Category: media

blogger blues

little more than a handful of pinoy bloggers on my required-reads list have been blogging (and only a handful of readers commenting) on israel’s wicked war in/on gaza, which is a shame because it betrays how insular we can get, as though we were an island complete unto ourselves, which we’re not.

the israel-palestine problem should concern us, at the very least because it involves the u.s. of a. (even if cnn and bbc don’t talk about the how and the why) with whom we are said to have “special relations.”   a must-read is anna de brux’s post, America should stop subsidising Israel’s war on Gaza to the tune of $2.4 billion a year in military aid.   iyan ang “special relations.”   iyong sa atin, a paltry $149 million, poor relations lang tayo, distant relations, even beggar relations, thanks to government policies, e.g. foreign policy, trade policy, debt policy, that keep us dependent on, subservient to, outside forces.

at the very least, next time gma or kristiekenney talks “special relations” because of our long history as allies, let us be aware that it has been a long time since it’s done us much good.

so what have pinoy bloggers been fretting about  instead all through the holidays til now?    the golf folderol (as djb puts it), what else.   now that the blogosphere’s kneejerk rush to judgement in reaction to bambee de la paz’s campaign for justice has been proven rash foolish unwise, many bloggers left twisting in the wind are making the best of a sorry situation, some by admitting outright that it was a mistake, some by posting the pangandaman side, some by utter silence so far, and some by editing their blogs perhaps to avoid libel suits.

must reads:

Final Cut: The Pangandaman-Dela Paz Feud
Bubuyog Tonite: De la Paz, di nagkasya sa payong …
Obliterated: An Anti Pangandaman Blog
Credibility in Blogging and the Libel Suit against Blogger Bambee de la Paz
It’s your blog
The Right to Bitch …

i can hear luis teodoro et al saying, i told you so:

the principles of journalism should apply . . . . there should be verification and fairness even if it’s an opinion piece.“

reading my strong negative reaction at the time, a long time ago, long before bambee, i cringe.   but no, i’m not editing out any of it.   a reminder to think twice before jumping into the next debate between mainstream media and the new media that’s admittedly going through birth pains, no, maybe teething pains, pinoy style.

dismaying discourse on mindanao

nakakadismaya ang pinoy blogosphere discourse on mindanao and the muslim struggle for self-determination. no sympathy for the muslims at all. mostly the attitude is, who are they to dictate on the government, they are only a minority, and mostly bloody insurgents and brutal bandits at that.

it’s a triumph of mainstream media, of course, which has succeeded, wittingly or un-, in painting muslim filipinos as “enemies of the state.”

check out cris m. gaerlan jr.’s paper on the role of media in the mindanao war and turning the moro peoples into internal refugees, read in a bangkok conference at the height of the estrada administration’s all-out-war in mindanao:

Reporters and cameramen are now always at the front lines of almost every military offensive in Mindanao. Even a news blackout that had been arbitrarily declared during the height of the hostage crisis in Jolo did not deter the them from bringing the news out to the rest of the country and the world. But what news does the media bring?

Unwittingly or otherwise, the media has contributed to the creation of a myth – the myth that presents Muslims as enemies of the state. Media is now playing a great role in widening the divide between Muslims and their own country, projecting the conflict as a religious war, good versus evil, Christian against Muslim, the government versus forces wanted to establish an Independent Mndanao Islamic state. AS MASS MEDIA REPORTS ON THE PRESENT SITUATION, IT IGNORES THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE MINDANAO CONFLICT, TO THE POINT OF INFLUENCING PUBLIC OPINION AND CONDONING, IF NOT ACTUALLY ENCOURAGING, ACTS OF CULTURAL VIOLENCE AGAINST THE MUSLIM PEOPLE. [caps mine]

The extensive media coverage of the “victory” of the Philippine Armed Forces in Camp Abubakhar further instills in people’s minds that “war is the only solution” to the problem in Mindanao. And hunting down suspected terrorist and not surprisingly only Muslims are arrested with out warrants. And should the people wonder?

