TV monitors

No deal!
On Oct. 11, TV Patrol World reported about two people who filed adultery charges against their respective spouses. Aside from the staple confrontation shots in police stations, the report showed the complainants hitting their spouses’ lovers.
One report described how the wife caught her husband and his mistress inside a mosquito net. The other gave unnecessary publicity to actress Kris Aquino’s ABS-CBN show Deal or No Deal when it quoted the husband as saying that, in filing a case against his wife, he had to go through a decision-making process similar to what contestants undergo in the entertainment show.
The reports tried to “protect” the couples and the lovers by blurring their faces and giving them aliases. But how about protecting viewers from such ridiculous “reports”? (Like warning them, “Pasintabi lamang po, ang susunod na ulat ay walang katuturan!”)

Deal!
TV Patrol World can do good reporting as it did when it provided substantial background on the death of seven infants in the Rizal Medical Center in Pasig due to neonatal sepsis (Oct. 12). The newscast explained how one could contract the disease, its symptoms, ways of prevention, and the immediate steps to be taken in case of infection.

NGO racket
Another good investigative report was Bandila’s Oct. 16 account of the indiscriminate distribution of government funds to some non-government organizations (NGOs).
Bandila discovered that some of the NGOs that received large amounts of money from the government were either no longer operating, shared the same address, or had the same incorporators.
The government distributed P1.7 billion last year to different NGOs that were supposed to help farmers. Among the NGO beneficiaries with questionable background were:
• Masaganang Ani Foundation and Philippine Social Development Foundation, which closed their offices despite receiving P87,836,400 and P148,329,000, respectively, last year; and
• Bukid Tanglaw Foundation and Las Marias Foundation which had the same fake address and incorporator.
Interviewed in the report was former Securities and Exchange Commission chair Perfecto Yasay who said that funding NGOs has been a source of corruption for a long time. He said these groups are beyond the reach of government investigating agencies.

The right name
We don’t want foreigners calling us Flips, do we? So why does a news organization like IBC Express Balita allow its reporter to call an Indian national a Bumbay?
An IBC newscast on Sept. 27 reported on the rescue of an Indian national from his abductors. It used the video clip of a policeman who twice referred to the kidnap victim as a Bumbay. Worse, the reporter also described the Indian as Bumbay.
The term Bumbay is an uninformed reference to Indian nationals, many of whom do not even come from the city of Bombay or Mumbai. In the Philippines, it abets the stereotypical image of motorcycle-driving South Asians engaged in money lending, an activity that has, however, gained some respectability over the years because loans in such transactions sometimes offer lower interest rates than banks.

A report about…me
At the height of the coup d’etat in Thailand last Sept. 21, 24 Oras gave viewers the latest developments on the crisis through talk show host Paolo Bediones, who happened to be doing an episode there for his travel show, Pinoy Meets World.
The first part of Bediones’s report—that Bangkok was peaceful despite the presence of soldiers and tanks in various parts of the city—could pass for a news story. But he could not resist being part of the story. Noting that some locals took their photographs beside the soldiers, he said, “Pati ako nagpakuha rin ng litrato kasama ng mga sundalo.” The video clip then showed Bediones posing with the soldiers.
Saksi did a better report later that night. It used Bediones’s earlier report in 24 Oras but without the talk show host’s antics.

Remembering martial law
The Big News recalled the 34th anniversary of the declaration of martial law last Sept. 21 with a special report on the media situation in the country. Based on interviews with veteran journalists Eugenia Apostol, Lourdes Molina Fernandez, and Conrado de Quiros, the report compared the situation today to that during the Marcos dictatorship, when journalists were deprived of their rights.
De Quiros was quoted that journalists have rights but these are not respected by the Arroyo administration. The report said the muzzling of today’s media has taken many forms: the filing of libel suits by government officials, the issuance of Presidential Proclamation 1017 early this year, and the killing of an unprecedented number of journalists, among other things.
The newscast did a good job in presenting to the public the problems and the environment facing today’s media.

Forgetting martial law
Another special report by the Big News on Sept. 21 revealed that many young people are not aware of the significance of martial law. According to the report, that episode in the country’s history is not being discussed comprehensively in schools. A history professor from the University of the Philippines said textbooks lack information on martial law.

Understanding Ramadan
The Top Story did a good job last Sept. 25 in informing viewers about the Ramadan, an important event in Islam. It said Ramadan is not just about fasting; it is a month of sacrifice, prayer, and clean living for Muslims. But the most important reason for fasting, according to the report, is to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor and to empathize with the underprivileged.

Comments are closed.