IFJ condemns Philippine’s journalist accreditation scheme

October 15, 2013

IFJ condemns Philippine’s journalist accreditation scheme

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins with its affiliate, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in condemning House Bill 2550, the misnamed “Magna Carta for Journalists”, which seeks to impose an accreditation exam on journalists.

The NUJP said the Bill, if passed, would require aspiring journalists working across the media industry pass an accreditation exam. In recent months a similar bill was rejected by media organisations across the country.

The NUJP said the proposal in the Bill “would be akin to determining who can and cannot speak out freely… It will end up emasculating, not strengthening, and certainly not expanding the boundaries of, journalism.”

The NUJP said it will oppose any and all attempts to subject journalism to any form of accreditation or licensing. The NUJP notes that media workers already adhere to the professional and ethical standards of the media organisations they work for. NUJP added: “Anyone and everyone can and should be able to practice journalism without being discriminated against by virtue of some misguided criteria.”

The proposed bill also appears to be self-defeating in that while it aims to institute an accreditation exams it also states that the “non-accredited”, presumably those who either fail to pass or do not take the exam, can still work for media organisations. The bill also exempts media works with 10 or more years’ experience in the industry. NUJP said this infringes “the rights not only of those who have been employed as journalists for less than 10 years by, in effect, downgrading their status [but] also on the right of media managements to choose who is or is not qualified for employment.”

IFJ Asia-Pacific said: “This bill appears to be a scurrilous attempt to introduce licensing of journalists. It is offensive to cloak such a horrendous assault on press freedom by utilising the name of one of the great documents of civil rights. The bill aims to set up several categories of journalist, to treat them differently and has the potential to punish any that don’t meet a set of criteria imposed from the outside.

“If politicians in the Philippines truly want to emulate the Magna Carta then they should focus more on the public’s right to know by passing the long-delayed Freedom of Information Bill and other measures that allow media keep their communities informed. And in the weeks leading-up to the fourth anniversary of the Ampatuan Massacre, greater effort must be made by all those in power to combat the outrageous culture of impunity that aims to silence the media by killing journalists and allowing the perpetrators to get away with murder,” IFJ s Asia-Pacific said.

The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 131 countries

Find the IFJ on Twitter: @ifjasiapacific

Find the IFJ on Facebook: www.facebook.com/IFJAsiaPacific

ENDS

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