Envelopmental Journalism

We all know that in this country politics is some kind of an “old game”. And, come to think of it, at this very moment our politicians are again “on the run” since the year 2010 is a presidential election year.

One of the known issues nowadays is the so called “ENVELOPMENTAL JOURNALISM”. It is considered as one of the communication problems of society particularly in Mass Media. Absolutely, it is also known as “payola”. Envelopmental Journalism refers to a sum of money usually placed in an envelope given by some unscrupulous officials or persons to some equally unscrupulous mediamen. It has two purposes: one--, to create a story with the aspect of favoring a certain thing in which a person involved in a particular problem or situation to be written and published a newspaper, radio or television. And, secondly to silence the reporter from writing about certain event/issue that he knows.

In this case, the importance of the code of ethics will be suppressed. It may also impair the reputation and credibility of a mediaman as well as the significance of his news item because once a mediaman accepts envelopmental journalism; he controls the reality and the truthfulness of the news. Therefore, the news remains questionable for, he will just write/tell the positive side of a certain thing but the negative side will not be included.

There are several reasons why mediamen commit this kind of practice in their profession wherein envelopmental journalism is a fundamental fact. According to some other journalists, envelopmetal journalism is another addition to his income aside from the salary that he receives.

Indeed, the lower income and lower salary of a journalist may also affect the financial needs of his profession. So, for this reason, he accepts the offer instead of protecting his credibility. It only shows that some Filipino Journalists are undisciplined and unprincipled.

Another one is the economic crisis in the country and because of poverty people become “practical” in everything. It has been proved that the Filipino is too much dazzled in terms of money that reputation is “sidelined”. A newsman, therefore, who takes money or goes for envelopmental journalism violates the NPC-promulgated code of ethics for Filipino Journalists.

Seriously speaking, I am writing this article just to remind our graduates that “politics” has a lot to do with employment or unemployment. Temptations lessen your credibility. Be on guard and aim high for a successful profession!