Wednesday, March 14, 2012

A Disappointment


Admittedly, I'm out of the loop with the current impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. And it's by choice. I'm just sick of politics, seriously. But I just can't ignore this hot issue connected to that and let me share my thoughts.

Today's frontpage of the Philippine Daily Inquirer caused an uproar as they feature "unflattering" (to say the least) pictures of defense witness Demetrio Vicente. Mr. Vicente suffered from a stroke so that's why he does not speak normally so yeah those pictures are very offensive and irresponsible as they are (intentional or not) mocking Mr. Vicente's condition. The caption itself is tacky as well, really "the many faces?".

PDI's official statement is that it was not their intention to humiliate Mr. Vicente and that those were the only pictures available. I'm sorry but that's a lame excuse. I doubt those are the only pictures available, they are the top broadsheet of the country for crying out loud so I really don't buy their excuse that these are the best pictures they could come up with. Plus what's with posting FOUR pictures?! One picture would suffice and would be less insulting. Sorry there was malice in the editorial decision to publish these photos. I will not elaborate anymore what I think their intention was but it's obvious anyway. I'm so disappointed with PDI and it hurts me to say that because I love PDI and for them to commit such a major mistake is unbelievable. This is seriously a disappointing move for them. I know PDI is a feisty broadsheet but in this case they are out of line.

I really don't know what to say but the bottomline is I'm so sad that my favorite newspaper did this. I try hard not to be jaded but incidents lik this is making it difficult.

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