Infotainment, the bane of broadcasting today

While we may quarrel over when and how it was delivered—harap harapan (in your face) and on a happy social occasion, the 25th-anniversary celebration of ABS-CBN’s “TV Patrol”—we totally agree with the  bombshell that President Aquino dropped on news anchor Noli de Castro last July 27.

Lately, we have stopped watching this evening newscast in its entirety, because we could almost predict what it would serve with our supper every evening. The formula does not vary newscast after newscast, unless there are major disasters like floods and earthquakes—four cases of rape, three robbery stories, four car accidents on Edsa, three motorcycle riders crushed, two cars hijacked, another three murders, two movie stars suing each other, dozens of houses gutted by fire, a dead fetus found in a garbage can, children being kidnapped, and a person suffering a disease in its advanced stage begging for assistance.

And the announcers report each news story in dramatic and gory detail, the whole news program running close to an hour and a half. I still remember that the old radio and TV news programs did not run more than 30 minutes. If you get the same fare day after day, you get ready to vomit, and people start to think that all is not well in our society. Sometimes we wonder whether the three announcers themselves—Kabayan Noli, Korina Sanchez and Ted Failon—don’t throw up after every broadcast they make.

What “TV Patrol” serves is now called “infotainment”—information served spicy hot (“nagbabagang balita”) to grab the attention of viewers, to excite them so that they ask for more, and get them addicted to violence and mayhem. The name of the game is ratings. The idea is to get TV and radio ratings to catch the advertising peso.

In the process, the good news—the economic recovery of the country, the rooting out of corruption, the improved service of the government bureaucracy, the sacrifices of overseas Filipino workers, the quiet dedication of teachers, policemen and workers in private business, the heroism of soldiers dying in the battlefields—are overlooked or are overshadowed by the bad news. This gives the impression that the sky is falling, and leads to feelings of negativity.

Our daughter and her family in the United States sometimes talk to us on the phone and ask, What is happening in the Philippines? Nakakatakot nang umuwi (Going home is a scary thought)! They are still finishing their studies, and when they tune in to The Filipino Channel there, they get the same stories that we are viewing here in Laguna.

Instead of ratings, the name of the game should be balance. Mr. Aquino is right, even if he is the President, on this point. No amount of sidestepping on the part of ABS-CBN can hide that point. I am an old journalist, and in the old days we were drilled on this principle. Don’t hide the bad news, but don’t ignore the good news either. Balance your menu.

We were even told by our professors and mentors, like Armando Malay and Teddy Benigno, to insert at least one humor feature on the front page. Make people smile, even though their hearts are aching. It would not hurt today’s print and broadcast media people to remember this.

Accuracy and fairness were other important principles instilled in our young minds then. Without these, you have no credibility. And without credibility, a newsman is lost. Fairness simply meant giving both sides of a story at the time you publish or air it. Not one side today and the other side tomorrow.

Because a journalist is constantly exposed to the seamy side of society, he loses his innocence early and becomes skeptical quickly. This is what has happened to journalists like Kabayan Noli de Castro. He has become skeptical, and that is understandable. But he should not show his skepticism in his news programs. When he does it, he instills bias immediately, and his objectivity is lost.

We notice also the tendency of the news anchors (not just on “TV Patrol” but also on all the other stations) that when they report news, they always add comments. This is a no-no in objective journalism. Opinion should be separate from news, as is still the case in the newspapers. The broadcast media should emulate the print media on this point.

Finally, the mass media should not be sensitive to criticism. They should be able to take criticism as well as they can dish it. Even the President should be welcome to criticize the media without being called pikon (onion-skinned). Otherwise, the media are themselves also pikon. This is only fair.

Crispin C. Maslog is a former journalist with Agence France-Presse and director of the School of Journalism and Communication, Silliman University. He later moved to the University of the Philippines Los Baños and retired from there as professor, College of Development Communication. He is currently consultant, Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication, Manila.