The questions that mainstream media REFUSE to answer

Filling the blanks

It’s not the best time to be a media practitioner these days. Not in the Philippines, not in the United States.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte does not hide his contempt for the giant media organizations in the country.

And rightly so.

He has come under heavy and non-stop barrage even before he assumed office. Exactly the opposite of how the press treats Vice President Leni Gerona.

While President Duterte is always treated with suspicion, Gerona has largely been treated with kid gloves. It does not need a media watchdog to tell one from the other.

No wonder an increasing number of people see the mainstream media as the President’s persecutor – and the Vice-President’s coddler.

In the United States, incoming President Donald Trump opened fire at CNN even before he formally assumes office. Not a good sign for the obviously pro-Democrat CNN.

Media practitioners naturally bristle at these public manifestations of contempt from both Presidents. Nobody loves to come under fire, not from the top honcho, and not the media.

For too long, viewers and readers have given the media the trust and confidence due the Fourth Estate. One proof of that is the previous president who was elected entirely on the basis of sympathy arising from the excessive coverage granted to him by friendly media patrons.

The result is a near-catastrophe as he spent a great deal of his time either going after political rivals, playing with his nephews or, well, taking a nap.

During that time, the drug problem grew to frightening proportions that no less than a powerful general groomed to become the PNP chief has now been exposed as a narco-general.

But instead of fasting for 40 days to atone for the misdeeds, the people who were accountable either by sins of commission or sins of omission tried to wage a counter-attack in an effort to topple the man who brought their sins to the light.

The people have had enough.

Now, they turn to social media.

The mainstream media at first responded with laughter and contempt. It was too late when they realized that the social media can in fact be a legitimate contender.

This is not to say mainstream media’s days are numbered. Let’s just say it has found a good match.

The way to win back the people’s trust and confidence is not by raining insults on social media’s more prominent figures like Mocha Uson.

And certainly, not by turning a blind eye on its favorites like what it is doing to the the #LeniLeaks scandal. The days of “managing” news are over.

Social media, contrary to what many people believe, has a wider reach than its critics believe.

For the mainstream media to recover lost ground, it will have to police its own ranks. There are many, many good practitioners, they who live by the books and live austere lives.

But there are also those who are beholden to business, political, ideological and religious interests, they who do not hesitate to distort if not kill the news to serve the ends of the hands that feed them.

For as long as the legitimate ones continue to look the other way and hope the challenge will fizzle on its own, the social media continues to be an attractive proposition for people who want to know as much as they can on any intriguing issue SO THEY CAN ARRIVE AT THEIR OWN CONCLUSION.

Gone are the days when people leave the commentaries to media practitioners. These days, more people formulate their own and – on many occasions, they make more sense than those who are paid to do so.

Some media practitioners love to glorify their travails by claiming the press is being persecuted. They have to do more than that to ride the storm.

It would be better to put things in proper perspective, acknowledge that bad eggs have compromised the profession, and take steps to rectify errors.

The fact is that the mainstream media has come under scrutiny not because of an executive edict but because of the shortcomings and excesses that have not been addressed.

If even God comes under constant scrutiny, why not the media?

It’s not a fight between the mainstream media and social media – although that is what it seems at first glance.

It is now a question of which one provides the answers to the questions that mainstream media – whether by design or otherwise – refuses to answer.
In sum, it is simply a matter of who fills the blanks more.

Chinky Fuentes

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Chito Fuentes as posted on Facebook.