The Philippine Daily Inquirer’s front-page photo, October 8, of an agricultural estate in Rosario, Batangas, which disgruntled former vice mayor Ernesto Mercado alleged was owned by Vice President Jejomar Binay, represents a travesty of journalistic principles, and a debasement of one of the most crucial institutions of democracy, the Press.
The photo was obviously primarily meant not to report news, not to make public an allegation against the second-highest official of the land. It was, instead, intended to create outrage against Binay for his alleged hidden wealth, to etch in people’s minds that he owns an estate rivaling those of America’s rich and famous, with a garden more glorious than those in Europe. It was obviously neither for justice nor truth, but to weaken his acceptance by the electorate in 2016.
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