Truth Telling and other Perils in “Democratic” Philippines 217 somewhat lesser in scope than the freedom accorded to newspaper and print media.” Citing US jurisprudence to defend its view, the Court invoked an American case which declared that broadcasting has only limited protection in terms of free expression because it is more pervasive and more readily accessible to children. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court afrmed that “broadcast stations deserve the special protection given to all forms of media by due process and the freedom of expression [provisions] of the Constitution.” Broadcast licensing All radio companies in the Philippines are required to have certicates of public convenience and necessity from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), as specied in Executive Order No. 546 issued 23 July 1979. At the same time they need a legislative franchise to operate, as specied in the Philippine Constitution's Article XII, Section 11. Radio companies must le their applications with the NTC, as well as an application for a franchise with the House of Representatives of the Congress of the Philippines, following administrative procedures specied by both. NTC has the power to administer and enforce all laws, rules and regulations in the eld of communications. As in the case of other Philippine government Commissions, NTC Commissioners are appointed by the President of the Philippines. During the 2005-2006 political crisis in the Philippines over the legitimacy of the President, the NTC threatened to revoke the broadcast media licenses of organizations that continued to air the wiretapped conversations between President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), the selfregulatory board for broadcast media, later objected to the NTC warning. Eventually, KBP announced that the media may broadcast the conversations. Self-regulatory mechanisms Self-regulation in the Philippines has been described as largely a means of balancing the interests of the government and private media sector (Teodoro and Kabatay 2006). KBP is the self-regulatory body of broadcast media. Broadcast industry representatives created the KBP during the martial law period under a government mandate for the broadcast media to regulate themselves. After the collapse of the Marcos dictatorship, however, the KBP became the primary trade organization in broadcasting as well as the regulatory body for broadcasting. The KBP Standards Authority enforces standards in programming, advertising and trade practice through its Broadcast Code. The KBP Board of Directors, which consists of individuals from the broadcast industry, appoints the members of the Authority from the broadcast industry, academia (usually from the University of the Philippines) and the advertising industry. The