Irresponsible Journalism by Ronald M. Corpuz (March, 2006)

Last March 06,2006, People's Tonight, a newspaper of general circulation published an article with a title " TIP Student Killed in Hazing" which surprises and shocked many students, professors and administrators of TIP. The victim of the said hazing incident was identified as Clark Anton Silverio, 18 years of age, a resident of Pasay City and a neophyte of Tau Gamma Fraternity. He was rushed into Manila Sanitarium Hospital but died. He was believed to have died due to severe body injuries from a paddle as part of the initiation rite of the said fraternity .One of the suspects was arrested by the name of Edmar Cipan.

TIP administrators verified the name of the victim and the suspect of the said hazing incident. It happened to be that both victim and suspects are not students of TIP but are students of Technological University Philippines or TUP. Of course, they are convinced that it is not intentional on the part of the publisher to print such article but the said error should be set aside and must be rectified.

This is another case of irresponsible journalism, which should not be tolerated or given excuses. We are aware that it may be a typographical error or they may have overlooked the title of the said article but one thing is certain, and that is, there is negligence on the part of the said publishing company on insuring that the published article was correct. The said error may be not so serious on the part of publisher but on the part of the TIP community, it can cause some hesitation on the part of our incoming freshmen students to enroll in our school and may even degrade the reputation of our beloved institution. Indeed, our institution has been striving so hard, utilizing some of its precious capital and human resources just to acquire and attract as many students as possible but because of this publication, the efforts may not be realized. If not corrected, TIP may be given the recognition to be the "home of uneducated fraternity members" or " a school with undisciplined students" which in reality it is not. TIP administration is very vigilant and has taken all the measures to avoid this particular incident to ever happen.

Whatever it may be, the suspects of the hazing incident which are the members of the Tau Gamma Fraternity will be held criminally liable for violating Republic Act 8040 or otherwise known as the Anti-Hazing Law, and that the family of Clark Anton Silverio will demand for the immediate arrest of those who are involved in the crime. On the part of TIP, a civil case may be filed against People's Tonight for their publication or it may end up in a settlement by simply publishing an " erratum or public apology"

This incident will serve as a reminder to our friends in media to be very cautious and prudent in every article that they publish. Ensuring that every detail in their publication is true and correct. We are not questioning their right; we are just emphasizing the delicate nature of their job. A single word may cause not only confusion, it may degrade or destroy the reputation of a particular individual or entities, or worse, divide the nation.