Watching CNN now and is it just me or what? But I certainly get this feeling that CNN seems more Filipino than either ABS or GMA. The airtime that CNN is devoting to post-Yolanda realities is infinitely deeper and wider than ABS and GMA combined. Warms the heart of a Visayan like me. My expectations were especially high on GMA when i switched on the TV 8pm today for the first time, 36 hours after the typhoon shit down all power in my hometown. But Jessica Soho in her GMA show, supposedly the most respectable there is in the sordid kingdom of Philippine tabloid TV, was a huge letdown. For more than an hour, the so-called news show exhibited only 3 or 4 or 5 pictures or footages that had some compelling content. Kudos to Love Anovers footage of the Palo Cathedral. Unlike that now-famous dude from the other network whose pakitang gilas (which I call utter and shabby recklessness, the TH kind that is the usual hallmark of contestant aspirants of Philippine reality TV shows), Love got footage of the cathedral as she and her team were actually seeking shelter there like a number of evacuees. And her tears of fear moved me. But after that, when that GMA show devoted more than 5 minutes to the Presidents actions kuno, and another 8 or so minutes for the Presidents DILG secretarys moves (more for his presidential ambitions), oh my, the show went downhill, typical of Manila shows who, with ill journalistic training, traditionally go to politicians and police blotters for news content. How convenient, how third world, how pathetic really. The worst part of the show was when they had a news report of how they lost all kinds of communication with their news crew in their primetime newscast last night. And weirdly, they mentioned that when that crew finally got on air again, their news show was on its last few minutes, and they had to cut the live feed. Wtf - F for freak! What? Cut the feed they (and we too!) waited for so long in favor of some sappy shabby nonsensical teleserye! You have to give it to these networks -- their wallet always far fatter than their hearts, if any. Unbelievable! Then we watch CNN now. They have awesome and long live reports, science bits, reality-based accounts on the moment by the moment of the greatest nightmare of our lives, well at least on this side of the Philippines. And no mention of imbecile politicians, no nothing but raw pictures yet lots of heart, and please not the kind that the dude from ABS displayed like a TH reality show aspirant. Stuff like this that CNN does, we who experience this wrath of nature, we truly need this for so many damn reasons. To process our experience. To reflect. To weep. To be informed. To know where and how to help. To pray. In the midst of these things we victims need, our local networks instead provide this Kris Aquino brandishing a P300k (?) bag on her vanity show right at the height of the typhoon; and that story I just narrated about how GMA cut the feed of its very own crew that it lost for hours in favor of some freakin teleserye; and yes, all accented by the showbiz acrobatics of that dude who is being worshipped by fans now. I marvel at CNN. Such journalistic excellence, such heart, such grasp of real news. Such devotion to what really matters and such precious time they allocate to us in the Visayas who have been virtually set aside by our very own national news organizations whose country is confined to Manila, and whose journalistic skills are of the mediocre tabloid variety. God bless the Philippines.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 15:54:53 +0000
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