TV Monitors

Not by numbers alone
MEDIA’S REPORTAGE on surveys has been very spotty. The background of the studies is often forgotten.
For instance, Bandila reported last May 3 on a Social Weather Stations survey (March 18-23) about the influence of political endorsers on the voters’ choice of candidates. The report failed to mention the margin of error and the number of survey respondents.
Bandila merely went on to say that 36 percent of the respondents would most likely vote for candidates endorsed by former presidents Joseph Estrada and Corazon Aquino and actress Susan Roces, while 32 and 31 percent would possibly junk from their list the candidates endorsed by former President Fidel Ramos and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, respectively.
The information is interesting, but viewers must be informed about the accuracy of the results and quality of data used in the study.

Mud-slinging contest
FOR TWO consecutive days (May 9 and May 10), Bandila aired separate reports on the word war between South Cotabato Rep. Darlene Antonino Custodio and her rival for the post, boxer Manny Pacquiao.
The first report had Custodio accusing Pacquiao of vote buying in the guise of hiring poll watchers. Pacquiao’s camp reportedly paid watchers P300 a day, aside from shelling out P300,000 for every five recruits per precinct.
In a separate story, it was Pacquiao who threw mud at Custodio. The boxer accused Custodio of black propaganda. The congresswoman supposedly hired people to give away sacks of rice that purportedly came from Pacquiao. The distribution of the giveaways was allegedly documented by Custodio’s camp on video and with photos.
Both camps were never given a chance to react to each other’s accusations and counter-accusations. The report only heightened the tension and animosity between the two candidates and dragged the viewers’ attention to a “fight” where no one had a clear picture of what was really going on.

Is that all?
MEDIA’S JOB is not just about passing on interesting information but also making them relevant to people’s lives. Sentro’s report on the gubernatorial race in Batangas last May 10 passed the first test but failed the second.
The Sentro report, which ran for almost six minutes, focused on the contrasting personalities and campaign styles of incumbent Armando Sanchez and actress Vilma Santos Recto. Sanchez was described as a barako (toughie) who exemplified the typical Batangueño. Recto, on the other hand, was the karinyosa (amiable one) who exuded charisma. The report pointed out that unlike Sanchez, movie actress Recto was always well-groomed.
Highlighting Sanchez’s masculinity and Recto’s celebrity status, the report noted the campaign giveaways of the two candidates. While Sanchez gave away liquor with his photo on the bottle’s label, Recto distributed posters “na pang-movie star ang posing (posing like a movie star).”
Those were interesting details, but the report could have also gone for the more substantial aspect of the contest. It could have compared the two candidates’ leadership style, track record, and platform of government, information that could have been more useful to Batangas voters.

Understanding command votes
ON MAY 9, TV Patrol World analyzed the effect on voters of the endorsement of candidates by religious organizations.
Prof. Edmund Tayao of the University of Santo Tomas said religious organizations often vote as a bloc, citing as the most solid group, the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), with an estimated two million votes.  In the 2001 elections, 11 of the 12 candidates endorsed by the INC made it to the Senate.
For Ramon Casiple of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms (IPER), the religious vote is often the deciding factor in close competitions, for example the 12th spot in the senatorial winning circle.
Casiple said that while the Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country, Catholics do not always follow the Church’s bidding. He pointed out that Catholic group El Shaddai and the Protestant Jesus is Lord movement delivered only 30 percent and 25 percent of the total votes of the candidates they had endorsed, respectively.
Nevertheless, Dr. Edna Co of the University of the Philippines said candidates woo religious organizations for endorsement because this has a positive impact on the public’s perception. The report, however, wrongly identified Casiple as executive director of the Institute for Popular Democracy, another political research think tank, and not IPER.

Mean propaganda machine
TELEDYARYO IS one mean propaganda machine of the administration and the government station’s prime time newscast does its job without hesitation.
In its May 1 telecast, Teledyaryo played up the allegation of administration senatorial candidate Luis “Chavit” Singson that “extremist groups” might use the Genuine Opposition’s (GO) lead in a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey to destabilize the government. The story, which simply relied on Singson’s claim that GO would not accept defeat, swallowed the Ilocos Sur governor’s theory that the opposition was planning to bring down the government and that the SWS had allowed itself to be used for such a plan.
In a follow-up story, the GO-commissioned SWS survey was discredited by “other pro-administration” solons who questioned its reliability. They said the survey questions were leading and only meant to boost GO’s bid.
None of the reports gave space to the reactions of GO or the SWS. The other “pro-administration” solons were not even identified.

Reporting or sour-graping?
WAS RPN-9’s I-Watch News merely taking a swipe at rival stations’ ABS CBN and GMA-7?
In a report last May 15, I-Watch News interviewed Genuine Opposition candidate Nikki Coseteng, who had criticized the media quick counts for being “illegal” and for having “no basis.” Channels 2 and 7 had their respective quick-count operations in partnership with big information technology institutions.
Coseteng based her claim on the Omnibus Election Code, which she said prohibited releasing “partial (and) unofficial results.”
The I-Watch News report swallowed Coseteng’s argument without even bothering to check the election laws. If media quick counts were illegal, why did the Commission on Elections allow the networks to do it? Both ABS-CBN and GMA-7 had hyped their quick-count operations long before the elections.

No matter what it takes
IN ITS eagerness to deliver the news, Bandila showed an ugly side of media last April 30. The newscast reported on a helicopter crash in Lapu Lapu City in Cebu where nine people were killed. One of the survivors, who was in critical condition, was interviewed in the hospital. The report noted that the victim, who was covered with bandages, could not move his body because of extensive injuries. The victim had a difficult time talking.
Bandila did not really need the interview to do the story. The patient, on the other hand, obviously needed the rest.

Showing but not telling
24 Oras aired an unfair report against an Abra mayoral candidate last May 10.
According to the report, a mayoral bet’s alleged private army had been forcing residents to vote for his patron. Residents were quoted as saying that a group of heavily armed men had been threatening and giving them P500 in exchange for their votes.
The local candidate referred to was not named. The footage used, however, showed flyers allegedly distributed by the armed men to the residents. The message of the flyers was vote for “Darbie” for mayor.
A check by PJR Reports showed that a mayoral bet in Pidigan, Abra, is named “Darbie” B. Madriaga of the administration ticket Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (KAMPI). No other candidate in any post in Abra had the name “Darbie.”
Although 24 Oras did not name Madriaga and merely showed his campaign material, it should have asked for the candidate’s side of the story.
Pidigan, a fifth-class municipality in Abra, has 15 barangays and a voting population of 6,178 as of 2004.

A question of taste
TV PATROL World reported on the suicide of a man who had climbed the roof a barangay hall in Cebu City before shooting himself.
As the reporter was delivering the news on the spot, the report used as background the dead man who was still holding the gun. The program should have at least thought about how the man’s family would feel when a dead relative is used as a broadcast prop.

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