The Inquirer’s latest “honest mistake”
JEERS TO the Philippine Daily Inquirer for publishing on its front page and its online edition a fake cover of Time Magazine with President Benigno Aquino III.
On April 20, the Inquirer published a supposed photo of the actual Time cover to illustrate its story, “TIME’S 100: PNoy: Honor belongs to the Filipino people.”
The Inquirer caption said: “President Aquino on TIME Magazine cover: I’m just the face of the whole country.”
When Netizens pointed out that no recent Time issue has Mr. Aquino on the cover and that the cover was a spoof on Mr. Aquino on the Facebook page of a group critical of his administration, the Inquirer declared through editor-in-chief Leticia Jimenez Magsanoc that “We stand corrected. It was an honest mistake.”
The Inquirer acknowledged the mistake via its @Team_Inquirer Twitter account on Saturday, April 20.
“An honest mistake, but we do wish President Aquino was on the cover of Time Mag’s ‘100 Most Influential’ issue,” the Inquirer tweeted.
In another tweet, @Team_Inquirer said, “Kudos to eagle-eyed tweeps who called our attention to the fake Time Mag cover. It was an oversight on our part. Thanks for the feedback!”
The photo, however, was still on the paper’s website as of Saturday afternoon.
The following day, the Inquirer issued an erratum in its front page saying: “In the April 20 issue, a photo of President Aquino and its caption gave the wrong impression that it was the cover of Time Magazine.”
“While Mr. Aquino was cited by Time as among the 100 most influential people in the world, he was not on the cover of the magazine. Our apologies,” it added.
Although the Inquirer did not mention where it picked up the photo, Showbiz Government, a Facebook page critical of Mr. Aquino, posted on its timeline a copy of the Inquirer’s front page saying: “Thank you very much Philippine Daily Inquirer (Official) for publishing our MEMEs (on) your FRONT PAGE.”
The paper’s latest gaffe and apology received mixed reactions from netizens. On Twitter:
Kiko Acero (@FrancisAcero) asked: “What is the extent of responsibility for a mistake that @inquirerdotnet made? Is a mea culpa enough?”
Kim Indar (@KimIndar), a lawyer, reacted on the Inquirer’s tweet saying, “but the damage has been done.”
Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) then replied to Kim Indar saying: “I prefer to believe it was just done in innocent fun. To say it is a mistake admits a sidereal stupidity.”
Kim Indar (@KimIndar) added: “Either sabotage or negligence. Either way, very telling on editorial policy.”
Tonyo Cruz (@tonyocruz) said: “I just wish there’s an explanation about the mistake. And that the paper pour its bias in the editorial pages.”
Jonas Cabiles Soltes (@JournalistNow) was a little optimistic saying: “The mistake was done. No one contests it’s not wrong. There is an apology. Move on. :)”
He added that: “Owning up to mistake ends it. You do not explain a wrong because it’s wrong no matter what.”
Spin Busters, a website that critiques Philippine media, earlier published an article regarding the Inquirer’s faux pas. It said: “The monumental error cost PDI a lot of credibility points especially among the social media crowd.”
“Even the bottom of the social media food chain knows it’s Jennifer Lawrence (and other notable personalities) on the latest Time cover,” Spin Busters added.
“Next time editors at the Inquirer commit a glaring gaffe, they can use ‘honest mistake’ as an excuse for what’s really a stupid mistake,” it added.
The Time cover “mistake” was not the Inquirer’s first, only its latest. On March 14, 2012, the paper published on its front page photos of Corona defense witness Demetrio Vicente. The caption read: “’CHARACTER’ (in quotes) WITNESS: The many faces of Demetrio Vicente on the witness stand. He’s no ordinary witness after all. He’s the cousin of the Chief Justice whose wife sold him seven parcels of land in 1990, where he now grows bonsai.” (CMFR published an article on the issue titled: “Inquirer apologizes”)
On March 15, Inquirer published a front-page apology for the series of photographs.
On May 9, the paper published on its front page a photo of President Benigno S. Aquino III shaking hands with an unidentified Muslim woman in a burqa. The photo caption read: “Security risk? President Aquino greets a Muslim woman wrapped in a burka and niqab during the oath-taking of officers in charge of the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly held in Malacañang on Tuesday. The unidentified woman is reportedly a relative of one of the officers.” (CMFR wrote an article on the issue titled: “Stereotyping Muslims”)
In the online posting of the photo, the Inquirer had “PALACE GUEST” for caption instead of “SECURITY RISK?”
The offending caption was in violation of two provisions in “the Canons of Good Taste for Journalists” of the Inquirer’s own Stylebook: A Manual of Style and Usage for Editors, Writers, Reporters and Students:
- “6.2. Avoid language that perpetuates racial stereotypes or is offensive to certain races.”
- “6.3 Avoid language that denigrates certain religions.”
Inquirer apologized on May 11 for the photo caption.
Inquirer in the same stylebook emphasized the importance of accuracy: “A reporter working under deadline pressure should always make the best effort to check the accuracy of the information he or she has obtained. A newspaper that often makes mistakes of fact soon loses its credibility and its readers.”
no big deal. they already apologized. so what do you want the newspaper to do? fold up? in pilipino kulit lang ninyo.
you got it all wrong, buddy. mistakes committed by media are a big deal. we depend on the media for information; we even admire them for many things which also makes them valuable opinion leaders. undeniably, they shape the consciousness of people. any fact mishandled by them will surely cause misinformation and misinterpretation and that is big trouble, my friend. the media are highly influential. people put a lot of faith on them.
i believe that the point of this article is for the media to be open and objective in reexamining itself. it’s not enough that they know and let people know about their values and principles; media must hold steadfast to them because they have a huge responsibility to the people and because if they don’t, this is what happens: a cycle of errors.
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