Mudslinging among candidates boosts media coverage

CENTER FOR MEDIA FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY
TIMEKEEPING REPORT
FOR THE PERIOD MARCH 29-31 AND APRIL 5-9

The media play a crucial role in the democratic life of the country. This is especially evident during election periods. The media are the people’s main source of information on electoral issues, the candidates, the candidates’ views, and their party platforms if any.  Information on developments related to the voting process is also essential to informed decision-making. Ideally, how the media cover the elections affects how the people perceive and understand the issues and helps them decide which candidates and parties to vote for.

CMFR continued to monitor the two major primetime news programs in the country – ABS-CBN 2’s TV Patrol World and GMA 7’s 24 Oras— over the two-week period of March 29 until April 9, excluding Saturdays and Sundays, and the episodes aired during the Holy Week break. It also included NBN 4’s Teledyaryo news program in the monitor, to assess how it performs its role as a taxpayer-funded, national news network.

As the elections approached the homestretch, the media coverage of the elections markedly increased. All three news shows monitored during the period allotted more airtime to election-related reports.

From devoting only 31% of its airtime to election-related news reports in the preceding weeks, Teledyaryo increased its election coverage to 33% of its total news hole.  TV Patrol World also increased its election coverage from 37% to 38% of its total news hole. GMA’s 24 Oras showed the most notable increase in election coverage, jumping to 36% from only 24% in the two weeks previous to the monitor period.

There was reason enough for the increase.  The period under review saw a significant rise in two major news plot points: the controversies surrounding the personal lives of the leading presidential candidates, and the growing critiques on the seeming inability of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to demonstrate its full readiness for the automated elections.  This was evidenced by increased coverage of election-related issues such as the start of the overseas absentee voting, the alleged overpricing of the ballot secrecy folders and the subsequent cancellation of the contract, concerns over the UV lamps and digital signatures to be used for the elections, and the printing of the ballots.

Mudslinging among the presidential candidates and their political parties reached new heights during this monitor period. The main electoral protagonists, the Liberal and Nacionalista Parties, traded barbs and accusations which were gleefully reported by the news programs. A  lot of airtime was allotted to reports such as “Batuhan ng putik sa pagitan ng LP at NP,” (Mudslinging between LP and NP, TV Patrol World, April 9); “Villar, hinamon si Noynoy na dumalaw sa bahay nya sa Tondo” (Villar challenges Noynoy to visit his Tondo house, TV Patrol World, March 31), “Umano’y anomalya sa kampanya nina Aquino at Roxas, ayon kay  Legarda”  (Legarda alleges anomaly in the Aquino-Roxas campaign, 24 Oras, April 8), “Aquino, hinamon na harapin ang problema sa Hacienda Luisita” (Aquino challenged to address the problems at Hacienda Luisita, 24 Oras, April 8), “Villar, inakusahang hindi idineklara ang Laurel House sa kanyang SALN” (Villar accused of not declaring the Laurel House in his SALN, 24 Oras, April 8), and “Nacionalista vs Liberal Party (TV Patrol World, April 8).

Coverage of the Presidential Elections

Since the start of the campaign period, the CMFR monitors have found that media coverage has been mostly on four presidential frontrunners: the Liberal Party’s Benigno Aquino III, the Nacionalista Party’s Manuel Villar, the PMP’s Joseph Estrada and Lakas/Kampi’s Gilbert Teodoro.

This trend continued into the fourth period of the monitor, with Aquino again being the presidential candidate with the most airtime. Aquino’s total airtime in all three news shows exceeded the combined total airtimes of the bottom-dwelling candidates (Villanueva, Delos Reyes, Perlas, Gordon and Madrigal).

Teodoro continued to be almost exclusively covered by government-owned TV and its news show, Teledyaryo, with more than 11 minutes of airtime for the period, which is five times more than the airtime devoted to Manuel Villar, his closest challenger, at more than two minutes.

Table 1.
Airtime allotted to the Presidential candidates

Both 24 Oras and TV Patrol World provided significant media mileage to Aquino during the monitor period, especially in survey-driven reports such as “Nangunguna si Aquino sa Pulse Asia Survey, pumapangalawa si Villar” (Aquino ahead in Pulse Asia Survey, Villar is second, 24 Oras, April 6).

