64. A necessary splitting of hairs on SMNI
Rappler's John Nery puts a long-running discussion on the record
Welcome back to Slow News Days, a hopefully weekly newsletter on journalism and journalism-adjacent topics in the Philippines.
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“Un-SMNI?” a Cebuano who likes puns might ask about the propaganda channel linked to, but apparently not owned by, doomsday preacher Apollo Quiboloy — wanted in the US and in the Philippines for trafficking and abuse cases.
There is no hope of explaining that joke, but it is true that the media community has been struggling to find where we stand on the network.
In chat groups and on the sidelines of events, the questions often come up: “Are they media? Are they news? Is their reality completely divorced from the one we live in?”
Rappler’s John Nery takes a deeper dive into the nuances of SMNI — which has been quick to malign journalists but also quick to hide under the mantle of press freedom — and of media, journalism and the press:
But isn’t the attempt to recall SMNI’s franchise an attack on the free press? What’s the difference between SMNI and ABS-CBN, whose franchise Congress refused to renew under pressure from Rodrigo Duterte? The difference is the purpose for which the networks are used and, because form follows function, the way the networks are organized.
The piece deserves a read but, in brief, SMNI is part of media but whether it practices journalism and whether it is part of the press as an institution are separate discussions entirely.
With franchise revocation a distant possibility — it probably won’t happen, but the ABS-CBN franchise issue shows improbable things can happen — the general sentiment seems to be solidarity with SMNI’s media workers if they need it but not for its management.
At any rate, Quiboloy probably has bigger problems right now, including the cases he faces in Pasig and in Davao City.
In the meantime, he has named an ally and former president as administrator of his religious group’s properties.
Asked if he was sheltering the fugitive pastor, that ally had this to say:
“Pastor, you’re the one who’s wanted, don’t drag me into this.”
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Sort of related to SMNI, PressOne reports China state media has been producing pro-China content in Filipino: “They even posted a Filipino article about China’s representations to the Philippines on the latter’s resupply mission on March 23 to the BRP Sierra Madre marooned in Ayungin Shoal, which the Chinese call by the name of Ren’ai Jiao.”
Not necessarily insidious or unique — the US has Voice of America, for example — but concerning given other tactics they use.Meanwhile, a representative of Reporters Without Borders “was detained for six hours, searched, and questioned at Hong Kong's international airport before being deported from the territory.”
And Max Limpag in Cebu takes aim at the continuing use of news terms beloved by old-school news editors but meaningless to most readers: “Headlinese such as ‘dad’ or ‘cager’ should be retired. Its use is lazy and confusing to people outside the newsroom. How many non-journalists actually understand Dad to mean a councilor? How about a female councilor, should we call her Mom in the headline?”