Ghosts and goblins

By Fernando Cabigao Jr.

The media went all superstitious and supernatural two weeks ago with the usual avalanche of news and special reports about ghosts and goblins before and during All Saints ’ Day, or as it’s known in the West, Halloween. But there were exceptions to the focus on ghosts and goblins, among them Reporters’ Notebook and T3, which did report on the holiday, but did not take the tack other programs have made a habit of.

The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) reviewed the Oct. 24 to Nov. 2 episodes of the following TV news and public affairs programs: 24 Oras, Aksyon, Bandila, Failon Ngayon, Imbestigador, i-Witness, Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho, Krusada, Rated K, Reporter’s Notebook, Saksi, SOCO (Scene of the Crime Operatives), TV Patrol, Tutok Tulfo, T3, USI (Under Special Investigation), and XXX: Exklusibong, Explosibong, Exposé, and local newspapers such as BusinessMirror, Business World, Malaya,  Manila Standard Today, Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Daily Tribune, The Manila Times and The Philippine Star.

Spook-fest

The Broadcast Code of the Kapisanan ng Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP, Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines) urges broadcast networks to “be careful”  in reporting supernatural events. Section 1 of the code’s article 13 states that “[p]rograms featuring superstitious and pseudo-scientific beliefs (e.g. the supernatural)…shall be careful not to induce belief in them. Care shall be taken to prevent the exploitation of people who may be easily swayed by such superstitious and pseudo-scientific (sic) beliefs and practices.”

But most news and public affairs programs nevertheless focus on horror stories during the Halloween season, which suggests at least partial or erratic implementation of the Code. Except for GMA- 7, major television networks like TV5 and ABS-CBN are members of the KBP.

Of the three major news programs monitored (TV Patrol, Aksyon, 24 Oras), TV Patrol was the only one that reported about students being possessed by malignant spirits. At the start of Halloween week, on October 24, TV patrol aired a report which claimed that three students had been possessed in Olongapo. On Oct. 27, Noli De Castro reported in TV Patrol that 100 students of the Sta. Ana Fishery National High School in Cagayan had been simultaneously possessed by malignant spirits. The report lasted about five minutes and ended with De Castro promoting the ABS-CBN Halloween special, “Kababalaghan” of which he was also the host. De Castro used to host Magandang Gabi Bayan, a public affairs program notorious for its Halloween special reports.

Bandila, whose mission is to deliver agenda-setting, nationalistic and fast-paced news to the public, interviewed a psychic medium, Stargazer, who appeared in Kababalaghan and in the Halloween episode of XXX on October 31. One of its anchors, Boy Abunda, talked to Stargazer about ghost in most of the interview.

On November 1, Bandila veered away from reporting ghost stories and instead reported about the family of the victims who were murdered four years ago visiting their grave. They interviewed the family of Dindin Palma, a girl who was found dead inside a suitcase and Ruby Rose Barrameda, who was found in a barrel full of cement.

Saksi veered away from reporting ghost stories. They focus on their usual reports.

Horror show

Public Affairs programs like Imbestigador, Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho, Rated K, SOCO, and Tutok Tulfo performed in the tradition of Magandang Gabi Bayan.  The November-December 2010 issue of PJR Reports criticized these programs for their obsession with featuring spirit questors, haunted places, encounters with lost spirits and other “paranormal” happenings. With the exception of SOCO, these public affairs programs interviewed paranormal “experts” and “psychics” to authenticate what they were reporting.

But on Oct. 28, SOCO (Scene of the Crime Operatives) featured the story of an aswang (a vampire-like creature of Philippine folklore) who supposedly killed a one-year old girl. But it later turned out that the possible killer was the girl’s mother.

Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho and Imbestigador had back-to-back Halloween specials on Oct. 29.  Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho featured stories involving spirits haunting an old military base and a killer highway in Pampanga and ghost sightings in an old hotel in Manila. Imbestigador featured stories about ghosts in an old mansion in Quezon, ghosts whose images had been captured on camera, and the elementals dwelling in Quezon’s “devil’s mountain,” Mt. Cristobal.

TV 5’s Tutok Tulfo was a bit less irresponsible in airing ghost stories. But it did run on  the same day  a  story later proven to be false about children being abducted by men in white vans who harvest their internal organs, a haunted police station in Muntinlupa, and a boy who was found dead in a hotel “visiting” his family.

Not to be outdone, Rated K ran a story on Oct. 30 about a ghost haunting his lover, a murdered girl seeking justice, a girl possessed by a malignant spirit, an island said to be haunted by a demon, and a  haunted house.

On October 31, XXX featured their Halloween special. They reported about a haunted house, spirits who are said to cause accidents in killer highways and ghosts that were captured in pictures and videos.

Exceptions

Reporter’s Notebook and T3 were notable exceptions in the spook-fest. Reporter’s Notebook aired a story on Nov. 1 that looked into instances of violation of corpses, including necrophilia, and illegal gambling operations. Meanwhile, T3 ran a story about corpses for sale in Prime Funeral Homes in Quezon City.

Other public affairs program like USI (Under Special Investigation), i-Witness, Failon Ngayon, and Krusada similarly avoided the usual horror stories.

Going with the flow

Compared to their broadcast counterparts, the newspapers were more restrained.

There were some lapses, however. On October 31, the Philippine Daily Inquirer published a front page story on demonic possessions in which a priest recalled his experience in exorcism.  The Inquirer also ran another story about elementals on the same day.

On November 1, the Inquirer also  published a front page story entitled, “Rizal reported a haunting in Dapitan” in which it reported that according Jose Rizal himself,  Josephine Bracken, feared that her late foster father, George Tauffer, was haunting her. The Inquirer also ran on Nov. 2 a front page story which sought the opinion of experts on whether hauntings affect property values.

The Manila Bulletin had an article (Butterflies: Messengers from the spirit world?) on November 1 on the Filipino belief that butterflies and dragonflies carry messages from the spirit world.

“Halloween” journalism

“As more and more news and public affairs programs take the netherworld as the subject of their broadcast, journalism becomes more and more melded with entertainment, institutionalizing the troublesome drift toward “infotainment”. When the news media mesh with show business, the newsroom becomes a carnival house of horrors.” Lito Zulueta, life style writer of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, said in his article (Halloween Infantilism: Interviews with ghouls and vampires) in the November 2008 issue of PJR Reports.

During “Halloween week”, the media assume that stories on the supernatural and paranormal are what their publics want. But when even the TV news and public affairs programs’ episodes are focused on ghost sightings, ghost haunting, spirit possessions and other paranormal incidents, the credibility of journalism suffers. Zulueta described “Halloween journalism” as a market-driven activity—but which, we might add, could be premised on the mistaken assumption that it’s what the public wants.