Hyperventilating over a doomsday scenario
If we are to go by media reports, it looks like everyone is not only gearing up for a major showdown on May 1; everyone is raring for it. And media is all agog with anticipation.
Media of course has its handy excuse for doing cartwheels to cover the minutest detail of how the militants and the government are preparing for the showdown: the public needs to know (apparently the public is that perverse, we want advance information on how they intend to clobber each other in the streets). Clearly, ABS-CBN intends to devote full coverage of the expected May 1 mayhem and they have started justifying their intent in their latest sermon on the role of media featuring Maria Ressa, Chari Villa and Luchie Cruz, the gist of which can be summed up in six words: we are always correct, of course.
I can understand the preoccupation on how the latest Supreme Court ruling on CPR will play out on May 1. But analysis is one thing, prophesizing, nay, anticipating mayhem is another thing. Excitement is still another thing. Based on the treatment and spin being given to the various reportage, one gets the impression that media is not merely interested in how proponents of a particular position see how things will turn out; but more on how bloody it can or will get. Note how the reportage has been focused on doomsday scenarios. Media is skating on very very thin ice on this one and I hope that some semblance of social responsibility (other than just reporting things as they happen as the three ladies of ABS-CBN wants us to believe) seeps in soon.
I understand media's role as chronicler of events. But I don't get the "passive unbiased witness stance." Who are we kidding?
Let's remind ourselves of one tragic incident in the eighties that continues to baffle me to this day. The incident happened one Sunday afternoon at Luneta during a rally of the Marcos loyalists. One Coryista (unfortunately I have forgotten his name) was pursued by the mob of Marcos loyalists and beaten to death while media covered the lynching, down to his last breath. Too many TV cameras and mediamen supposedly doing their social responsibility, and no one raised a finger to help the dying guy. No one, not a single one, remembered that they were citizens too watching another Filipino die a violent senseless death. They were just there as media.
I am not asking that media do not report on what is happening or that it gives a positive spin to events. I just wish that media tempers its excitement - because quite frankly, an event where and when Filipinos hurt each other can never be a cause for celebration. I just want to see an attempt to balance the doomsday scenario reportage with, for example, appeals for sobriety from some cooler heads, or features on possible consensus points, or just plain tempering of their frenzied hyperventilating.
Or perhaps this is what passes off for news reportage nowadays?
Media of course has its handy excuse for doing cartwheels to cover the minutest detail of how the militants and the government are preparing for the showdown: the public needs to know (apparently the public is that perverse, we want advance information on how they intend to clobber each other in the streets). Clearly, ABS-CBN intends to devote full coverage of the expected May 1 mayhem and they have started justifying their intent in their latest sermon on the role of media featuring Maria Ressa, Chari Villa and Luchie Cruz, the gist of which can be summed up in six words: we are always correct, of course.
I can understand the preoccupation on how the latest Supreme Court ruling on CPR will play out on May 1. But analysis is one thing, prophesizing, nay, anticipating mayhem is another thing. Excitement is still another thing. Based on the treatment and spin being given to the various reportage, one gets the impression that media is not merely interested in how proponents of a particular position see how things will turn out; but more on how bloody it can or will get. Note how the reportage has been focused on doomsday scenarios. Media is skating on very very thin ice on this one and I hope that some semblance of social responsibility (other than just reporting things as they happen as the three ladies of ABS-CBN wants us to believe) seeps in soon.
I understand media's role as chronicler of events. But I don't get the "passive unbiased witness stance." Who are we kidding?
Let's remind ourselves of one tragic incident in the eighties that continues to baffle me to this day. The incident happened one Sunday afternoon at Luneta during a rally of the Marcos loyalists. One Coryista (unfortunately I have forgotten his name) was pursued by the mob of Marcos loyalists and beaten to death while media covered the lynching, down to his last breath. Too many TV cameras and mediamen supposedly doing their social responsibility, and no one raised a finger to help the dying guy. No one, not a single one, remembered that they were citizens too watching another Filipino die a violent senseless death. They were just there as media.
I am not asking that media do not report on what is happening or that it gives a positive spin to events. I just wish that media tempers its excitement - because quite frankly, an event where and when Filipinos hurt each other can never be a cause for celebration. I just want to see an attempt to balance the doomsday scenario reportage with, for example, appeals for sobriety from some cooler heads, or features on possible consensus points, or just plain tempering of their frenzied hyperventilating.
Or perhaps this is what passes off for news reportage nowadays?
Comments
You know what I think, ABS-CBN hates this admin guts to the bones because their business plans via the marriage for convinience of Erap daugther and Beaver L. did not pushed thru when People Power 2 came in to place...ABS-CBN wants ERAP back in Malacanang so they will be back in power on the business arena...It's purely self interest! In another note, what happened to the Wowowee criminal case vs ABS-CBN now?
I dare speculate that a large chunk of the angst displayed in Manila's streets during bouts of street parliamentarianism is created and/or stirred up by the Philippine media.
It needs to be pointed out that with this "freedom" being wielded by the media comes responsibility. I wrote a piece in an attempt to point out this self-righteousness of media and how quickly it overlooks its own transgressions of basic human rights. Notably:
Disrespect for the deceased and their families. Uncovered corpses are a regular feature on the pages of many Philippine publications.
Publication of biased news features as part of paid services rendered to politicians' publicists.
Public humiliation of crime suspects pre-trial. This is common fare in the Philipine press and goes against the basic human right of presumed innocence until proven guilty.
Stop your 'pa-cute'stances. The public is not dumb as you think.
some protesters wearing masks or something then lie on the street. have their photos taken even if they are not more than twenty. they land on the front page simply for their antics.
media makes news out of non news and creates that "puro na lang rally" atmosphere while the rallyists get their free propaganda, primetime news na, front page pa.
Media outlets are partly to blame, but so are we. Perhaps it's our voyeuristic tendencies that egg these networks on.
Gone are the days when a big portion of the news airtime is filled with relevent items: business news, international news, sports and the weather.
Now, we are treated to a bizarre array of captured reptiles, showbiz news and clips from "Amazing Videos Caught on Tape", with the obligatory 'feel-good' segments where the networks show that they have a heart(soul) by helping a poor individual (where they also ask for donations from the viewers).
And here's the punchline: we still watch them every night, read the paper every day, and listen to them in between.
Going back to topic: The quality of local journalists has gone down over the years, perhaps it wasn't so good at all.
Matapos na nga lang ang May 1, para natatapos na rin ang kanilang nga predictions,
They should instead examine why their revenue is getting meager each year.
while the other network is earning 1 billion plus pesos last year they only managed to have some 200 million.
Maybe less of Escudero,Pimentel,Erap, Cory,Dinky,Alcuaz,Jinggoy,Saguisag,Gingona and Ejercito in their screen could improve their ratings.
Yes, I agree. The quality of journalism we have nowadays is far cry from those of yesteryear. And the networks just do their things in the name of rating. The sensibilities of the public be damned.
Don't you think its the right time we start campaigning for the abolition of the useless senate? The reasons are getting clearer. They are trying hard enough to make themselves irrelevant.
James