The sad truth in the Philippines, as Maria Ressa points out tonight on ‘Storyline,’ is that “Pinoys will not say, ‘I want to be empowered.’ They will say, ‘Kayo na po ang bahala.'” The statement of the outgoing news chief of ABS-CBN proves true even in the viewing habits of many Filipinos.
I long for the day when Filipinos will cease to treat television as a source of band-aids to poverty. I am especially concerned about the prevailing attitude of choosing game shows over news any time of the day. Why? Because game show hosts give money and news anchors don’t?
My hope is for people to see that help does not only come in the form of doleouts, but more so in the form of empowerment. I hope that people will watch the news not only because it looks glitzy or gory, but because we give them information, as Kovach and Rosenstiel say, to help them “be free and self-governing.” And that will make all the difference, because then, more people will know their rights and fight for them, demand accountability from the level of the barangay up, and most importantly, perform their part of the job.
But then again, TV viewing is a two-way street between viewers, on one hand, and producers and station owners on the other. Changes in attitude should come from both sides.
That is another story. Now that’s the Wide Shot.
The Wide Shot 
allanlazaro
October 28, 2010
Kailangan talaga may closing line na parang spiel? Hahaha.
Pero oo, putang ina ng mga kapatid natin nasa newsroom kapag hindi sila umalma dito.
lordpaterno
October 28, 2010
Hahaha! Oo nga eh, feeling ko may tutugtog bigla na CBB music sa ending. Hahaha :))
Anong ibig sabihin ng second line mo? Di ko naintindihan! Haha
allanlazaro
October 28, 2010
Che kunwari ka pa di mo gets. Basahin mo mabuti word for word.:P
lordpaterno
October 28, 2010
Mali kasi ang syntax ng Filipino mo, ‘no, kaya di ko ma-gets! Haha di ko nga gets
Crystal Cranmore
October 28, 2010
this is a really interesting post. I agree with you on the power of news and the importance of empowerment. Check out my post on empowerment. Thanks for your insight.
http://www.ccranmore.wordpress.com
lordpaterno
October 30, 2010
Thanks for reading and posting this comment, Crystal! Thank you, too, for the link! I will visit it. 🙂
flamerounin
October 29, 2010
interesting post. and the new guy over at TV5 is ranting that people should watch him instead of the news.
tsk, sayang na sayang yung time slot nila.
lordpaterno
October 30, 2010
Korek. Actually hindi naman problema na sabihin niya, “Itong palabas ko ang panoorin ninyo, huwag na iyong nasa kabila.” Pero yung panghatak niya — dito may pera doon wala — ay napaka-twisted lang talaga ng values. Ganoon ba ang gusto niyang itatak sa utak ng mga tao, pera-pera lang?
Anjo
October 29, 2010
This is worth sharing. And timely considering the news I’m hearing lately. Too bad I didn’t get to watch storyline. 🙂
lordpaterno
October 30, 2010
Maganda ang Storyline! Panoorin mo ang replays. Hehe. Anong “news I’m hearing lately” ito? Share, share! ;p
ANa
December 12, 2013
Here is a hint from Splenda user: It also comes in a cardboard coenaitnr like sugar, so if you can get the tin spout open, you’re in! Geez, I never read the packets. That’s because I only wear glasses to read the newspaper and work on the blog. Otherwise it’s all ‘touch and go’, if you know what I mean.
nastrophenia.com
December 15, 2013
My name is in my favorite color 🙂 – I love it. What a fun Christmas Tree, bringing us all together like that.I've written on my blog of one of our very important traditions as a family. We find 25 Christmas books at the library, wrap them up and begin an advent of unwrapping each day through the month until the 25th. Of course, I have three boys and we take turns as to who unwraps each night – we also have 50 other unwrapped books so everyone gets to choose one…then we cuddle up and read 🙂