Speaking of Media

On shrinking a paper
“Why the downsizing? Did we have to replace, refit, or retool our behemoth printing presses?
“The shift to a narrower format is actually a response to the requirements of both the readers and advertisers.
“The old broadsheets had been unusually wide because the Philippine newspapers generally ape their big American counterparts. In fact, the entire newspaper industry is an attempted imitation of the US systems.”
– Columnist Federico Pascual on The Philippine Star’s decision to reduce the paper’s width by an inch, Star, March 1

Oops, she did it again
“The celebrated temper of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo again grabbed front-page prominence last week when she rudely walked out on a press interview over questions that irritated her. It is not terribly important that the victim of her latest outburst is a Philippine Daily Inquirer reporter. The object of her wrath could have been any reporter from another newspaper or radio or TV station….
“Far from intimidating the media, these flashes of intemperance reveal blind spots and vulnerabilities that have plagued her troubled presidency. They show that she is unwilling to know the truth from independent sources, blinding her from making balanced and even politically rewarding decisions….”
– Amando Doronila, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Feb. 12

Questions without answers
“If the media and journalists in general suffer from such low credibility, why bother to be a journalist these days? If profit and ratings are a primary occupation of network owners and newspaper publishers alike, why venture into what is supposed to be a noble profession, or rather, a calling? If media independence can be compromised for corporate and personal interests alone, why slug it out to find a spot in journalism? If journalism in this country equates to a vow of poverty and if journalists are being killed like pigs in a slaughterhouse, why bother to write for a public that doesn’t seem to care about journalists anyway?
“These are some of the questions that arise whenever issues and problems that plague journalism are discussed in various fora or in classrooms. Sadly, many young aspiring and idealistic journalists begin to have second thoughts about wearing press cards on their chests because of the same problems that have stuck to the media like chewing gum on a newly cemented sidewalk.”
– Chay Florentino Hofileña, Feb. 5

‘Idiotizing’ the masses
“I don’t know exactly how the story of Ekang, the 3-year-old girl, from whose eyes last Monday’s I-Witness looks at the world, would have been received by Filipino viewers. The girl’s fascinating vocabulary is peppered with cuss words taken from the colorful slang of her elders. Her mother, a drug pusher, sends her out to buy a few sticks of cigarettes. She hears her father, a tricycle driver during the day and a robber at night, explain why his sortie the other night netted him nothing. Her grandmother, a pimp, cuddles Ekang as she tells the camera how they got to where they are today. A sensitive viewer could begin to wonder how many kids are growing up under these circumstances, why, and what future, if any, awaits them.
“Television has the power to trigger such reflections. Even if it is merely to irritate us or to make us uncomfortable, every thought like this forms a weak link in the reproduction of complacency. It challenges our memory and the consistency of our beliefs. It breaks the stupor created by ‘the continuum of perception that is the world.’
“Do we wonder why, despite our high literacy rate, Filipino voters seem unable to command enough discernment in their choice of public officials? In an election year like this, the big players of the television industry might ask themselves if they have not, wittingly or unwittingly, used their power of communication to idiotize the masses.”
– Randy David, Inquirer, Feb. 25

Fat cats on TV
“(W)hy is it that we see so many inept, inarticulate and clueless program hosts who look like cartoon characters on the tube?
“Where do these interesting creatures come from? What have they done to deserve a program on TV?
“More careful analysis reveals that these unlikely hosts are well-connected fat cats whom channel executives just can’t say no to, for one cozy reason or other.
“But they make for inept and bumptious program hosts who confound, bore or freak out many viewers, so shouldn’t channel managers think of their responsibility to viewers before cavalierly foisting these inhospitable hosts on the televiewing nation?”
– Nestor Torre, Inquirer, Feb. 2

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