journalistic boo-boo

Heard about this incident earlier and decided to check it out. Well-known Journalist MF wrote in two publications about a trip she recently took to Greece, with pretty deliberate insults directed at OFWs. This obviously earned the ire of many Pinoy workers and gave birth to so many seething reactions from Pinoys the world over.

Read the original articles at:
http://selvo.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/people-asia-p30.jpg
http://selvo.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/people-asia-p31.jpg
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=goodLife2_april16_2007

As I read these three articles myself, I couldn't help but feel offended on behalf of OFWs. I myself have flown coach on Emirates and Qatar Airways on more than one occasion, and I do have to agree on the noise-level complaint of the writer. Pinoy workers do tend to be quite noisy and chatty. Though understandable because this tendency to be talkative may be their best outlet for the anxiety of going somewhere totally foreign, when you're tired and sleepy, this can be very very annoying. I'm also personally not a fan of very cramped places, but this holds true whether I share the space with a roomful of OFWs or a roomful of kings and queens. The discomfort mainly comes from the "sikip"-ness, not from the fact that the sharers of the space are Pinoy workers. And, since I've been in the same situation as her, I can safely say that a lot of her statements are truly OA, such as her insults re their smell. The problem with the articles she wrote is not that she's overly sensitive (to smell, etc), but that she's not sensitive at all.

Which leads me to her initial reaction to the negative responses that her articles elicited. Check it out at the last paragraph of this article-- http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=goodLife1_july30_2007

Really, nothing has ever sounded so dumb to me. Esp from someone from the supposed upper crusts of society. She's mistaking humor for cruelty and prejudice. Good thing she finally came to her senses and issued a proper apology to the public:
http://www.geocities.com/fernandez_malu/

I don't think she deserves the death threats, but I seriously don't feel sorry for her either. I mean, she is reaping what she sowed. In a country that's 99% poor, it's almost a crime to say the things she did. She sounded like a bigot, for which there is absolutely no excuse. And it's an even bigger crime against the Filipino people to thump one's nose at the very group of people who are holding up our economy. The Philippine economy is not propped up by the "have's" as she termed it, but by the very people whose smell seem to have offended her so much she had to put it on paper.

Oh, and I also blame the editors and publishers for even giving an avenue for these irresponsible words. They're just as guilty as MF for giving these hurtful things the light of day. Let this just be a lesson to everyone that just because someone's not at the same level as us financially doesn't mean they deserve any less respect. And just because you were given a pen to write with doesn't mean you can write whatever you want. Part and parcel of press freedom is press responsibility. What a sad day for Philippine journalism.