MANILA, Philippines - It is high time local news organizations arrive at standard guidelines for covering crises like the hostage drama last Monday that captured international headlines.

At a student-initiated forum at the University of the Philippines (UP) on Friday, industry representatives expressed this as they revisited decisions made during the coverage of the standoff.

Live, blow-by-blow reporting of crucial moments in the negotiations and subsequent police assault at the hijacked tourist bus that night has been criticized for contributing to its bloody outcome: the deaths of eight Chinese and Canadian nationals, and of the hostage-taker Rolando Mendoza.

Yet the speakers at the forum said the media was not primarily responsible for the tragedy.

The crisis highlighted the "struggle between journalists whose goal is to tell the story and authorities who must resolve the situation," said Maria Ressa, ABS-CBN senior vice president for news and current affairs.

Authorities failed to control onlookers and lay guidelines for the media at the Quirino Grandstand, she said.

"When there are no rules, we push for what we can get, and the dynamics of having hundreds of journalists doing that can push it too far," Ressa said.

Reading the network's statement, she said ABS-CBN would have heeded a news blackout if it was called.

It was a "second by second, minute per minute permutation of about 200 people trying to work together to try to put limitations in a situation where there was none," she said.

GMA Network, which was invited to the forum, declined. It said it was still conducting an internal investigation.

'Too much'

 Faculty, staff, and students at the UP College of Mass Communication (CMC) had called the media to account for their coverage.

"While (they) should be commended for providing up-to-date information on what transpired, some media organizations should be criticized for the same reason because they ended up giving TOO MUCH information," read the statement of 170 college members that included Dean Rolando Tolentino.

The statement reminded news organizations of guidelines in crisis reporting put out by media monitoring groups like the US-based Poynter Institute and the Philippines' Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR).

"It is appalling that the live coverage was done not to help the public make sense of the situation but only to milk it for all it is worth," it added.

Seeing live video of Rolando Mendoza's brother Gregorio struggling against police apprehending him is believed to have agitated the hostage-taker. Police shooting at the bus tires then provoked him to open fire.

The CMC student council and student organizations, in another statement, said the drive for ratings and viewership has replaced the public welfare as the media's priority.

"Media shortcomings, as highlighted by the hostage situation, is rooted in the fact that current Philippine media has no idea of its own self, its freedom, its responsibilities, and its ethics," it said.

"An informed public requires an informed media first and foremost."

Tinig ng Plaridel (TNP), the college publication, decried in an editorial what it saw as sensationalism and fact distortion in the stations' immediate airing of scenes like the cry of bus driver Alberto Lubang after he escaped: "Patay na lahat (Everyone is dead)."

It questioned the necessity of going live.

"The media could have opted to delay coverage instead by half an hour or so," TNP said, citing its use in the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.

"That way coverage would have still been delivered without compromising the rescue operation."

TNP said the audience and the state cannot set the media's limits. "The answer lies in the media’s strict enforcement of self-regulation among its ranks. It should not wait for any external forces such as the government before they can even act."

The CMC student council statement saw no need for a media blackout. "A free and responsible media should be able to decide for itself what actually helps the public and (should) avoid acting rashly."

Reexamination

Ilang-Ilang Quijano, a national director of the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) said media must reexamine itself to keep fulfilling its role as a leader in society.

"If the media is also at fault, it is unable to lead the public in its quest for accountability and justice," she said.

The media's handling of Monday's incident has prompted proposals in government to tighten protocols on crisis coverage like House Bill 2737 of Cebu Rep. Luis Quisumbing.

The NUJP has rejected such third-party rules.

Prof. Luis Teodoro of the CMFR warned that media's failure to regulate themselves will invite government intervention, which can end up imposing restrictions on press freedom.

"Media must address their own limitations and failings to deserve and hold the higher moral ground when insisting on keeping their hard-won freedom," he said.

Teodoro said media must acknowledge errors in its coverage and review existing coverage guidelines among each other.

"This is to reduce the tendency to try to outdo each other," he said.

Prof. Mel Estonilo, a radio broadcaster who now teaches at the CMC, said there have been attempts to draw common protocols in the past but these were left unimplemented.

The challenge for media organizations is to set aside competition and create guidelines that are followed, she said.

Roberto Del Rosario, board member of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) said they are willing to sit down with authorities and review standard operating procedures.

The KBP, the country's largest group of television and radio stations, earlier stressed that their members had adhered to KBP and individual guidelines in covering the hijacking.

Del Rosario said KBP members are meeting and taking action.

Drawing back

Couldn't have one network drawn back on its own that Monday?

Teodoro said the best call would have been to resume normal programming and avoid the danger of putting anything to air just to fill a lull.

Ressa said pulling back was impossible with all the people who were there and producing accounts via social media.

"If we had unilaterally pulled away, it wouldn't have affected the situation. If we didn't give you what happened, would you have known, could we even have this debate? That doesn't absolve us of our own (mistakes)," she said.

Quijano stressed the need for journalists to have processed the information they gathered before broadcasting it to the public.

Ressa added that if there were a direct line between newsroom heads during the crisis, they could have agreed on controls in such an uncontrollable situation.

The tragedy may have shown another side to the local media's growth in ethical adherence.

Unlike the last similar case in 2007 when many radio stations outdid each other to put bus hostage-taker Jun Ducat on the air, only one station this time answered Rolando Mendoza's call for live airtime.

While it is very hard for media to police their own ranks, this episode shows a more ethical group rising, Ressa said.

"If we are wrong, we hold ourselves accountable," she said. "Even if we are not wrong, we hold ourselves accountable, because we serve the people."