It was also during this monitor period that Aquino had to parry questions about his mental health, even as a psychological assessment, stating that he suffered from depression and allegedly from the Ateneo de Manila University’s Psychology Department, was released to the media. This was later proven to be spurious, but Aquino nevertheless  benefited from the airtime as he was featured in a number of reports,  among them “Sen. Aquino, dumanas umano ng matinding depresyon” (Sen. Aquino suffered from extreme depression, TV Patrol World, April 8); “Noynoy Aquino, tinawanan lang ang Psychiatric reports” (Noynoy Aquino laughs off the psychiatric reports, Teledyaryo, April 9); “Pekeng psychiatric report, ayaw patulan ni Aquino” (Fake psychiatric report ignored by Aquino, TV Patrol World, April 9); and “Kumakalat na dokumento na nagkaroon ng psychiatric assessment si Noynoy Aquino” (Document surfaces on Noynoy Aquino’s psychiatric assessment, 24 Oras, April 9).  In other words, the attempt to discredit him backfired in that the attention helped keep Aquino in the public mind.

Gilbert Teodoro received news airtime during the monitor period as the center of the controversial party-hopping by several Lakas/Kampi members to other political parties, and when he resigned as Chair of the Lakas party. Teodoro’s TV presence consisted mostly of his being the subject of such stories  as “Lakas-CMD, di totoong nalalagas” (Lakas-CMD not losing its members, Teledyaryo, April 8); “Gibo biktima ni PGMA” (Gibo is PGMA’s victim, TV Patrol World, April 5); “Sa gitna ng pagkakawatak-watak ng Lakas, Gibo, aatras na nga ba?” (Amidst Lakas’ breakdown, will Gibo surrender? 24 Oras, April 5); “Teodoro nagbitiw bilang chairman ng Lakas” (Teodoro resigns as Lakas chairman, TV Patrol World, March 31); “Balimbingan ng mga pulitiko” (Party-hopping of politicians, TV Patrol World, April 8); and “Pagtawid ng bakod ng ilang miyembro ng Lakas/CMD” (Lakas/CMD members change parties, Teledyaryo, April 5).

Manuel Villar, on the other hand, was on the defensive during the monitor period, as he tried to counter several  accusations: that his Nacionalista Party had leaked to the media  the so-called  “psychiatric evaluation” of Aquino; that he was President Gloria Arroyo’s true candidate; and that he had lied about his poverty-stricken origins.

Most of the airtime devoted to Villar came from reports like “NP, ipinagtanggol si Villar sa kumakalat na balitang siya ang sikretong kandidato ni PGMA” (NP defends Villar against reports that he is GMA’s secret candidate, Teledyaryo, April 15); “PGMA  suportado si Villar (PGMA supports Villar, TV Patrol World, April 5); “NP, itinanggi na sila ang source ng psychiatric report kay Aquino (NP denies that it is the source of Aquino’s psychiatric report, Teledyaryo, April 9); “Pagbaba ng rating ni Villar, resulta ng paninira sa kanya” (Villar’s ratings dip a result of mudslinging against him, TV Patrol World, April 6); “Rep Arroyo itinanggi na si Villar  ang kandidato nila” (Rep Arroyo denies that Villar is their party’s candidate, TV Patrol World, April 6); “Isyu ng pagkamahirap ni Villar, sentro ng patutsadahan” (Villar’s poverty becomes the issue, 24 Oras, March 30); “Manny Villar hindi tunay na mahirap” (Manny Villar not poor, TV Patrol World, March 29) and “Villar, hindi umano tunay na mahirap batay sa kumakalat na mga dokumento” (Villar not poor, based on circulating documents, TV Patrol World, March 30).

Coverage of the Vice-Presidential Elections

The coverage of the vice-presidential race remained in the background, with the candidates for that post still being treated like bridesmaids by the media. The airtime for the vice-presidential contenders was in the single digits in Teledyaryo and 24 Oras, with both programs allotting only around 4% of their total airtime to the vice presidential race. TV Patrol World devoted around 10% of its total airtime to the contenders.

Manuel Roxas received the most airtime during this period, but he received from all three news programs less than 10 minutes of coverage during the entire monitoring period. Only three vice-presidential candidates received more than five minutes of coverage, while the other five contenders shared a combined five minutes of airtime.

