KORINA NON GRATA? Why is it that every time a typhoon comes around, it seems to always bring along a storm of controversy? Look, it’s bad enough that the poorest families are taking the blunt of these natural disasters but what makes the situation even worst is the unnecessary distraction that takes our collective attention away from the urgent problems at hand. It becomes a common spectacle that while the homeless and hungry typhoon victims search underneath the rubble for anything to eat, political bickering among public officials continues to delay the distribution of food in the hardest-hit calamity areas. Of late the Philippine media itself had come under fire and placed on the defensive by criticisms of lack of objectivity and sensitivity in the coverage of disaster. Korina Sanchez particularly made it twice in a row, grabbing the spotlight onto herself first during typhoon Yolanda and then again now, typhoon Ruby. There seems to have an ascending pattern to the controversies she generates in terms of the prominent personalities who get involved in the media war with the feisty lady. Before, she used to lock horns with rival reporters mostly from the other network but she suddenly raised the ante by going back and forth with Anderson Cooper of CNN over the government’s disaster response strategy in the aftermath of Yolanda’s landfall last year in Leyte. Cooper’s critical tone against what he felt were government’s shortcomings in being painfully slow and unprepared to respond to disaster did not sit well with Korina’s personal opinion that government’s disaster management efforts, led by her husband, Interior and Local Governments Sec. Mar Roxas had generally been adequate. And now with Ruby, we know what happened. One mindless statement that Ruby should change direction and spare the Philippines and go after Japan instead had the Japanese government reportedly declaring Korina Sanchez and Noli De Castro personas non-grata. The report may well be a hoax but the outrage among netizens is very real and very strongly felt. But rather than cast the entire blame on a pair of tactless reporters, this incident may well be an indictment of the Philippine press as a whole. The media have not learned their lessons including one of the most basic, which is to confine their role strictly to reporting the news and not headline-grabbing. Most often than not, media personalities especially those who have built quite a following become carried away by the trappings of power to the point that they would act up and play the spoiled brat right in the middle of an unfolding life and death story. And so with these recent disappointments I cringe at the thought of what may happen next when the Pope comes to visit Manila in January and media as expected goes berserk hounding his every move. Please God, let no one pick a fight with the Pope or heaven might declare us persona non-grata. Howlers and Bloopers Dec. 9, 2014 12:35am at home
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 16:26:35 +0000
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