Sunday 23 November 2014
Philippines banning Hong Kong journalists is petty and vindictive
The Philippines has tried hard to end its diplomatic row with Hong Kong after the 2010 hostage killings in Manila. But by banning nine Hong Kong journalists from entering the country to cover next year’s Apec summit, it will only rekindle resentment and likely retaliation from Hong Kong. It is an appalling and unwise move.
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Philippines banning Hong Kong journalists is petty and vindictive
Alex Lo
22 November 2014
The Philippines has tried hard to end its diplomatic row with Hong Kong after the 2010 hostage killings in Manila. But by banning nine Hong Kong journalists from entering the country to cover next year’s Apec summit, it will only rekindle resentment and likely retaliation from Hong Kong. It is an appalling and unwise move.
The nine journalists are from Now TV, Commercial Radio and RTHK, three of the city’s major electronic news organisations. They are being blacklisted apparently because all were involved in an incident last year during which reporters fired questions at President Benigno Aquino about the Manila bus tragedy without prior permission.
Seven Hong Kong tourists and a guide died in the shoot-out.
The Hong Kong reporters were rudely hauled away and had their media passes confiscated after the incident last year, even though Aquino was walking through a non-restricted area of the Bali International Convention Centre. He didn’t respond to the questions anyway and there would have been no story if the reporters were allowed to leave. Pouring more fuel on the fire, he defended their ejection from the event, saying he would have kicked them out himself under the circumstances. Their rough treatment duly became front-page news in Hong Kong for days.
Now, in an official letter to one of the journalists about the blacklist, the questioning was described as “heckling” of the Philippine president.
The country has finally managed to end the diplomatic crisis, which reached all the way to Beijing, after reaching a settlement in April with survivors and the families of those killed.
By now, everyone has forgotten the crisis and the bitter wrangles that went on for years - or would have had it not been for the Philippines’ latest silly move.
A democratic country with a free press may bar foreign reporters if they or their organisations have engaged in reporting that endangers people’s lives, such as condoning terrorism or otherwise encouraging violence and civil unrest. Other than that, such bans fly in the face of common decency, not to say democratic rights such as free speech and a free press.
How petty and vindictive can the Philippines get?
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