing examinations of conscience to see if things were done right, or if there were some mistakes, omissions, etc. that need to be corrected or repaired. This should be an integral part of our lifestyle.

Sometimes I get intrigued to note that if in our ordinary daily life, we often realize at the end of the day that we have committed some mistakes and therefore we need to say sorry, why is it that in our big affairs as in politics and in media, one seldom hears of apologies made? As if there were no mistakes committed.

Again, what can account for this is the secularized culture we have at present. People get awkward relating their lives and their affairs to God. But God is where fairness springs.