The main news (DoJ order to clear 2 Ampatuans assailed) is of course very negative to the Arroyo administration. It seems to me now that this government gets negative treatment from the Inquirer for almost everyday of its life. Among the presidential candidates that are affected by this negative news is Gibo Teodoro and Manny Villar, depending on who one believes is the Arroyo anointed. The news itself is tacky not to have mentioned directly who is being targeted:
Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Liberal Party campaign manager, condemned the Arroyo administration and said: “Is this a deliberate move meant to free a political kingpin in order to deliver the votes to Arroyo’s anointed come May 2010?”
Sadly, while it is expected that people, especially the opposition and journalists, will react negatively to the DOJ action and therefore not really news in its strictest sense, the news report did not tackle the issues for or against the same action. The legal questions and logic of the action were not tackled at all. If this is how journalists thought they should cover the Ampatuan case, then they themselves are rendering the death of their colleagues mutely in vain.
Another news given prominence today is the Saycon interview (Saycon tags DND chief in junta plan). Again, this goes very negative to the administration and is consistent with the drive to pound on various scenarios which range from No Elections to No Proclamation to Failure of Elections, which by the way are the same concerns coming out of the Liberal party. While the title of the news is somewhat agitating, the news itself looks like a hodgepodge of gossip akin to celebrity news. It is a mixture of various incendiary questions coming out from supposed information presented by unnamed sources. The information, even if it is true or not, can be interpreted in many ways but the news focuses on the interpretation by Saycon, which the news itself admits to be belonging to a group of LP supporters. I wonder how can and why the Inquirer treat this kind of news that influences the judgment of the people in this tabloid way? It seems to me therefore that this news is in line with Sen. Aquino's and the LP's communication plan and therefore goes positively for him.
Meanwhile, another news gave a purely positive view for Arsenic Laurel, running for a congressional seat in Batangas (Political reforms in a sportsman’s field of dreams). The news started as a feature on Laurel and then wandered off to the charter change discussion and then to Joey Salceda of Albay whose recent defection to the LP made the news slightly in favor of the said party, before returning back to Laurel. I think this news report is largely neutral (albeit slightly for Aquino) as far as the Presidential elections is concerned.
On the purely political news, the news on Gordon (Gordon seeks Comelec action on TV ads) meanwhile is surprisingly not very much about Gordon but more of a positive treatment of Sen. Madrigal who is quoted:
“And unlike Manny Villar’s infomercials, my TV ads do not exploit children. There are no show biz stars and no singing and dancing. They also show that I’m a candidate running a different campaign, one without hakot (busing). They’re principle-and issue-based,” Madrigal said Sunday.
I cannot say that the news benefits Gordon, but I can definitely say it benefits Madrigal who was able to announce and thereby generate interests and anticipation on the release of her advertisements, with a slightly negative swing on Villar.
The news on senatorial candidate Yasmin Lao (Fight for Muslim women’s rights gets personal) looks mainly like a promotion of her candidacy. Of course, the news would provide a positive picture as well for the LP and the NoyMar team for being reform-oriented:
“For quite some time, the ‘NoyMar’ campaign team had been headhunting for a Muslim candidate who would embody the reform-oriented politics of the team,” Pilipina national coordinator Elizabeth Yang said in an e-mail to other members.
Lao was one of those nominated, and eventually chosen, to represent Muslim Mindanao, grassroots leadership and women in the LP’s senatorial slate.
The only news that seems neutral in all its feature is the one on environment (Building green communities pushed). Unless the personalities involved and quoted in the news are actually leaned towards someone to be gleaned only later, it seems to me that this news has not benefited any of the Presidential candidates.
All in all, I grade this Inquirer front page as going for Aquino and the LP, with a slight go for Madrigal and with a negative swing for Villar and a slighter swing for Teodoro. But is the positive news on Madrigal (actually a press release) enough to swing the whole page for her? I don't think so. I think this issues still as a whole goes for the LP candidate.
So the score goes like this:
Aquino: 5
All the rest: 0
i dont understand why this is for the LP.
ReplyDeleteyou cite the Saycon interview as evidence. saying that they are giving play to NoEl scenarios, and that the LP also holds these positions.
if the LP and the inquirer BOTH think that the NoEl scenarios are important, how do you know that its bias?
the key to the finding of bias is if the story was slanted to favor someone, EVEN IF there is no reason to do so.
in this case, the ONLY reason LP was mentioned, is because there is a reason to: the news is the NoEl scenario...
now, if OTHER parties also have spoken about NoEl... THEN its bias. but, at this point, none of the other candidates felt there was a NoEl scenario, right?
Hi Gab, if you do not see that NoEl and similar news are more like the LP speaking, and if you cannot see that the assertions has no basis, then I cannot do anything about that, can I?
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