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“We have observed that in relation to the national crisis and controversies plaguing our country, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has not only evaded impeachment trials and charges of extrajudicial killings, bribery, corruption, constitutional violations, etc.; she has also escaped responsibility for highly controversial deals and acts by refusing to face the nation in a live and free-wheeling press conference that’s open to all local and foreign media and other representatives of the people.
“It seems that she has cowed the Philippine media into not asking for such a press conference. The media have chosen to be so meek and silent and are not complaining at all about this. In fact, they are just content with the lies of Ms. Arroyo’s official liars: Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio Bunye, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo, Palace troubleshooter Mike Defensor, etc.
“It is high time for the media to dare Ms Arroyo to face the people and answer the charges hurled against her so that the people can judge her by her facial expressions, demeanor, actions, answers and even her famous temper, if she wants to show it.
“In fact, the whole Arroyo family—to include First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, and Representatives Mikey and Dato, and Luli—should hold a similar live and free-wheeling press conference without threatening or buying the media.
“If Ms Arroyo is really untainted by ‘Hello, Garci,’ ZTE, ‘Jose Pidal,’ NorthRail, SouthRail, Diosdado Maca-pagal Boulevard, IMPSA, fertilizer scam, CyberEd, among others, the least that the people can ask of her is to come out of her controlled press briefings.
“She has hidden from the public long enough. We think the time has come for her to stop hiding behind her Cabinet and sacrificial lambs.
“And to the Philippine media, please get back your b—s, for the sake of our country.”
- reader Lourdes Cruz, Philippine Daily Inquirer, March 7
“Why does the opposition keep resorting to press statements and partisan hearings? Is it afraid of impartial due process?”
- cabinet secretary Ricardo Saludo, challenging administration critics to question the Spratlys deal before the Supreme Court,
http://www.gmanews.tv, March 7
“The image of a divided hierarchy could be a media creation. Four or five bishops with a contrary opinion receive a lot of disproportionate media exposure and mileage. If one studies newspaper reports and interviews, their names appear again and again. Yet bishops with this contrary opinion constitute less than 10% of the whole hierarchy.”
- Cotabato Archbishop and former Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Orlando Quevedo, reacting to the alleged “media spin” of a divided CBCP hierarchy after the bishops did not join calls for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s resignation or ouster, http://www.gmanews.tv, March 6
“What the Inquirer has done I consider a total abuse of press freedom, an arrogant display of undeserved self righteousness, and a complete and utter denial of my own rights as a private citizen. Consider being rudely surprised on a quiet Sunday morning with a totally false account of yourself on the front page of a major daily newspaper boasting a readership of millions of Filipinos both here and abroad. If this is not a crime, it should be, a crime necessitating the most severe type of legal action.”
- former Philippine National Oil Company president Eduardo V. Mañalac, denying an Inquirer report that he was appearing as a witness to the Senate’s investigation of the national broadband network deal. Three days after the controversial report, the Inquirer apologized, http://www.abs-cbnnews.com, March 10, 2008
“The hook-and-hold approach of news programs unduly buries hard news items of national significance as it uses easy-to-sensationalize spot news items and entertainment-related soft news pieces to attract and maintain audiences.”
- excerpt from “Mulat or Manunuri ng Ulat: Viewers Reception and Evaluation of Television News Programs,” a study by the University of the Philippines Communication Research Department, Inquirer, March 24
“First, the limit safeguards the public from possible abuse by broadcast organizations in shortening programs to accommodate more airtime for commercial loads. Sacrificing program content for profit is doing a disservice to the public.
“Second, the cap prevents broadcast stations from flooding the market with excessive commercials. Limiting the number of TV and radio spots lessen the advertising clutter; thereby, making the ads more effective.”
- ABS-CBN 2 Corporate Communications head Bong Osorio, explaining his network’s support for the Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ng Pilipinas’ (KBP) call for broadcast networks to follow the KBP rule limiting the commercial load of programs to a maximum of 18 minutes per hour, http://www.abs-cbnnews.com, March 15 |
