Category: media

the malu-gma connect

malu-bigfoot-in-her-mouth-fernandez strikes again, this time dissing bloggers (slacker’s job daw, unless you get paid for it, how mercenary) who crucified her once for dissing ofws, and all in a sophomoric kind of bad writing that’s full of herself and her perfumed hot-air existence. to top it all, she has the gall to call herself a journalist. omg, i swear, professional pinoy journalists should raise a stink. there ought to be a law barring the likes of this woman from thinking herself in the pro league, and naming herself to the pro league. she gives philippine journalism a bad name.

and of course, being the aunt of the gma cohort (supposedly senator) migs zubiri (whose mom is her sister), the tacky bitch just had to weigh in on a bloggers’ campaign to unseat the lucky bitch:

It’s just like all this hullabaloo about ousting GMA. You deposed ERAP in Edsa Dos. Now you’re unhappy with his replacement. Make up your minds. (For the record I’m not pro anybody I’m pro whatever lesser evil is out there). You can’t overthrow one president then decide you made a mistake with your second choice. I’s not like buying a green Hermes bag and suddenly deciding, oops I should have gotten the black one instead. Unfortunately that’s the kind of nation we have become, a bunch of wishy-washy whiners who whine about everything under the sun and found the blog sphere to be the new medium for whining. Yes we do what we have to do as a nation to get things done and stop corruption and evil (I’m all for that) but we never seem to be happy with what we have, hence the complaining and whining. It just never stops.”

grabe. if i were the supposed senator zubiri, i would cringe in shame at being associated with such drivel.

wazzup, sassy?

quick break muna from the political drama unfolding. can’t let pass without comment megablogger connie veneracion’s sweeping swipe at pinoy political bloggers, even if she can’t possibly be referring to li’l ol’ me.

check out her march 4 column sa manila standard today, Citizen journalism and the new media (which, curiously, is not posted in any of her blogs) and wonder, what’s up?

by civilian journalism she means “participatory journalism,” defined in We Media: How Audiences Are Shaping the Future of News and Information, as citizen journalists “playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information” and the intention is to “provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires.”

first she complains that the term is

“too often associated only with a particular niche – news and politics”

instead of including

“anything and everything reported by citizens from first-hand experiences, including food bloggers especially when they talk about the rise in prices of meat or fish or the unavailability of good-quality prawns and mangos because we only what is left after the best ones have been exported”.

she follows up with:

“You won’t find celebrity, food and fashion bloggers giving a hoot about having their sites labeled as forms of citizen journalism; only political bloggers care and they care a lot. Why?

“Simple, really, and the phenomemon can be explained in two words: advocacy and activism. They have agenda and the term ‘citizen journalism’ sort of elevates the status of an online publisher. It’s glamorizing something that would otherwise be plain and unexciting. To illustrate it even better, which sounds more impressive, ‘account executive’ or ‘ salesman’?”

i think the operative clause is: “to provide wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires.” make that “a damaged democracy,” like ours. so, yes, merong agenda, merong advocacy, merong activism ang pinoy internet journalism, which makes these news and op-ed blogs more important, more valuable than food and mommy blogs.

sure a food blog that keeps track of fish and meat prices or notes how the best mangoes and prawns are exported leaving us with the rejects is relevant, but only to a tiny sector of the population that can afford to eat well. to become more deeply and widely relevant, a food blog would have to get into the economic policies that bring about this state of affairs, i.e, get political, which sassylawyer has not been doing much of lately. can it be that she’s just tired of politics (lawyers have a problem, i find, with advocacy, how ironic) and just wants to cook and be a mom but still be relevant? wants to have her cake and eat it, too, but she can’t?

yeah, maybe one side of her doesn’t really give a hoot, but clearly an other side of her is quite upset, imbierna si motherblogger, at a particular group of pinoy bloggers:

“… in the Philippine context, there is a high-profile (meaning they are always visible in social events) group of bloggers intent on pushing the status of their Web publications as the embodiment of citizen journalism. They call themselves the New Media. The irony is that they consider Web publishers as handmaidens of mainstream media as though we are here simply to provide support. Secondly, these people are proponents of paid writing; meaning, they are amenable to receiving fees and/or freebies from business entities to write reviews about their products and services. . . . “To make matters even worse, some bloggers are now in the payroll of politicians.

