First Olympic Gold overshadows Duterte’s last SONA: Media stop the presses for Hidilyn Diaz

HIDILYN DIAZ’S historic triumph in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics came just over an hour after President Rodrigo Duterte ended his two-hour and forty-five minute State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 26. News of Diaz’s win broke as the country’s broadsheets were about to put their front pages to bed with headlines about “the longest SONA in post-EDSA history” – prompting print media to stop the presses to celebrate the country’s first ever Olympic gold.

For those who suffered Duterte’s dull and lengthy speech, Diaz’s victory was an invigorating moment, lifting the gloom that had hovered over the country through the pandemic. The media rightfully gave the Olympic Gold medalist the attention and recognition she deserved. Newscasts airing after 8:30 pm put her first in their respective rundowns. She was also the top story of morning news programs the next day.

Based on CMFR’s content analysis, both print and TV gave more prominence, more of prime time and space to Diaz than Duterte. The total number of print stories on the SONA exceeded the number of Diaz stories but these did not enjoy the more important space on the front pages and above the fold. With more banner stories, Diaz hugged the upper fold of broadsheets.

On TV she got more lead time on rundowns, making her coverage overshadow the SONA overall.   

CMFR reviewed the coverage of primetime newscasts (ABS-CBN 2’s TV Patrol, GMA-7’s 24 Oras, TV5’s Frontline Pilipinas and CNN Philippines’ News Night), the leading Manila broadsheets (Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star, and Manila Bulletin), as well as three other selected broadsheets (The Daily Tribune, The Manila Times, The Manila Standard) for a two-day period from July 27 to July 28, 2021.

Battle for banner story

The day after the SONA, it was Diaz’s win that dominated print, landing as a banner story on the front pages of five out of the six monitored broadsheets. Duterte’s SONA was relegated to the lower fold of most newspapers. 

The Standard stood out for sticking with its banner story on Duterte’s SONA and putting Diaz’s win at the bottom of its front page instead.

Diaz stayed on the front pages until the following day, with newspapers reporting her homecoming as another banner story.

Of the 26 reports on Diaz, 17 (65%) were on the frontpage, eight of which were banner stories.

Of the 32 reports on the SONA, 20 (62%) appeared on the frontpage. Only one was a banner story.

Primetime spotlight on Diaz 

Broadcast media broke the news of Diaz’s win as soon as it was announced at around 8:30 pm on July 26, by which time the newscasts that gave the top story to Duterte’s final SONA were already finished.

On July 26, CNN Philippines’ News Night and TV5’s Frontline Pilipinas did not air. CNN Philippines streamed the SONA and, following the speech, aired a special post-SONA coverage that took up their primetime newscast’s time slot. Meanwhile, TV5 streamed the SONA during Frontline Pilipinas’ time slot (5:30p.m.-6:30p.m.), then went back to  regular programming at 6:30p.m. and aired the variety program Sing Galing. Meanwhile, ABS-CBN and GMA streamed the full SONA which ran from 4:15p.m. to 7:00p.m., which took up a third of their primetime newscasts’ airtime.

On July 27 and 28, stories on Diaz led the primetime newscasts, which ran significantly more reports on Diaz than on the SONA. 

In total, from July 27 to 28, one hour, fifty-five minutes and twenty-nine seconds (1:55:29) worth of primetime air was given to Diaz, exceeding the thirty-three minutes and two seconds (00:33:02) on Duterte’s SONA by one hour, twenty-two minutes and, twenty-seven seconds (1:22:27).

Media had been prepared to give the SONA the focus and attention it deserved. Public affairs primed Filipinos to be engaged in Duterte’s last address to Congress as president. But as it turned out, they could only do so much. 

The SONA reports noted in CMFR’s count mostly repeated Duterte’s SONA statements, with only a few stories referring to the disappointment of opposition officials and civil society groups. 

With Duterte going off-script, the last SONA was typical of Duterte’s public persona and speech— long-winded and lacking focus and direction. He ranted against his usual perceived enemies: drugs, communists, “oligarchs” and the United States. About the looming threat of the Delta variant’s spread, the president could only say he still had to consult with the IATF. 

Clearly, Diaz was the real newsmaker of the day.