NUJP joins the Filipino Freelance Journalists’ Guild, the Photojournalists’ Center of the Philippines and the media community in standing with Ezra Acayan against the misappropriation and misuse of his photo.
The photo of relatives and friends grieving the death of a young boy killed during the Duterte drug war was used as content for commentary on ‘zero remittance’ week planned by some OFW Duterte supporters.
We stand with him as well against the social media user’s retort that he has been “exploiting” grief for “clicks and likes”.
No media worker endures the trauma and risk of covering sensitive issues like the drug war for something as ephemeral and ultimately useless as online clout.
No number of emojis is compensation enough for having to bear witness to killings that many in power at the time cheered on or were silent about.
Acayan and other photojournalists did not in fact get “clicks and likes” but threats and online harassment at minimum.
To glibly use that as some sort of defense disrespects Acayan and the victims he has photographed as it does those in the media and human rights community who documented the killings since 2016.