“Truth be told, citizen journalism is fast becoming a lot like mainstream journalism -often biased and mostly about profits. I find writings about commuting blues, work-related stories, family picnics and non-sponsored trips and vacations more credible and deserving of the label citizen journalism.”

ang tindi, di ba. nagulumihanan na ako dahil siya rin naman ay tumatanggap ng bayad from advertisers, etc. as a professional blogger siya rin naman ay merong agenda at advocacy, at activist din siya about food and mommy stuff. what makes her different from the bloggers she disparages? what makes her so yabang? biglang, hmm, am i missing something here?

i needed a second opinion but the blogosphere is surprisingly silent, so i sent the link to my son joel all the way in holland – he’s why and how i got into blogging, my geek sounding board for all things techie. it was his first encounter with sassylawyer and his geeky take on it all is quite crisp and biting:

I’ve always associated ‘sassy’ with ‘slick and stylish’ and more along the lines of witty/ironic sarcasm rather than impertinent rudeness — this from observed contextual usage and onomatopoetically rather than knowledge of the actual definition (and there’s my grasp of the English language in a nutshell).

“And however disagreeable her writing, and even with ‘sass’ limited in definition to impudence and insolence (and none of the cool stuff I think it to be), her opinions and style simply don’t have the edge to be labeled as such. Like a teenager wanting to be labeled ‘bad-ass’ when she’s really just annoying. This kind of cutesy self-deprecating-but-actually-aggrandizing really pisses me off. Especially in someone of age.

“I’m not exposed to nearly enough of the Philippine blogging scene to counter her arguments. But surely she’s speaking of a rung far below yours — and the blogs you’re en-linked — on the blogging social/intellectual class/order. Given the relative ease with which you can publish on the web these days, you can expect the hacks to far out number those with opinion or perspective of any real value. And driven as most are by social pressure, economic opportunities, and fame for the claiming, what’s so surprising about so many turning into shills for government, products, and self promotion?

“Happens everywhere. And it’s the beauty of the blogging system that people like such are so easily called on it and exposed for the corporate or political puppets they are. Also, the gargantuan number of alternative reading available makes for a more discriminating audience which can usually spot a hard sell a mile away and look for good reading elsewhere.

“I think ‘citizen journalism’ is misused here — by those she describes as seeking to claim the title and maybe by her. The concept of ‘citizen journalism’ doesn’t — or at least, shouldn’t — allow any space for misuse as a propaganda machine. At its core, journalism isn’t about heart-felt writing (ridiculous!) but factual, accurate reporting with absolutely no spin. The citizen element comes from the contributory methods used in the gathering and production of the news report.

“A legitimate political news blog (if such a thing exists) is well within its rights to claim the citizen journalist title. One that has no agenda other than to report on politics and seeks neither to advocate nor promote activism. But a political op ed blogger would be the last to want that label — both because of such wide misuse and what it actually means in proper usage. Such a blog of any real value uses the medium as a publishing platform for expression of personal political ideology at the very least, or, acting as informed intermediary, as an instrument for educating readers in what’s good, bad, ugly, etc.

“But no way do writings about commuting blues, work-related stories, family picnics, etc. equal citizen journalism. Those are personal journals. Just because there isn’t enough legitimate citizen journalism doesn’t mean you dilute it’s meaning by associating it with something less deserving.

[aside] A lot of the technology news blogs I enjoy manage to report facts and figures with accuracy far beyond what traditional media is capable of because of the open forum that surrounds each news item/post where inaccuracies are caught quickly and the nature of web publishing which allows for easy updating. But they don’t strictly adhere to the tenets of straight journalism in that they’re not shy about skewing reports with personal distaste for something, let’s say, Microsoft-related, or great affection for, say, something that comes out of Apple’s ass.

This has actually proven to work very well for the publishers who can define their audience and the readers who can identify who they like to read — much as Negroponte described in the book cited in the report she mentioned. [end of aside]

“So anong tawag sa’yo? You’re a pundit, engaged in a form of civic journalism through your political/entertainment op ed blog with unmoderated commenting. Quite apart from that, you’re also a professional writer. You DO NOT want to be called a ‘citizen journalist’.

“There is a distinction between those who are paid to blog/write, and those who simply earn from blogging through advertising. The former are answerable to editorial standards and other traditional media underpinnings (let’s not piss off the political party of our allegiance, advertisers, bosses, etc.). The latter can write about whatever they want and say whatever they like about it and, when employing the most common type of blog advertising, will have ads tailored for relevance to their content — basically free from being answerable to anyone. It’s the same distinction as when you’re hired to write something specific for someone and when you’re free-styling on your blog.

“The “We Media” paper actually makes for interesting reading. I’ve attached a copy. But a quick read makes me wonder how much of it she herself actually read, or if she just took the quote and the gist from the wikipedia definition of citizen journalism.

