Cagayan de Oro media protest ‘discrimination’ in presidential debate coverage

Journalists from Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao are crying foul over alleged discrimination in the media coverage for the presidential debate organized by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Sunday, February 21. The debate is the first in a series to be mounted by media companies that signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the poll body. In a statement on Sunday, February 14, the Cagayan de Oro Press Club decried the fact that organizers of the first debate – GMA-7 and the Philippine Daily Inquirer, plus the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) as debate coordinator allotted only 5 slots for local editors / publishers as debate audience and 5 slots for newspaper reporters. Calling the matter a clear case of discrimination towards the province-based media, the CDO Press Club argued in its statement that “the presidential debate is far too important, and should be beyond corporate media’s quest for higher ratings and wider readership.”

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