…mass mediahas caused the public to equate the word “Muslim” with “bandit”, “kidnapper” “terrorist”, and “murderer,” portraying Muslims as a barbaric people. Mass media has reduced the followers of Islam to a people bent on overthrowing the government, and that these enemies of the state deserve this mutated form of ethnic cleansing.”

it’s all terribly unfair to the muslims. had i been born muslim, given the history and the grinding poverty, i would surely be part of a nonviolent struggle for bangsamoro self-determination and a better life. and i might also hate manila, and america, with a vengeance.

ces redux

redux adj.  = brought back; returned. resurgent. used postpositively.

that’s what anc’s “kidnap” docu was all about, a make-over of ces drilon, the brat correspondent who got herself and her team kidnapped by terrorists just because egotism, conceit, self-importance got the better of her.

reminds me of cnn’s richard quest who was caught with dope in new york – i’m not sure if it was coke, crack, or ice – and who simply disappeared from the public eye. the way cnn handled it, it was like he had never existed, never mind that he had quite a following with the business class.

okay, so ces drilon was just high on ego, but the consequences were so much more horrible and widespread, she certainly didn’t deserve that tribute.

walang iwanan sa bayanijuan? *LOL*

i hate to rain on abs-cbn channel 2’s parade but i must say, medyo ill-timed ang kanilang “bayanijuan” papogi promo, coming as it does when the people’s lopez-meralco woes remain unresolved. this must be why ang dating sa akin ay tipong damage control. the network’s way of distancing itself from the lopez owners’ other bigtime earner meralco, as if to say, wala kaming kinalaman diyan, ha. haha, how ilusyonado naman.

even more unfortunate, the campaign was launched in the wake of anc’s news embargo on the ces drilon kidnapping, so that my kneejerk reaction was, ano daw? walang iwanan? in my book, iwanan blues ang nangyari when maria ressa simply refused to tell us what she knew, even when ces drilon was already out of danger. iwanan blues ang patuloy na nangyayari since ayaw pa rin nilang magkuwento, how afraid, how careful, naman.

hindi bale sana kung naiiba itong kampanyang bayanijuan, eh not in the least. it’s just another show (pakitang-tao) of “corporate social responsibility” as practiced by oligarchs who make sooooooo much money out of selling us all sorts of things, they assuage their guilt by “giving back,” i.e., undertaking relief projects for disaster victims and donating a small percentage of their huge profits to generate income and services for the poor, which, really, barely make a dent on the country’s poverty and hunger situation, much like government dole-outs. teaching a man to fish instead of giving him fish no longer works, not when the big ships get to the fish first.

‘ika nga ni environmentalist maximo “junie” kalaw back in the ’90s:

Quite a few business enterprises would be found caught in the internal contradiction of donating to the poor with one hand and contributing to their poverty with the other.

A better way of approaching the issue is to consider the business community’s relationship with the people and with the resources utilized,in the context of the whole community.

The questions to ask are not about which social projects may be appended to a business enterprise but about what goods it is producing and how; what resources it is using. . . . what technology is being used. . . . what its effects are on the people and the environment; how profit is earned, who benefits, and who is deprived by the economic activity.”

kumbaga, kung media ang pinagkakakitaan, sa pamamagitan din ng media mag-give-back to the people. if abs-cbn truly wants a bagong simula sa ating bayan it is in a very good position to do so simply by broadening its thrust – imbes na puro escapist entertainment, give the public some intelligent informative stuff naman, yung meron silang mapupulot na kaalaman na maaaring ikaangat ng kanilang buhay.

topping my list would be daily 30-minuters (to be aired three or more times a day) that would teach us all to speak better english (and tagalog, and maybe the basics of bisaya, ilokano, kampampangan) harnessing the potentials of audio-visual technologies to teach classroom stuff in appealing interesting effective ways.

i can hear the sighs. walang mag-a-advertise sa ganyang show, saan sila kukuha ng pera pang-produce? aha. here’s precisely where “giving back” (good for the soul) or “paying forward” (good for the karma) kicks in. abs-cbn shoulders the expenses, of course, in the spirit of corporate social responsibility. who knows, if they’re smart and call in their judays and claudines to pitch in and take turns hosting the shows, i’m sure may mag-a-advertise.

and how about bringing back the public affairs talk shows? if abs-cbn truly wants a bagong simula sa ating bayan, ibalik naman please ang public affairs talk shows, which are essential to a democracy of adequately informed decisions. wag naman puro showbiz talk at reality tv. e ano kung walang mag-advertise. corporate social responsibility nga, di ba?

unfortunately, i’m not optimistic about abs-cbn. seems to me that its creatives are not quite tuned in to the real world. take the script of a series of video clips designed to inspire the youth to action:

“Jose Rizal, edad 26 nunglumabas ang Noli Me Tangere. . . . Jacinto at Del Pilar, 19 noong sumali sa Katipunan. . . . Ikaw, ilang taon ka na?”

LOL! AS IF! kung meron bang sumulat ngayon ng librong tipong noli me tangere, meron kayang magpa-publish? meron kayang magbabasa? basahin kaya ng mga taga-abs-cbn? at kung sumali ang kabataan sa isang samahang tipong katipunan, hindi ba’t ha-hunting-in lang sila ng military at makukulong, o mawawala a la jonas burgos? hahanapin kaya sila ng abs-cbn? LOL! AS IF!