May 15, 2010

The battle in the Supreme Court is the topic of the main headline today.


The main headline, although it also features comments from the palace' side, gives more space to Aquino's side today than to anyone else (Aquino may be sworn in by barangay captain. Congress starts canvass of poll results May 24). I say further it gave way too much space to unfounded opinions from Aquino and even Pimentel, who seems to have completed a roundabout (Pimentel was one of those who first called on Aquino to run, and then was on Villar's side during the campaign as he defended Villar in the Senate, and now he came back to Aquino's defense). Aquino +1

Puno retires, calls Corona 23rd Chief Justice - This news is mainly a tribute to Puno, although the title and first focus was on Puno's recognition of the new CJ. I think therefore it is a bit positive to Corona. Corona +1

Grace Padaca weeps for Isabela; Among Ed goes back to priesthood - This news did not give reference to Aquino nor to any other national figure, even if it gave space almost exclusively to both Padaca and Among Ed. I say it is neutral as far as our scores are concerned (We are grading the Inquirer on their treatment of national figures only).

Comelec told to speed up transmission of poll results is a generally neutral treatment of news on the automated elections.

COMMENTARY Filipinos carry on love affair with PCOS machines - is Randy David's post mortem of the elections which favors Aquino and of course negative to Arroyo. Aquino +1, Arroyo -1

Charice hailed soon-to-be Asian superstar in US - this news piece highlighting the difficulties of pushing Charice's music to the teenage market is devoid of any political reference.

Arroyo can’t rely on party; Lakas reign ending in 15th Congress is a news piece basically against Arroyo. It completely disregards the fact that even Belmonte is an Arroyo supporter to the last minute before the elections. It also reiterates the misleading notion that Arroyo supported Congressional candidates rather than local candidates which was already debunked by the Inquirer's own past coverage. So Arroyo gets another negative treatment here. Arroyo -1

Battle of networks shifts to holograms - is a news feature on the big network's fixation on technology. It somehow gave positive treatment to both networks, so I gave them the scores. GMA7 +1, ABSCBN +1

The final score today goes something like this:
Aquino: 2
Corona: 1
ABS-CBN: 1
GMA7: 1
Arroyo: -2

So as of today, I think Arroyo is still the favorite whipping girl of the Inquirer Front Page.