Setting the entertainment agenda

IN A previous monitor (“Entertainment trivia on the front pages”) posted September 16, the Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility (CMFR) noted the importance given by newspapers to the phenomenal following gained by AlDub, a love team featured on the comedy segment Kalyeserye of lunchtime show Eat Bulaga aired on GMA-7. Its thin story line about the virtual romance of Alden Richards and Maine “Yaya Dub” Mendoza generated more than twenty-five (25) million tweets on September 26 (“AlDub fans break Twitter record with 25.6 M tweets“, The Manila Bulletin), surpassing its previous record of eleven (11) million tweets on September 19 (“Aldub Saturdate to remember: 11-M tweets“, Philippine Daily Inquirer).

From August 14 to September 26, the three top-selling dailies (Inquirer, The Philippine Star, Bulletin) combined to feature AlDub eleven times on the front pages: eight times in the Inquirer, twice in The Star, and once in the Bulletin, further popularizing the tandem, perhaps with an audience not entirely connected to the phenomenon through TV or social media. The reports described the large following of the tandem in social networking site Twitter, and the improved TV ratings of Eat Bulaga in comparison to its rival network ABS-CBN’s noontime program, It’s Showtime.

On Sunday, September 27, both The Star and the Bulletin featured a front page story on the “Twitter war” between the two noontime shows, reporting that the hashtag #AlDubEBforLove gained 23.1 million tweets as of 7 p.m. on September 26 while the hashtag #ShowtimeKapamilyaDay got 6.7 million tweets during the same hour. The Bulletin followed up on September 28 with the update of 25.6 million tweets. These three recent reports raised to 14 the total number of front page stories on this issue in a period of seven weeks.

In contrast, the three newspapers gave limited coverage of director Jerrold Tarog’s historical biopic Heneral Luna. Articles on the film appeared only twice on the front pages of The Star and the Bulletin since the movie premiered in theaters on September 9. The Star published on September 17, “Netizens: Keep Luna in cinemas,” including tweets from celebrities calling for the extension of Heneral Luna’s run in theaters. The Bulletin published a front page teaser of its article, “On the way to the Oscars” on September 24, putting the actual text of the story in the entertainment section. The Inquirer, on the other hand, limited its coverage of the film to its inner entertainment section and discussed the film’s premiere and its Oscars bid.

Heneral Luna earned rave reviews from film critics and ordinary moviegoers alike. Initially threatened by pull-outs early into its second week, the film regained the theaters it lost when social media users called for its retention, some of them even trooping to the cinemas to watch the film again. On September 21, the film was announced as the Philippines’ official entry to the 2016 Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Entertainment news has grown its share of the daily news. Setting the entertainment agenda however should be given a little more thought. Tailing the social media’s support for TV features, daily newspapers, still the mainstay of journalistic exercise in this country, should not simply pander to the “lowest common denominator” in public taste.