Madness

The abduction of Ces Drilon and her crew was a turning point for us journalists.

In between small talks earlier this week, it was not hard to sense a lot of us actually wanted to go to Sulu to cover Drilon and to “join the action.” After all, it seemed safe if we had security and going to Mindanao was like the proper thing to do. (Un)fortunately I had an option and it was to stay in Manila.

Madness, as most of us would like to call it, is the reason why some journalists push themselves to the limit. Sometimes while pursuing our stories, we actually decide based on our instinct, experience, gut feel, even horoscope (no I’m just guessing at this one!).

But madness is not a bad thing, I’m telling you. It is borne out of passion, out of our need to deliver the news freshly served because it is the public’s right to know; and out of our desire to experience everything first hand.

While a normal citizen would scamper during a bombing or a shootout, the journalist (photographers, cameramen as well) initially takes cover but would keep peeking his/her head into the realms of danger–searching for a story, looking for an angle, eventually forgetting that she/he is above all a daughter/son, a Mother/Father and NOT just a journalist.

This was Drilon’s mistake. And we can’t fully blame her; All journalists who are passionate about their job would have done what she did--to go out of her way and face danger, while keeping her fingers crossed. Maybe she was too trusting, or maybe fate just had it for her.

We’re all just happy that she’s safe and sound, even happier that she learned her lesson well. The full commitment to the job is a mistake a lot of journalists have committed at various lengths, and it is also the kind of mistake we usually repeat–without regret.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines was right when it said we must “soberly reflect” on Drilon’s case.

“We urge everyone in the industry, from correspondents to media owners, to soberly reflect on this problem and come together to address this issue. We owe it to ourselves, to our families and to our audience,” the NUJP officers said.”

They could not have been more right. I indeed owe it to my family, friends, and readers. Cliche as it may be, no story is truly worth dying for.