Have you heard the latest on the dispute between Philippine Airlines (PAL) and its former labor union Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA)?

We have not either.  What we have heard is PAL crying harassment over the labor union camping out at its in-flight center (whatever that is). And how could we have not? They said so on Facebook:

 

And on Philippine Star:

And on People’s Journal:

And the Manila Standard Today:

 

Now, it’s not unusual for newspapers to print press releases in toto. That’s where the lifestyle and entertainment sections get 75% of their content.  But the PAL-PALEA dispute is not a new brand of lotion or a new clothing line for SM department store and deserves better treatment.

 

At the very least, these newspapers should have clearly labelled these stories as PR. The stories make it look like the papers are reporting what PAL said, but they don’t disclose that the story itself came from PAL. That means these stories come with whatever authority, integrity, and impartiality that these newspapers claim. (To be fair, nobody claims impartiality anymore)

They should have at least put PALEA’s protests in context, or at least explained how exactly those protests constitute harassment.  They should at least have talked to PALEA for a reaction. They’re not that hard to find since they’re camped out at the in-flight center and presumably planning further acts of harassment. It was a long weekend of slow news days.

No jokes today, these papers are enough of a punchline as it is.