Comments and Opinions While News Reporting Essay

News Reporting B.Thesis Statement: Why some broadcasters give out comments and opinions during news reporting? C.Trend: Many of Philippine broadcasters today seems to forget that a news report is totally different form a commentary. Consciously or unconsciously, they put on air their own judgments and remarks while delivering news. D.Issues: If giving comments and opinions during news reporting will continue, people might confuse news from commentary. Because of that, people’s decision about certain issue can easily be assorted by the own opinion/s of the broadcaster/s. In short, it will be easy for broadcasters (whose job is supposedly just to inform people) to shape the opinions of the listeners or the televiewers. Moreover, instead of discussing about the main issue, people might forget about it and start talking about the opinions of broadcasters, making their opinions an issue itself. Certainly, it will bring additional disarray to the society. E.Case 1. GMA morning news anchor Arnold Clavio became controversial after giving an offensive remark against the Filipino-foreign members of the Philippine Azkals during the nationwide broadcast of News and Public Affairs Program ‘Unang Hirit’ last March 2012. â€Å"Hindi naman kayo Pilipino. Nagpapanggap lang kayong kayumanggi. Hindi kayo dito lumaki. Mahirap ‘yun,† Clavio said while discussing about Cristy Ramos’ sexual harassment case against Azkals players Lexton Moy and Angel Guirado. Rhea Santos, Clavio’s co-anchor is also faced with bad comments after giving a remark about Filipino women: â€Å"Yung mga babae†¦ kasi porke guwapo†¦ sikat†¦ minsan halos itapon na nila yung mga sarili doon sa mga lalaki.† The Philippine Football federation already filed a complaint against GMA Network Inc., demanding for a written apology to be read on â€Å"Unang Hirit.† 2. The three comments on the news and exchange jokes at the end of the show on TV Patrol are so distracting. There was one time when Korina Sanchez obviously laughed shortly during a news report about a death of a rape victim. F.Concerns Giving opinions while delivering news is a violation under the Article 1, Sec 3a of Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) Code of 2007 which states that news reports shall be fair, factual, and objective; and Article 1, Sec. 3c, which states that side comments expressing personal opinions while a news item is being reported or delivered are prohibited to prevent the listener from mistaking opinion for news. Also, according to the journalist code of ethics, journalist â€Å"shall scrupulously report and interpret the news, taking care not to suppress essential facts or to distort the truth by omission or improper emphasis. I recognise the duty to air the other side and the duty to correct substantive errors promptly.† H.Conclusion News reporting is to inform people about important events. It is not to express your opinions in a certain issue. It must be fair, factual and objective. However, not all broadcasters obey this rule. Issues about news anchors and news reporters being accused of malicious statements are very rampant today. It is because they used news programs as venues to express their thoughts, which is a violation under the KBP Broadcast Code of 2007 Article 1, Sec. 3a and Sec. 3c. A broadcaster’s opinion in a certain issue can reach a thousand of people and he/she can use this opportunity to his/her own interest, or worse, his/her opinion might be a start of another issue. Giving comments while delivering a news report can never be considered as a irresponsible journalism for it will just create chaos to the society instead promoting national unity. Media is too powerful that whatever the public see in the television or hear over the radio can greatly affect their decisions in life. That’s the reason why broadcasters must be careful in whatever they do and say on air. I.References: †¢2007 Broadcast Code of the Philippines †¢file:///C:/Users/WIN%207/Documents/_CMS%20103/Journalist%E2%80%99s%20Code%20of%20Ethics%20%28Philippines%29.htm †¢http://ph.omg.yahoo.com/blogs/switchingchannels/tv-patrol-tabloid-journalism-104015722.html †¢http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/251681/sports/opinion/a-molotov-cocktail-of-sexual-harassment-race-and-social-media †¢http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/sports/03/15/12/pff-files-complaint-vs-clavio-azkals-comment