Reporting the Scarborough disputeContext, context, context

On June 26, the Inquirer captioned a front-page photo of one of the survivors thus: “Injured Herman Balmores, one of the fishermen rescued after a Chinese ship rammed their boat off Bolinao, Pangasinan, rests at the hospital in Vigan City.” (italics by PJR Reports)

Because there are several Chinese agencies involved in the issue of China’s territorial claims, getting the Chinese side is difficult if not impossible. The Chinese Embassy issues their statements which may suffice in reflecting the perspective of the Chinese government. The scant reference to the Chinese perspective necessarily renders these stories as lacking in balance.

Chinese authorities were quoted in a few reports, which were buried in the text. The Inquirer, for example, asked the Chinese embassy on the alleged ramming incident, which said it had no knowledge of the incident.

The Chinese perspective was in some of the reports but only as additional material, and often about China’s plan to maintain ships in Panatag and quotes from a Chinese official, Rear Adm. Yin Zhuo, director of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) Information Expert Committee, for Chinese navy ships to target Filipino vessels “hanging around” the area.

Some editorials and commentaries were quick to react and called for immediate action against the Chinese for the incident. In its June 26 editorial, the Tribune said this was President Benigno Aquino III’s chance to “to play hardball with China”. “Noynoy should now be giving the Chinese hell for all he’s worth and not a yellow handshake,” the Tribune wrote in its “Turning yellow” editorial.

Days after the press reported that a Chinese fishing vessel rammed the boat, follow up reports said that the vessel may not have been Chinese-registered; that the “ramming” could have been accidental; and that the foreign vessel may not have even hit the boat at all. Aquino was quoted in news reports as saying that the Philippine government was not accusing any country of responsibility for the incident, which Philippine authorities were reported to be still investigating.

Explaining his side to the Inquirer last June 26 in a banner story, Ramos said that the last message his office had received from the AXL John operator was that the boat had been rammed by a Chinese vessel. However, he admitted that his agency had not confirmed the survivors’ claim. (“Big Hong Kong cargo ship tagged in PH boat sinking”)

Efforts

The press did exert some effort in providing context and background on the controversy. Some broadsheets, for example, explained the Philippine position on the Scarborough shoal and provided background information on the controversy, including mentioning some of the more frequently discussed issues. These broadsheets included the Inquirer and the Star.

Chito Sta. Romana, who was an exile in China for over two decades, in an April 16 Rappler piece provided some context on the issue, explaining that aside from the issue of sovereignty, concern over the area’s marine resources and oil and gas deposits is also behind the claims. The growing rivalry between China and the United States in Asia also “provides a strategic context that complicates the regional situation.” Sta. Romana was formerly Beijing bureau chief for ABC News and covered China from 1989 to 2010.

Last June 17, Cheche Lazaro Presents over ABS-CBN News Chanel (ANC) provided a wider perspective on the Scarborough Shoal dispute with an analysis of the competing claims in west Philippine Sea. These included a discussion on the Kalayaan island group and Sabah. It explained such related issues as the new Philippine baselines law, the need for military modernization in the face of these concerns, the controversial Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking with China and later Vietnam, the global fish harvest in the area, and the oil and natural gas reserves in Panatag and surrounding areas.

A June 4 commentary from economic research think tank Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis published in BusinessWorld discussed the economic and trade agreements between the Philippines and China. These include a five-year plan which aims for a bilateral target of $60 billion by 2016, three million bilateral tourist arrivals, and additional direct foreign investments.

The complexities of the dispute were apparently lost to much of the Philippine media, which in far too many instances were content to get on their high horses and to demand retaliation against China even for incidents that, as it turned out, may not have even happened.

 

SIDEBAR:

Last June 25, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that a Chinese official, Rear Adm. Yin Zhuo, director of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) Information Expert Committee, had ordered navy ships to target “Filipino vessels that hang around” Scarborough Shoal “and that don’t leave”. (“Chinese ship rams Philippine fish boat; 1 dead: 4 missing, 3 injured in incident off Pangasinan”)

ABS-CBNNews.com section editor Jojo Malig complained that Yin’s quotes came from his report and that the Inquirer, did not attribute the quotes. Malig said he translated the quotes, which were in Chinese and posted in China’s state news agency China News Service or CNS.

Through its Twitter account, the Inquirer said it had referred Malig’s complaint to the paper’s new ombudsman, former University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication dean Elena Pernia.

 

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