The Climb To The Top

Was there—or was there not—a network war in the Everest expedition?
The Climb To The Top
By Don Gil K. Carreon

ON MAY 17, Filipinos received the news that Heracleo “Leo” Oracion, member of the First Philippine Mount Everest Expedition (FPMEE), became the first Filipino to scale the world’s tallest mountain. ABS-CBN, the official broadcast partner of FPMEE, broke the story, while GMA-7 followed soon afterwards.

In the days ahead, the two network giants delivered more good news as two more Fili-pinos—FPMEE’s Erwin “Pastor” Emata and GMA 7-backed Romeo “Romi” Garduce—accomplished the same feat.

The twin expeditions and the accomplishments, though, were viewed by some in the print media as another arena in the ratings war by the two networks, an assumption denied by both networks during the Everest expedition coverage.

“We treated this as any other story,” said Maria Ressa, ABS-CBN’s head for news and current affairs. “It (the network war) was just on the people’s minds.”

GMA-7’s Grace de la Peña-Reyes, news operations head, said that they were just there to cover the exploits “and nothing more.”

Alcuin Papa, who covered the event for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, said, “In my view, there was obviously a network war no matter what the two networks say.”

For example, he said, the public would naturally associate the first climber to reach Everest with the network that sponsored him.

Competition not war
”There is competition,” Reyes admitted but indicated that the term “network war” was too strong a phrase to describe the coverage.

“The way we look at the Everest coverage is the way we look at every coverage. We want to break the news first; we want to have the better video; we want our shows better produced, always,” Reyes said.

According to Charie Villa, ABS-CBN’s news gathering head, the discrepancy in the sizes of the team sent by both networks and the equipment they carried showed the competition was not even as intense. GMA-7 sent a five-man team led by reporter Jiggy Manicad, while Abner Mercado headed ABS-CBN’s three-man team.

Mercado, though, is more familiar with covering alpine climbs having tagged along with FPMEE’s Everest preparation since 2004. Mercado also won an award last March from the Moscow International Festival for Mountaineering and Adventure Films for a documentary he did on the FPMEE’s Mt. Cook climb. Ressa said Mercado’s experience shows that ABS-CBN’s Everest coverage was not abruptly thought of.

The two networks also had different approaches in pre-senting the journey to Everest. GMA-7 opted to give an almost daily update on the climbers’ progress. ABS-CBN, on the other hand, reported only when significant gains were achieved in the ascent.

Adding to the network war perception was the circumstance by which the two networks got hold of the mountaineers’ coverage rights. ABS-CBN got hold of the coverage rights to the FPMEE’s summit bid in 2004 only after it was declined by GMA-7. Back then, GMA-7 could not meet the team’s request of airtime.

The following year, Garduce proposed to GMA-7 coverage of his Everest summit try. Bolstered by the acquisition of QTV-11, the network approved the coverage.

Exclusivity clause
As exclusive broadcast partners, each network was entitled to the live coverage of the Mt. Everest summit bid of their respective climbers.

But while GMA-7 was given access to Oracion and Emata, Ressa said they had a hard time getting interviews from Garduce or even from his family members. ABS-CBN also received a letter from GMA-7’s Legal Affairs Department last March 13 informing ABS-CBN that they hold the exclusive TV coverage rights to Garduce’s Mt. Everest summit bid. The GMA-7 letter is said to be the reason for the limited ABS-CBN coverage on Garduce.

However, Michelle Seva-Recto, GMA-7’s news program manager, said that it is normal practice between the two networks to inform each other of their exclusive coverage rights. Recto said they have also received similar letters from ABS-CBN in the past. She added that GMA-7 never restricted Garduce from talking to any media organization.

Reyes said that although GMA-7 had access to FPMEE, it was also subjected to restrictions.

“At the base camp, ABS-CBN prevented us from doing certain things,” said Reyes, adding, “They also imposed some conditions on us and we respected that.”

Papa said in that situation, both networks committed errors. GMA-7 blinked first when it wrote the letter to ABS-CBN.

“GMA should have realized that ABS will definitely have to cover Garduce because whether he comes first, second, or third, he is still a story, no matter what,” Papa said. He also believed that ABS-CBN should not have let GMA-7’s letter prevent them from doing their job of delivering the news.

‘That was it?’
Officials from both networks maintained that they did not, in any way, try to dictate the pace of the ascent and let the climbers scale the mountain at their own speed.

“We were projecting that we would be there up until the end of May, so when they finished earlier, we thought ‘That was it?’” Recto said.

Peter Musngi, ABS-CBN’s vice president for sports, added they never wanted the whole coverage to be viewed as a network war, specifically because lives were at stake. The perception, he said, may put undue pressure on the climbers, cause them to overexert themselves and lead to tragedy.

Papa, himself a member of the University of the Philippines Mountaineering Club, said he believes there was a race among the climbers themselves, but it was not due to the television coverage.

“One thing most people don’t see about mountaineers is that there is a lot of ego involved. It’s about showing people, and yourself, that you can get up any mountain, be it Banahaw or Everest,” Papa said.

Building a team
According to Musngi, ABS-CBN already had plans for coverage of a Filipino Everest expedition as early as 1994.

“It would be a nice feat for ABS-CBN to contribute to national pride by covering a Filipino summiting Everest,” Musngi said. “But we did not want to build the team to climb the mountain.”

On the other hand, Rikki Escudero, GMA-7’s assistant vice president for expansion and production, said the network was motivated by the chance to cover history when they were approached last year by Garduce, who had planned to climb Everest as early as 1993.

“It was the chance to document the attempt of one of the country’s most accomplished mountaineers to reach the summit of the tallest mountain in the world,” Escudero said. “A once-in-a-lifetime coverage opportunity” was how she described it.

On hindsight, officials from the two stations agreed that had the mountaineers proceeded to climb Everest without the support of the networks, they would still be there to cover the news.

But without the luster of reflected glory.

— With research from Ross Ann Sabido

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