Telco coverage
JEERS TO Rappler for posting one sided articles about telecom companies or which are outright advertorials.
| Rappler replies on “Telco coverage”
Dear colleagues, Below is our statement regarding the story that CMFR published about our telco coverage. We look forward to its publication on your website. Best, Glenda (Gloria) Rappler statement The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) recently published an article titled Telco coverage, criticizing Rappler’s coverage of telecoms companies. We at Rappler take criticism seriously, not only because criticism provides us with the necessary input to hone our craft, but also because we believe no individual or institution is above criticism. While we acknowledge the article published by the CMFR as input, we also want to address the supposed analysis made by the CMFR in its article. To accuse Rappler of “posting one sided articles about telecom companies or which are outright advertorials” is a serious claim, one which we feel can only be adequately discussed by looking at Rappler’s entire output as a whole, rather than looking at one specific subsection of Rappler’s coverage. Or even better: compare it to a detailed analysis of other news groups on telecommunications – a basic service which will impact our country’s development. The call for better services is a key consumer issue. |
Only four articles posted on Rappler.com about the telecom companies between January 2012 and January 2013 disclosed that they were the telecom companies’ press releases.
On Dec. 14, 2012, Rappler posted a special feature titled “Milestones: an interactive history of (telecom company)” to which a commenter asked, “(Is) this paid advertising or is (Rappler) included in the (telecom company’s) payroll?”
The “rich-media” feature of Rappler, a timeline of the company history of a telecom company, was not functioning as of this writing.Â
On Dec. 20, 2012, Rappler posted a story about a supposedly private video of a telecom company’s top executives dancing to a Korean pop song.
Social media user “J. O. M. Salazar” alerted  CMFR about the story by asking, “Yet *another* (telecom company) fluff piece?”
The story was posted on Rappler after a top executive seen in the said video was interviewed for Rappler’s #TalkThursday.
On a story about a telecom company’s claim of being on top of the competition, one reader commented that it “sounds like an advertorial.”
By PJRR’s count, 51 posts from January 2012 to January 2013 about the telecom companies cited only one source, usually a company representative. Of the single-sourced stories, 14 were about the telecom companies’ services.
|
Topics |
With a single source |
With 2 or more sources |
|
Acquisitions (ownership issues) |
13 |
13 |
|
Company profile (deals, loans, company news, etc.) |
10 |
1 |
|
Industry competition |
4 |
6 |
|
Market profile |
1 |
0 |
|
Services (modernization, offers, etc.) |
14 |
13 |
|
Partnership talks |
5 |
2 |
|
Profit |
4 |
2 |
|
Total |
51 |
37 |
“I think that this site’s “bias” (for a telecom company) is slowly being evident…” commented another reader on the article “(Telecom company): We’re still no. 1 in postpaid!”
Rappler did post more stories about another telecom company, but the difference was too little to prove bias.
|
Posts about Telco A |
Posts about Telco B |
Posts about both Telcos |
|
|
Posts with a single source |
26 |
22 |
3 |
|
Posts with 2 or more sources |
1 |
15 |
21 |
|
Total |
27 |
37 |
24 |
Other critical comments alleged that Rappler is owned or is being bought by a popular businessman who owns a major telecom company. But Rappler posted a story with the businessman denying this.
Replying to a comment on her article, Rappler’s Gemma Mendoza clarified that “Rappler is actually sponsored by all the telcos. We ran ads from (a telecom company) but (a competing company’s) ads are coming up soon. And we are currently running (another competing company’s) ads. This story (commented on) is based on the NTC data which is embedded here.”
Advanced Google search revealed that there were 91 web-pages on Rappler.com  posted from Jan. 1, 2012 to Jan. 15, 2013, that had three telecom brand-names in the web-pages’ titles. (http://bit.ly/10D0Uph)
Another search showed that there are three web-pages on Rappler.com containing stories about the telecom companies’ separate launch of a certain cell phone model. (http://bit.ly/YcttZa)
PJRR counted a total of 88 stories, videos and news bites on the website’s “The wRap,” about two major telecom companies posted on Rappler.com from Jan. 1, 2012 to Jan. 15, 2013.
The number of Rappler’s posts about telecom companies increased in the last quarter of 2012; the most was in September and December 2012, with 13 posts.
Most of the 88 posts were about the telecom companies’ acquisition, financial status and services.
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