Information or entertainment?

By Ellah D. Pama, Jocelle T. Pizarra, Marie Jojina S. Serrano, Maria Cecilia S. Pedrocillo and Sherlene Mae E. San Joaquin/CMFR Interns

THE CENTER for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) conducted a 24-hour monitor of the three major television networks— ABS-CBN 2, GMA 7 and TV 5 – on April 27, 2015 and a 5-day (April 27-May 1, 2015) monitor of nine broadsheets – BusinessMirror, BusinessWorld, Daily Tribune, Malaya Business Insight, Manila Bulletin, The Manila Times, Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star and The Standard.

Rating game

According to AGB Nielsen’s survey of Mega Manila households from April 24-28, GMA Channel 7 is still the most-watched TV Network in the area. (“AGB Nielsen Mega Manila Household Ratings (April 24-28, 2015): Rocco-Kris episode of Karelasyon triumphs over rival with single-digit rating,” Philippine Entertainment Portal, April 30, 2015)

GMA allocated 27.93 percent of its total airtime to news during the period monitored, which suggests that more entertainment rather than information was fed to its audience. ABS-CBN devoted 25.98 percent of its total airtime to news, and TV5 20.24 percent.

Article 1, section 1 of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP)’s Broadcast Code states that:

“News and public affairs programs shall aim primarily to inform the public on important current events and issues rather than merely to entertain.”

Section 2 demands that:

“News shall be part of a station’s daily programming. No less than 30 minutes of daily programming should be devoted to news.”

GMA revoked its membership from the KBP last September 2003.

Most of the shows both networks air during primetime (6:00 PM-11:00 PM) are “teleseryes” and fantasy shows. GMA’s telenovela Once Upon a Kiss had the highest viewership among the primetime shows with 21.3 percent rating. Meanwhile, Aksyon Tonite of TV5 had only a 1.9 percent audience share.

More entertainment

The two networks devoted huge chunks of time to entertainment within their news programs.

CMFR monitored the time spent for entertainment and news within the news programs of the three networks aired last April 27, 2015 (See graph below).

TV5’s Aksyon Tonite allocated 34.42 percent of its total airtime to entertainment, most of which were about the upcoming fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The reports focused on the preparations of Pacquiao for the fight, the celebrities who visited his house, and the birthday celebration of his youngest son. TV5’s early evening news program Aksyon allocated 25.81 percent to entertainment.

GMA 7’s 24 Oras allotted only 16.90 percent of its airtime to entertainment reports and 9.93 percent in its late night news program Saksi. ABS-CBN 2’s TV Patrol devoted 21.54 percent airtime for entertainment and the remaining 78.46 percent for news. The same network’s Bandila allotted 11.88 percent of its airtime for entertainment and 88.12 percent for news.

The same pattern was evident in print media. Although they also allotted space to national and international news, some print organizations devoted more space to the Pacquiao fight and the case of Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipina who was convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia.

The Inquirer had the most number of front page stories about Pacquiao’s fight with 18, and 17 for the Veloso case. The Manila Times was second with 10 front page stories on Pacquiao’s fight and 10 on the Veloso case, while the Philippine Star had 5 on Pacquiao’s fight and 11 on Veloso.

The reports on the Pacquiao fight were mostly trivial, overshadowing his record as a congressman with the most number of absences in the House of Representatives. Pacquiao attended only 7 out of 70 sessions last year.

On the other hand, in the reports on Mary Jane, print media highlighted the plight of the family in the case – publicizing their grief instead of focusing on the problem of overseas workers.

The front page spaces could have been used for conveying more newsworthy stories at that time such as China’s continuous reclamation activities in the West Philippine Sea, the political issues in the resignation of John Sevilla as Bureau of Customs commissioner, and the debate on Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) which the broadsheets monitored included only in their inside pages during the period monitored.

Public affairs in the off hours

The public affairs programs over the networks were scheduled on hours when there were fewer viewers. Mission Possible of ABS-CBN and Alisto of GMA are aired in the afternoon, while GMA 7’s Frontrow, and TV 5’s Demolition Job are aired before the stations’ late night sign off.

Mission Possible had only a 5.7 percent audience share, Alisto 7.8 percent, Frontrow 6.2 percent and Demolition Job 0.8 percent.

Below are the program schedules of ABS-CBN 2, GMA 7 and TV5: