The Press Is Not Above Criticism. Neither Is It Fair Game for Vilification.
By Sonia P. Soto
The Senate media corps issued a strong statement earlier today condemning Senator Rodante Marcoleta’s sweeping allegation that many members of the mainstream media are nothing more than “paid hacks.”
The journalists were right to push back.
A free press is one of the pillars of democracy. Reporters are not extensions of political parties. Their duty is not to protect politicians, destroy politicians, or advance the interests of one faction over another. Their duty is to pursue facts, verify information, and provide citizens with the information they need to make informed decisions.
When public officials accuse journalists of corruption, bias, or misconduct, they carry the burden of proof. Serious allegations require evidence, not rhetoric. Otherwise, such accusations become dangerous because they erode public trust not only in individual journalists but in the institution of journalism itself.
Yet this controversy also raises an uncomfortable question that many in the media profession would rather avoid.
Why are so many people willing to believe such accusations in the first place?
The answer did not begin with Marcoleta.
Across the world, public trust in traditional institutions has been declining for years. Governments, courts, political parties, universities, and yes, even the media have all experienced varying degrees of public skepticism. The rise of social media has accelerated this trend, allowing citizens to compare narratives, challenge gatekeepers, and consume information from sources that bypass traditional news organizations.
Some of this skepticism is unfair. Some of it is manufactured by disinformation networks. But some of it reflects genuine public concerns about media bias, selective coverage, sensationalism, and the tendency of some news organizations to become entangled in political narratives.
That reality does not justify reckless attacks against journalists. But neither can the media simply dismiss public distrust as ignorance or propaganda.
Trust is not something the press can demand. It is something the press must earn continuously.
The Senate media statement correctly points out that journalists should not become collateral damage in political warfare. They should not be dragged into feuds among politicians. Nor should the media be treated as a weapon to be wielded by one political camp against another.
But that principle cuts both ways.
Politicians must stop treating the media as enemies whenever coverage becomes uncomfortable. At the same time, journalists must remain vigilant against becoming unwitting participants in partisan battles. The credibility of the press depends not merely on independence but on the public’s perception of independence.
This is especially important today, when political polarization has reached extraordinary levels. Every story is scrutinized through partisan lenses. Every headline is interpreted as either an attack or a defense. Every omission becomes evidence of bias in the eyes of one side or the other.
In such an environment, journalists face an impossible challenge: whichever fact they report, someone will accuse them of taking sides.
The solution, however, is not to retreat.
The solution is to return to the fundamentals of journalism: verification, fairness, transparency, accountability, and intellectual honesty.
The press should never be immune from criticism. In fact, criticism is healthy in a democracy. It keeps institutions accountable and forces them to improve.
But there is a profound difference between criticizing media performance and vilifying an entire profession without evidence.
One strengthens democracy.
The other weakens it.
The real issue is not whether journalists should be criticized. They should be. The real issue is whether our public discourse will be guided by evidence or by accusation, by facts or by suspicion.
At a time when truth itself is under siege, that distinction matters more than ever.
And it matters not just for journalists, but for every Filipino who depends on credible information to navigate an increasingly divided nation.
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