Wasted airtime

Jeers to 24 Oras for failing to provide background and context to a report on Joseph Estrada’s birthday party and future political plans.

The program devoted five minutes to Estrada last April 20. Although the report said the former president has yet to confirm if he’s running for mayor of Manila, more than half of the airtime was still devoted to the residency and registration requirements he will have to meet in time for the local elections next year.  Alternating between interviews with election commission chair Sixto Brilliantes and file footage of Estradas handing out goods to poor Manileños, the report even went on to say that Estrada only needed to rent a place and live in Manila starting May 13 to qualify for the elections.

The wording in the report was also problematic: “(S)andali na lang ang paghihintay ng publiko kung uubra si Erap sa isyu ng residency at registration (the public will have to wait for a short time if Estrada qualifies in the residency and registration requirements),” the reporter said, as if the public were really  waiting for Estrada to qualify.

The report then went on to cover Estrada’s birthday party, during which parts of his speech were broadcast. 24 Oras reported Estrada’s extensive political influence, without mentioning his aborted presidency in the aftermath of EDSA People Power 2.