Entertainment trivia on the front pages

JEERS TO the Philippine Daily Inquirer and The Philippine Star for prioritizing entertainment news on their front pages.

The Philippine Star published on its front page last September 14, “‘Aldub’ makes twitter history”.

Aldub is a “phenomenal” tandem composed of celebrities Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza or “Yaya Dub”. The couple is the protagonist in the kalyeserye (street series) segment of GMA 7’s noon time variety show Eat Bulaga.

The Star reported that the kalyeserye episode on September 12 broke records in Twitter. AlDub set a new record of 6.37 million tweets as per last Saturday’s episode. The report also said that in August 29, the tandem had already earned 3.5 million tweets, or more than the 3.3 million tweets during the Papal visit last January.

Other front page stories that day included the draft bill versus the bank secrecy law, the Mecca crane tragedy in Saudi Arabia, the Highway Patrol Group’s takeover of EDSA traffic management, the resignation of Department of Trade and Industry chief, successes in budget transparency and AFP modernization.

Before the Star, however, the Inquirer had consistently published more news reports about the tandem and the series on its front page.

On August 16, the Philippine Daily Inquirer published on the front page “Split-screen TV fairytale ‘AlDub’ hit in old, new media”. The report was accompanied by a photo that occupied a third of the paper. Classified under news, the entertainment article reported how and why people get “hooked” on the kalyeserye.

Since August, AlDub reports have appeared seven times on the front page of the Inquirer (“Lucena ‘Aldub’ Fans go coco loco over Alden“, August 14; “Netizens go gaga over ‘AlDub’“, August 17; “TV ratings war raging over Eat Bulaga’s ‘AlDub’“, August 30; “‘AlDub makes a killing for GMA in ratings war”, September 3; “‘AlDub pair finally meet, but wait…’”, September 6; “‘AlDub won’t have part in political circus’ – Sotto”, September 8).

AlDub stories have also appeared in the news and op-ed pages of the Inquirer, the Star, and the Manila Bulletin.