Call on Media for Fairness in Reporting this Upcoming Elections
There are 18 more days to go before the elections. I finally got the chance to register myself as an official voter of the Philippines just months ago. A lot has happened through the course of those months – the emergence of the presidentiables and their partymates. Each milestone of the upcoming elections has been covered by the media. That is why they play a significant role in influencing voters’ opinions.
In the 18 years of my life here on earth, I have never seen an election season as hyped as this one. This is probably due to the fact that a lot of people really want their clamor for change be granted, probably because the upcoming 2010 Philippine elections will be crucial to the progress of the country in all sectors of the nation – whether it is political, economical, cultural etc.
Nowadays, 90% of the news is election-related, 5% is showbiz news and 5% others. This might be an exaggeration, but the point is that the upcoming elections are clearly getting most of the attention of the public compared to past elections. This is actually a good thing. Social media and sophisticated technologies help speed up information dissemination and make it easier for people to translate their messages – one can find information on the Internet even if they weren’t able to watch the news on TV.
However, the problems arise when unfair reporting comes into play. Not only is credibility forsaken, but the wrong information is also given to those who understand less what’s happening in the country right now. Misleading details also make it more difficult to make judgments on the candidates. Hell, sometimes we’re caught in the middle, making our votes vulnerable. Sometimes, we feel like we’re being played by all the candidates such that we would rather focus on other things than become frustrated with the current situation of politics in the country. We tend to focus on unnecessary things as media feeds us information, and the perception it imposes affects what we think.
GMA and ABS-CBN, for example, are expected to deliver credible and responsible news reports. Their information should go through exhaustive news gathering in order for them to produce fair reports. They are, after all, the biggest media companies in the country and are thus expected to be fair in reporting issues . The present situation calls for reliable news reports, which will be our basis in deciding whom to vote for this coming May.
Although political spectators as well as politicians are spreading rumors about media companies taking sides and lacking credibility in their reports, I know that like anyone who’s following the campaign trails, mudslingings and other election-related news, you have noticed that there really are inconsistencies in news reportage, which is probably why a lot of political spectators and even Manny Villar are calling for fairness in reporting issues from these media companies. Here’s the original article aboutManny Villar call to reporting fairness from the media.
I am not saying that all voters are quick to absorb and adapt to the media’s point of view. Of course, there are those who are rational and who have been consistently observing the goings-on in the political world. They are capable of judging on their own whom they should vote for in the upcoming elections.
The psycho issue of Noynoy, for instance, has been the subject of buzz in the internet world today and a lot of issues have arisen to such a point that when these kinds of issues reach the public, they affect the performance of the presidentiables and other candidates in surveys. Though this may have not affected the odds for the Liberal Party standard bearer, Noynoy mental state became a controversial issue as detractors openly asked what kind of country we will be if we will be led by someone with mental problems.
The C5 controversy which has probably earned Villar negative ratings for the past couple of months is another clear example of how news has influenced how voters view Manny Villar. Here’s a brief presentation explaining the C5 controversy. See if Manny Villar response on the C5 issue makes sense:
Villar C5 Controversy Fact Sheet – The Real Document
Though we have our own perspectives and opinions on how we see and evaluate these types of news, the media still needs to ensure the quality and fairness of their reportage as it is apparent that the media’s standpoint can be influential on voters’ opinions. As part of the media, they should be responsible in their reporting. Regardless of their political inclinations, they should be able to deliver credible, reliable and fair reports, as well as handle the news credibly so as to better serve the people and continue to provide voters with knowledge they can use to make their judgments.
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