Table 2.
Airtime allotted to the vice-presidential candidates

Teledyaryo continued to ignore some vice presidential candidates, neglecting to provide airtime to Jejomar Binay, Dominador Chipeco and Jose Sonza during the monitor period, and allotting less than one minute to all but Loren Legarda of the Nacionalista Party.

Coverage of the Senatorial Elections

Previous reports have already noted that the news coverage of the senatorial elections focused mainly on the prominent names in the current Senate and House of Representatives who are running for re-election. These included Ramon Revilla (Lakas/Kampi), Juan Ponce-Enrile (PMP), Miriam Defensor-Santiago (Nacionalista), Franklin Drilon (Liberal) and Jinggoy Estrada (PMP).

In the period covered by the monitor, these candidates still received the most airtime among the senatorial candidates. Five candidates among the top eleven of those most covered were from the Nacionalista Party, three from Lakas/Kampi, one from the Liberal Party, one from Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, and one Independent candidate.

The period monitored saw increased coverage of Bongbong Marcos, the son of former President Ferdinand Marcos, who received substantial airtime from both Teledyaryo and TV Patrol World. Teledyaryo featured him in stories such as “VIllar bumisita sa Bangui, nakitang solusyon ang windmills” (Villar visits Bangui, sees windmills as a solution, April 8), while TV Patrol World covered him in reports such as “Bongbong Marcos, nagbisita Iglesia” (Bongbong Marcos visits churches, March 30).

Table 3.
Airtime allotted to the senatorial candidates

Out of 61 senatorial candidates, 49 received airtime during the monitor period. 24 Oras provided airtime to 47, while TV Patrol World covered 37. Teledyaryo gave airtime to only 20 out of 61 senatorial candidates.

Of the 49 candidates who received airtime during the monitoring period from the three news shows, ten were from the Nacionalista party, nine were Liberal Party candidates, seven from Ang Kapatiran, six each from Bangon Pilipinas and Lakas/Kampi, four Independent candidates, three from the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, two from the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and one each from the PDP-Laban and the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL).

Coverage of the Party-List Elections

The party-list elections continued to be underreported in the news shows monitored. Airtime allotted for the party-list groups comprised only 3% of the combined airtime of 24 Oras, Teledyaryo and TV Patrol World.

Even as the media suffered from a lack of in-depth coverage of the party-list groups and their legislative platforms for the marginalized, the airtime dedicated to reports about the party-list  elections during the monitoring period  focused on the system’s shortcomings.

Most of the stories featured during this period focused on the questionable qualifications of some party-list nominees. These questions were raised in stories such as “Mikey Arroyo sa pagtuligsa sa AGP Party-list” (Mikey Arroyo on the criticisms of AGP, Teledyaryo, April 8); “Petisyon laban sa nominasyon ni Calayan” (Petition against Calayan’s nomination, TV Patrol World, April 5); “Disqualification cases laban sa mga kwestyunableng party-list nominees” (Disqualification cases against questionable party-list nominees, TV Patrol World, March 31); “Party-list groups na kaalyado ng Malacanang pumasok sa winning circle” (Party-list groups allied with Malacanang enter the winning circle, TV Patrol World, April 8); and “Party-list system, binatikos” (Party-list system criticized, 24 Oras, April 6).

Table 4.
Airtime allotted to the party-list candidates

Party-list group Ang Ladlad, which represents gays, lesbians and bisexuals, received airtime after the Supreme Court granted its petition to stop the implementation of two Commission on Elections (Comelec) resolutions denying the group’s accreditation as a party-list group. The media duly reported this in reports such as “Ang Ladlad, kinatigan ng SC sa pagtakbo” (Ang Ladlad received Supreme Court nod to run, Teledyaryo, April 8); “Ang Ladlad Party-list, pinaboran” (Ang Ladlad Party-list favored, 24 Oras, April 8); and “Ang Ladlad pwedeng tumakbo” (Ang Ladlad can now run, TV Patrol World, April 8).

Of the 187 party-list groups accredited by the Comelec, Teledyaryo gave airtime to only four, and 24 Oras to only two during the monitor period. TV Patrol World covered 22 party-list groups.

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