“And wow, really, who still uses the term ‘cyberspace’? That’s so… 90’s. And, come on, the 90’s wasn’t just last decade anymore, it’s practically a decade ago already. Of age, I tell you.”

question is, what motivated that op ed piece lashing out at a specific group of “high-profile” bloggers. the only high-profile political bloggers i know of are manolo quezon and dean jorge bocobo and they are certainly the least likely to sell out to self-serving politicians. correct me if i’m wrong, please.

the gma-monsod-lopez connect

priceless this reply of manolo quezon to a comment on his blog that the lopezes of abs-cbn, which network put out the news that “noli is set to assume presidency,” seem to have a score to settle with the macapagals.

i actually think the lopezes are being extra prudent, because gma has them by the balls over meralco. ever wonder why christian monsod is so ardently pushing the keep her until 2010 movement?”

it’s like asking, ever wonder why solita a.k.a. mareng winnie monsod is so ardently saying no to gma’s ouster?

googled “christian monsod and meralco” and, yes, he’s been board director since december 1998. and i found this tribune column by herman tiu laurel “National calamity: GMA & Meralco” dated august 2007, posted in magdalo sa pagbabago.

…Meralco rates should be reduced by up to 50% to bring it in line with the average in Asian power rates. One issue is the “incremental cost of capital” Meralco uses to massively cheat 4.2-M captive consumers – constantly escalating equipment costs to inflate its capital investment that never increased at all.

“To perpetualize this fraud Meralco induces top legislators, regulators and court judges to justify its system and jack up allowable profit from 5% decades ago to the present 15.4% … A previous Meralco sequestration was due to Meralco’s accounting practice that swindles government and the public. The Lopezescontaminate everything, even religion: “donating” land to the Jesuits’ Ateneo (brainwash its students) paid for by Meralco consumers – the Ateneo, Rockwell law school and new Ateneo medical school land beside Medical City on Ortigas Ave.

“The media too: ask Meralco director Christian Monsod’s wife at the Inquirer who’s so pro-Edsa Dos, that event that brought the IPP-PPA bonanza to the Lopezes. Ask 90% of radio and print commentarists who defend or keeping silent about Meralco abuses. On the courts, see the Philippine First Holdings Corporation website: “Former SC Chief Justice Panganiban as new director Mr. Angel Ong has resigned.” Readers may ask what’s wrong with this? I suggest – go to the December 2006 newspaper items about a certain “midnight decision” at the Supreme Court.

“Every discussion on electricity rates threatens to drown the layman in a sea of confusing figures, rule and regulation. The public must ask Gloria, her legislators, regulators and business cohorts the simplest question: “Why is the Philippines’ power rates the highest in Asia since afer Edsa Dos until today, and getting worse. What are you doing to bring the Philippines’ power rates to the reasonable and average rate prevalent in Asia – to keep our industries and our standard of living competitive and comparable to the rest?”

“It is not the Filipino people’s obligation, nor electricity consumers, to suffer for the benefit of Gloria and the power companies. Gloria’s SONA obviously recognizes the electric power rates problem as a major one, thus she spoke of “amending” the EPIRA’s on “open access”- but treating it as a legislative issue is intended to exhaust the last two minutes with a long dribble. It will just allow continuation of Meralco and its stockholders 4,000% earnings in fifteen years using only its consumers’ monthly payments – blood, sweat and tears – for exorbitant power rates.

“In 2001 the Lopezes, with other oligarchs, launched Gloria’s coup against an elected president. Seven years of socio-economic-political calamity followed as privatization concentrated political power in the profit-seeking elite. Gloria, the Lopezes and Meralco are emblematic of the sources of our nation’s seven years of calamity since Edsa Dos: systematic abuse of our people for unappeasable, insatiable, ravenous, criminal profit at the people’s expense. Our solution? Emergency “people power” through a consumers’ cooperative, returning control of Meralco to the people.”

so really gma and the lopezes are oligarchs-in-cahoots. gma owes the lopezes bigtime for anc’s part in edsa dos. the lopezes owe gma bigtime for privatizing and deregulating the energy industry. but manolo’s “gma has them by the balls over meralco” tells us that gma has the upper hand, she has the power to compel meralco, for the good of the whole, to bring down electricity rates or else.

but now that gma’s in trouble over nbn-zte-fg, the lopezes must be in a tizzy. what to do? in case she manages to hold on till 2010, it would be wise of the lopezes to hold off on joining the oust-gma bandwagon. but in case she doesn’t manage to hold on, it would be wise of them to be lobbying for noli de castro behind the scenes (as maybe they are), di ba, since he, too, owes abs-cbn bigtime.

no wonder anc is so clearly neither here nor there. or should i say, no wonder anc is so clearly here, and there.

“harapan” nina korina’t ricky: HARANG! 2

if they truly wanted to serve the nation, korina and ricky should have done a definitive recap of the aborted nbn-zte deal, starting with jarius bondoc’s andjoey de venecia’s testimonies on to romulo neri’s and jun lozada’s. then maybe korina herself would be clearer about benjamin abalos’ sordid role in the whole shebang. instead, they allowed abalos to repeat himself ad nauseam on hamburjer worth dying for, nowhow idiotic is that!