I don’t take sides

By Alex P. Vidal

“Journalism without a moral position is impossible. Every journalist is a moralist. It’s absolutely unavoidable.”—Marguerite Duras

I’VE noticed that some American journalists take sides when they cover political events, especially the ongoing Donald Trump donnybrook.

Either they are identified as “conservative” or “liberal” press.

I thought these two prominent ideologies are only for politics or politicians.

I thought media practitioners are independent, neutral or nonpartisans.

CNN and other networks and broadsheets that deal the Democratic administration of President Joe Biden with kid gloves, for instance, have been tagged as “liberals”, while rival Fox News and other networks and broadsheets that pamper Mr. Trump and the Republican Party, have been labeled as “conservatives.”

In the United States, the political ideology has been described with the left–right spectrum. Liberalism as the predominant left-leaning ideology and conservatism as the predominant right-leaning ideology.

I’m neither liberal nor conservative. I am slightly moderate and always see to it apolitical when I cover events in the United States that involve political personalities and their rivalries.

I don’t take sides. I present both sides of the coin and quote prominent firebrands from both political spectrums. It’s my job to inform and help educate the readers, not deform the facts to please my bias and prejudice.

Telling it as it is makes me free from suspicion and accusation as biased.

-o0o-

Objectivity, fairness, and calling spade a spade continue to be my mantra and philosophy as a journalist.

I give my own views as an opinion maker, but I stick to facts; I value objectivity and fairness when I write a straight news.

I am proud to cover the Trump indictment brouhaha and other big stories in the United States as an independent journalist.

When former State Secretary Hilary Clinton lost to Mr. Trump in the 2016 presidential election, I managed to control my emotion as a Clinton admirer and didn’t display any enmity or irritation while I reported the result “live” on radio in the Philippines.

The stories I wrote about the Trump-Clinton setto, as well as the Trump-Biden slugfest were all hedged with fairness and objectivity, modesty aside.

Surprisingly, there are journalists who “justify” the indictment of Mr. Trump reportedly for 30 counts of criminal cases (as of this writing the court hasn’t unsealed them yet) in relation to hush money (the act of paying or buying the silence of a person) the former president allegedly paid porn nymphet Stormy Daniels.

There are journalists who follow the narratives of Mr. Trump’s Republican supporters that what Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, did was a “political vendetta” and “election interference.”

Both the “conservative“ and “liberal” journalists sometimes become the news themselves, not the purveyors of truth or reporters of straight news and objectivity.

I will never sag in this level.

-o0o-

BAD NEWS AND GOOD NEWS. How common is a brain aneurysm? Research says many people have them—up to 4 percent have it at autopsy (meaning sure death), but many show no symptoms. About 5 percent of people will reportedly develop a brain aneurysm during their lifetime, but only about 10 percent of them will experience a rupture. In other words, there is a big chance of survival—if we don’t belong in the 10 percent! If this happens, the trip to Kingdom Come will be suspended if not canceled!

DAMAYAN ACTIVITIES. Damayan Migrant Workers Association, with a mission to empower low-wage workers to fight for their labor, health, gender, and immigrant rights in New York City, recently celebrated Women at the March Members of fighting anti-Asan Hate.

Established in 2002 to build leadership at the grassroots level and eliminate labor trafficking, fight labor fraud and wage theft, and  demand fair labor standards to achieve economic and social justice, Damayan also held an activity related to anti-Asian hate.

March Members Meeting was held at The People’s Forum, Manhattan became a community-building event.

It sought to unify and fortify the Filipino migrant worker community rocked by the recent wave of anti-Asian hate and violence.  Most recently, a Filipino mother-and-son were viciously attacked at Corona, Queens by a trio shouting racial slurs at them. The community then came together at a rally decrying anti-Asian hate, showing support to the survivors.

“It is fitting that International Women’s Month was also being celebrated at the  March Members Meeting, paying tribute to all the Filipino migrant women workers, recognizing their  hard labor overseas and their personal sacrifices that have supported their families back home and propped up the Philippine economy,” Damayan announced. “These women workers, who are mostly domestic workers, face the danger of racial hate crimes and violence everyday as they ride the subways and walk in the streets of Manhattan to go to their jobs.”

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)