Paalam, Sir Yambot

A simple tribute to a great man. Isusulat ko ito sa Filipino. Sa galing ni Sir Yambot sa grammar, baka ma-edit pa ako. Astig mag-edit si Sir Yambot. Pero mabait. Bihira ang gano’n sa newsroom, ‘yung astig pero hindi sumisigaw, magaling pero hindi mayabang, sikat pero simple lang. Hindi ko na maalala kung kailan ko […]

Republic of Politics

Filipinos love politics. So we politicized our military. What was once clearly isolated from politics, distinct from the national police which is civilian in character, has become an indispensable political ally. Politics runs deep in the military that retired military generals either get appointed as cabinet members or run for political posts. Those kicked out […]

Breaking news or breaking the newspaper?

This is the abstract of a paper I presented in a conference in Peru, my second conference presentation as a doctoral student. In a survey of 110 newspaper and website reporters in the Philippines, this study found a manifestation of medium-based loyalties, consistent with previous studies that found differences between perceptions of journalists tied to […]

So who is a journalist?

UST, the Philippine’s oldest university that has produced many of the country’s good journalists, is posing questions that touch at the core of how we define a journalist. Here are some of my ramblings. Who is a journalist? If we go by the University of Sto. Tomas’ (UST) statement against an article that had questioned the […]

The spread of pseudo-events: Covering the Influenza A(H1N1) Pandemic

This was my first conference presentation as a doctoral student.  Boorstin sounded the alarm in 1961: Staged realities, or what he called pseudo-events, were flooding the American press. In a content analysis of 200 online news articles on the Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, this study sought to apply his concept to the coverage of a […]

The other side of sensationalism

Note. This is from a presentation I did in February 2005 at the University of the Philippines. My thoughts were very simple, if not naive, but they might be of use to some. If not, this might still be a better use of your 5 minutes instead of playing angry birds. There is probably a […]

Quote of the Day

“When politicians can predict confidently which events and comments will ring reportorial bells, media professionals are deprived of opportunities to exercise their own judgment.” Lifted from Gurevitch, M., & Blumler, J. (1990). Political communication systems and democratic values. In J. Lichtenberg (Ed.), Democracy and the mass media (pp. 24-35). New York: Cambridge University Press.

The media and the demigod named Willie

The media, old and new, have been understandably harsh on Willie Revillame, a former has-been television host who found a resuscitated career through variety shows that combined sleaze and dole-outs. He again earned the ire of many people, including those from the same business where he belongs, for making fun of a boy who was […]

Trial by publicity?

Former Armed Forces Chief of Staff Angelo Reyes remained a strong force behind former president Gloria Arroyo even during the series of corruption scandals that rocked her nine-year administration. Now being accused of corruption, the former defense secretary chose to end his life than to continue defending himself. His death is a tragedy and some […]

Hating the news media?

This shorter piece is lifted from my final exam response for my Media and Politics (J9018) course. The news media enjoyed a positive image at the wake of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s (Gronke & Cook, 2007). That was the last time evaluations of the news media peaked. This year, a Gallup poll showed […]