To grieve in private is a basic right

You must have seen this in the news.  One father, valiantly trying to contain his emotions, approaches a gurney in a morgue where a lifeless body - belonging to his only son, Marvin Reglos, killed in yet another hazing incident - is covered in white cloth.  He lifts the sheet, sees just enough of his son, then desperately lets out all the pain and anguish that he dammed inside of him since he first heard about what happened to his son.  Seeing the truth, there is nothing left to do but grieve, and this he does by pouring his profound sorrow in tears and wails of grief as he collapses into the arms of equally bereaving family members, also trying to find solace in him.

In fact, we have seen similar scenes before: executed drug couriers, tortured and murdered OFWs, met for the first time by loved ones; OFWs coming home to a dead kin, a victim of local violence, parents, wives, children of slain soldiers ambushed by ruthless enemies - all the drama, pain and grief delivered to our living rooms courtesy of eager reporters, trying to get the best shot and the rawest sound byte of pure, unadulterated sorrow.  This is reality TV at its most real.

This is a part of media reporting that I find disgusting.

And you and I should not have seen any of those footages.



While I agree that media has the duty to report the latest news, I believe that they should do so without compromising, and trampling, common decency.  I mean it's bad enough that a person is seeing a dead loved one for the first time, but to do so with a camera capturing every bit of his anguish smacks of exploitation and utter disregard for basic human respect.

You don't have to show such scenes to establish that there is pain and grief; it is a given  under such circumstances.  You don't have to show such scenes to complete a story, viewers can do that on their own, the conclusion of pain and grief is a given under such circumstances.  To show such scenes deprives the grieving party the chance to experience the kind of privacy that grief of such magnitude requires. I believe that in times like this, reporters should not look at people as stories, but as humans with the right to express their primal emotions without cameras serving as peepholes for emotional voyeurs.

I think there must be a law to protect the right of people to grieve in private, without media taking advantage of  it in the name of news reporting.  Media is barred from showing the faces of minors in their story, and they regularly obscure the faces of witnesses, whistleblowers and sources for their protection.  So why not allow a grieving person to suffer in private?

Calling on Congressman Aurelio Gonzales, Jr of Pampanga.  Since you are of the sensitive kind, perhaps you could file a bill related to this and junk the one you did to protect you and your chums at congress from being portrayed as crooks and evil men in TV and movies.  Promise, I'll look at you in a different light.




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