Did Arroyo order the closure of two ABC-5 shows and Newsbreak?
Did the government order the closure of two critical public affairs shows on ABC-5 and the hard-hitting Newsbreak magazine?
TV Patrol World, the primetime newscast of ABS-CBN, reported yesterday that the two current affairs shows on ABC 5, Frontlines and Metro, were “taken off the air after the television network’s owner was implicated in the attempted coup d’etat last year.”
“The ABC 5 staff was surprised to learn that network boss Antonio ‘Tonyboy’ Cojuangco had ordered the cancellation of ‘Dokyu’ and ‘Frontlines,’ programs known for their sometimes hard-hitting comments against the administration,” ABS-CBNNews.com reported. The report said that justice secretary Raul Gonzalez denied that the government had influenced Cojuangco’s decision.
The shows’ cancellation happened after the print edition of Newsbreak, an investigative magazine financed by Cojuangco, was also closed down. “Malacañang had condemned the magazine for its exposĂ©s against alleged government irregularities,” added the ABS-CBNNews.com report.
The report also said that Newsbreak editor-in-chief Marites Vitug confirmed in a text message to ABS-CBN that “Cojuangco might have been forced to stop financing the magazine.”
In her editor’s note in the magazine’s January 29 issue, Vitug said that they are temporarily stopping the print edition of Newsbreak, but they will continue doing investigative reports, which will be available online. “This is our second-to-the-last hard copy edition. Yes, what you’re holding in your hands, our 179th issue, will soon be part of history,” Vitug wrote. “But we will continue our work online, the platform that is transforming journalism by opening the doors of our profession to citizens all over the world and, at the same time, forming tightly knit communities and audiences in cyberspace.”
Vitug cited that market-related problems made them decide to stop printing Newsbreak for now. “It hasn’t been easy competing in the harsh marketplace where glossies dominate. One of the lessons that have left an indelible imprint on us is this: the applause of the market is hard to win,” she wrote. Vitug, however, added that they still plan to revive the print edition of the magazine.
ABC-5 released an official statement today, which was posted in the blog of Jove Francisco, one of the network’s most senior reporters and who was also involved in the axed show Frontlines. “The cancellation of certain shows is merely part of management’s overall business strategy to discontinue programs that are not achieving their ratings targets, a matter that should remain internal to the company,” ABC-5 said in its official statement.
Read the full ABS-CBNNews.com report here. The full copy of Vitug’s editor’s note in Newsbreak’s January 29 issue can be read here. Read ABC-5’s official statement in Francisco’s blog here.
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