PDI-GMA7: "talangkated" media
to give context to the title, let me tell you what a talangka is. it's a small freshwater crab (Paratelphusa spinigera) eaten as a delicacy here in the philippines. place a bunch of them in a bucket and you will observe something pretty interesting. there will be some individuals who will attempt to climb out of the bucket... in fact they will climb over their fellows to get to the edge and out to freedom. but most cooks don't worry about that. more often than not, one of their fellows will make sure to pull them right back down into the bucket.
this is "crab mentality", a trait we are very well known (throughout the world for). and i've been to more than a few places outside of the philippines. i can say with a fair amount of certainty, that in my experience, the one thing that a successful Filipino abroad has to worry about... is another Filipino out to drag him back down into the bucket with everybody else.
nowhere is this worse than in the Philippines. the media strives to keep the populace dumb, by deadening its capacity for discernment with a vicious poison: envy towards one another.
i think this is a vestige of the "divide and conquer" tactics so efficiently employed by the Spanish against us--and gleefully perpetrated by those that currently hold power and influence to make sure the bulk of us stay in a perpetual state of animated slumber...oblivious to everything save a perverted fantasy world shaped by soap operas, game shows, and sensationalist journalism.
allow me to continue by giving the classic "isagani cruz" qualification: that i am wholly unqualified to make a generalisation about this media outfit, as i don't patronise their TV station, nor do I read their newspaper. i am only speaking out against those irresponsible media people who treat news like entertainment. and should this people repent from their ways and behave like rational responsible journalists, then they will have my unending respect. *derisive snicker*
i used to like channel 7. i mean that's where i got to see voltes v, mazinger z, ghost fighter, slam dunk, dragonball, and trigun. but i stopped watching a long time ago. right around the time a GMA reporter got a young boy killed because he stuck his nose right into hostage negotiations in a bus station, wannabe hero news-moron decides to he'll be the one to end the crisis, says the wrong thing, drugged out father goes buck wild and stabs his child to death. real smart move there, buddy.
now their news show devotes at least 15 minutes every evening to headlines that follow this template: (number) (location) (gruesome manner of death). for example: 15 tao sa quezon city, tumaob ang jeep, patay! (15 people riding a passenger jeep in quezon city, jeep flips over, they all die!)
not to mention a journalistic style predicated on the presentation of facts and the exaggeration of details in a manner that is meant to incite and inflame, instead of to simply inform. of injecting bias into a medium that must remain, as much as humanly possible, inviolate of any slant or prejudice.
and while they allowed Manuel L. Quezon III the chance to speak out for the LGBT community, the fact that they allowed Isagani Cruz to spread his kind of filth in the media in the first place is... deplorable (and no sir, i am straight and i definitely do not entertain any thoughts about shaking your hand or embracing you either. eeew.) granted Mr. Quezon's article wasn't exactly an object lesson in restraint either. but i suppose this all fits with PDI's penchant for "making such a big deal" out of things.
my question really is, when will this sort of crap end? maybe never, considering how this network and that paper love to self-advertise about their number one position in Philippine media today.
the PDI-GMA7 media establishment has but one aim. i'm not quite sure what it is, but it falls more within the realm of "shameless profit-taking from sensationalised half-truths masquerading as news" than real journalism. and its their brand of trash that's guaranteed to ensure that the majority of the people here who choose to remain slaves to their "idiot box" remain just that. idiots.
to extend the above analogy. this is a media outfit that encourage people to wallow in their ignorance by perpetuating stereotypes and biases, while hypocritically proclaiming in their 2-minute long station ID spots that they are the most "balanced" news outfit in the country. give me a break.
another major daily periodical has this phrase as its motto, "the newspaper is a public trust", and while i don't quite agree with their editorial position, i think there'd be a greater chance of seeing real newsmen in their offices than at PDI's.
as with everything else in this country my friends, caveat emptor.
good night!
this is "crab mentality", a trait we are very well known (throughout the world for). and i've been to more than a few places outside of the philippines. i can say with a fair amount of certainty, that in my experience, the one thing that a successful Filipino abroad has to worry about... is another Filipino out to drag him back down into the bucket with everybody else.
nowhere is this worse than in the Philippines. the media strives to keep the populace dumb, by deadening its capacity for discernment with a vicious poison: envy towards one another.
i think this is a vestige of the "divide and conquer" tactics so efficiently employed by the Spanish against us--and gleefully perpetrated by those that currently hold power and influence to make sure the bulk of us stay in a perpetual state of animated slumber...oblivious to everything save a perverted fantasy world shaped by soap operas, game shows, and sensationalist journalism.
allow me to continue by giving the classic "isagani cruz" qualification: that i am wholly unqualified to make a generalisation about this media outfit, as i don't patronise their TV station, nor do I read their newspaper. i am only speaking out against those irresponsible media people who treat news like entertainment. and should this people repent from their ways and behave like rational responsible journalists, then they will have my unending respect. *derisive snicker*
i used to like channel 7. i mean that's where i got to see voltes v, mazinger z, ghost fighter, slam dunk, dragonball, and trigun. but i stopped watching a long time ago. right around the time a GMA reporter got a young boy killed because he stuck his nose right into hostage negotiations in a bus station, wannabe hero news-moron decides to he'll be the one to end the crisis, says the wrong thing, drugged out father goes buck wild and stabs his child to death. real smart move there, buddy.
now their news show devotes at least 15 minutes every evening to headlines that follow this template: (number) (location) (gruesome manner of death). for example: 15 tao sa quezon city, tumaob ang jeep, patay! (15 people riding a passenger jeep in quezon city, jeep flips over, they all die!)
not to mention a journalistic style predicated on the presentation of facts and the exaggeration of details in a manner that is meant to incite and inflame, instead of to simply inform. of injecting bias into a medium that must remain, as much as humanly possible, inviolate of any slant or prejudice.
and while they allowed Manuel L. Quezon III the chance to speak out for the LGBT community, the fact that they allowed Isagani Cruz to spread his kind of filth in the media in the first place is... deplorable (and no sir, i am straight and i definitely do not entertain any thoughts about shaking your hand or embracing you either. eeew.) granted Mr. Quezon's article wasn't exactly an object lesson in restraint either. but i suppose this all fits with PDI's penchant for "making such a big deal" out of things.
my question really is, when will this sort of crap end? maybe never, considering how this network and that paper love to self-advertise about their number one position in Philippine media today.
the PDI-GMA7 media establishment has but one aim. i'm not quite sure what it is, but it falls more within the realm of "shameless profit-taking from sensationalised half-truths masquerading as news" than real journalism. and its their brand of trash that's guaranteed to ensure that the majority of the people here who choose to remain slaves to their "idiot box" remain just that. idiots.
to extend the above analogy. this is a media outfit that encourage people to wallow in their ignorance by perpetuating stereotypes and biases, while hypocritically proclaiming in their 2-minute long station ID spots that they are the most "balanced" news outfit in the country. give me a break.
another major daily periodical has this phrase as its motto, "the newspaper is a public trust", and while i don't quite agree with their editorial position, i think there'd be a greater chance of seeing real newsmen in their offices than at PDI's.
as with everything else in this country my friends, caveat emptor.
good night!