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Philippines Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago has called for online journalists and bloggers to be included in a proposed penal code amendment relating to the killing of journalists. Senate Bill No. 455 , which is pending after being submitted in July last year, currently proposes to upgrade the murder of broadcast and print media journalists while they are working, elevating the maximum punishment to life-long incarceration.

But Santiago has questioned the amendment's exclusion of online journalists and bloggers.

"There is no reason why only members of the broadcast and print media should be included in the proposed law," Santiago said yesterday.

"Due regard must also be given to practitioners of the 'digital media', or those whose mode of communication is the internet and mobile phones."

Santiago proposed that the bill should include in its scope all media practitioners in general, from print, television and photo journalists to those working online or in radio, as well as other media professions such as novelists, screenwriters and playwrights.

"It is clear that practitioners of the digital media are exposed to the same dangers that print and broadcast media practitioners are exposed to, so they should likewise be given protection by the law," she added.

In 2009 the Philippines was the setting for the deadliest single event for journalists since the Committee to Protect Journalists began keeping records in 1992.

In total, 32 journalists and media workers were reportedly killed alongside 25 others in Ampatuan town, in what became known as the 'Maguindanao massacre'.

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Written by
Rachel Bartlett

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