Valencia mayor Ma. Katrina Lim urges the members of Bohol media to be more responsible in reporting news items as she makes a plea to them to practice balanced reporting.
She made the statement in a radio interview on Monday, Dec. 7, 2020 over “Newsmakers ug Uban Pa” hosted by Ardy Araneta-Batoy and Gloria Leodivica Araneta.
The mayor indicated that she has read a so-called “irresponsible article” written by a media person and published online. Lim did not divulge the identity of the writer.
However, the mayor said that the writer is a female and has been writing articles presented on a “blind item style”, where the subject of the articles is not fully identified. Yet, the mayor bared that an astute reader can easily decipher the identity of the subject.
In the interview, mayor dubbed the writer as an “irresponsible member” of the media, as the latter tries to twist the real facts of story in her news articles.
Moreover, the mayor added that the writer makes it appear as if the victim is the culprit and the culprit is the victim.
Furthermore, Lim said that in the article which she calls as “irresponsible”, the subject of the attach is Gov. Arthur Yap. The governor, the mayor added, is being lambasted in the said article.
Lim said further that media practitioners who refuse to practice balanced reporting are “more animal than the animals themselves.”
The mayor made a plea to the members of the media to observe balanced reporting when they release news items in print, broadcast or online. Reports should be fair and factual, so as not to mislead the readers, the mayor added in her concluding statement in the radio interview.