Welcome back to Slow News Days, a now-and-then newsletter on journalism and journalism-adjacent topics in the Philippines.
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In case you missed it, bodyguards and staff of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. — who is survey frontrunner and probable president as well as son and namesake of the ousted dictator —shoved Rappler report Lian Buan (rather enthusiastically) out of the way at a campaign rally earlier this week.
It was pretty intense — here’s a link to the video, if you’re inclined — but was also par for the course for those covering Marcos on the campaign trail, according to people whose job it has been to do that.
Marcos has tended to be picky about his media appearances and regularly has his spokesperson field questions for him most of the time, although Rappler notes in a statement on the incident that “Marcos campaign spokespersons Vic Rodriguez and Benhur Abalos have not been physically present in the campaign sorties, making it doubly difficult for journalists to get official word or responses to their questions.”
Only journalists accredited by his campaign are allowed access to campaign sorties. That accreditation, though, doesn’t guarantee equal access to information like Marcos’ schedule and itinerary, which are reserved for reporters in the good graces of their media bureau.
Even most journalists privy to the schedule have to be content with what Marcos says in his speeches anyway since interviews are rare.
And so reporters are forced to wait for a chance to ask questions while he winds his way out of the venue.
Although many in media were quick to react to the shoving, some also pointed out that that kind of chaos is normal at campaign rallies and events.
Calling attention to what happened had an element of playing the victim, others said, commenting as well that journalists are not supposed to be the story.
There is something to that — journalism is a chaotic field and being in it comes with the risk of, for example, being trampled by bodyguards — but that ignores why the ambush interviews are necessary at all.
The campaign teams of other candidates for president schedule short press briefings at their sorties, and Marcos certainly had time that night to talk to a team from SMNI, the media company owned by a controversial pastor who endorses him and who attacks his rivals, so allowing reporters a few questions wasn’t something that would have been impossible to accommodate.
If reporters’ questions could be addressed through other channels, like the Viber message groups that even suspended lawyer and senatorial candidate Larry Gadon has, then reporters wouldn’t have to be in the unenviable position of jostling to get near a heavily-guarded candidate.
But questions — questions that need to be asked precisely to get the candidate’s side on an issue — are often left on “seen”.
If official releases had more information beyond spurious claims of 500,000 people attending a motorcade and rally in a city with a population of around 660,000 (or 1.5 million in a province of around 3 million) and badly-worded digs at rivals, and campaign spokespersons were responsive to follow-up questions, ambush interviews might not even be necessary.
Risking one’s health and physical safety for a chance to get a lingering question answered is not the entitlement in this case.
Entitlement is expecting the press to be content with whatever information the candidate and his campaign team deem to dole out and labeling stories that go beyond that as fake news, divisiveness, and conspiracy.
The journalist isn’t necessarily the story, in this case. Not even the shoving incident is.
They are just part of a bigger one of what media might be reduced (like we aren’t already) to under a second Marcos presidency: Chasing him with questions he can freely choose to ignore, being shoved out of the way, and then being blamed for our impertinence.
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Anyway, here’s a deep dive by the Washington Post into the decades of disinformation that has helped brought us to this point:
The old dictatorship is now being upgraded and modernized, peppered with songs and emoji. Through the power of social media, one of the Philippines’ most despised families is being rehabilitated into one of its most revered.
And more on that, a look at how disinformation actors on YouTube are taking advantage of the news media that they have been grinding down in the past years (while also further eroding trust in us):
Channels deliver disinformation on YouTube through the conventional news styles that viewers are familiar with. By using these conventional news styles, they appear to be legitimate and familiar, and appear to have “journalistic authority,” the study said.
Meanwhile, lack of public transportation on EDSA meant early penance for many on Holy Wednesday (and beyond!). Franco Luna, our transport reporter and an unfortunately a commuter that night, filed this dispatch:
"Ah putangina, GG,” a young man who couldn't be older than 18 said as he took in the scene and laughed in disbelief. Commuters within earshot, helpless to do anything but wait, could only laugh along.
Some good news, though, this week. The Philippines is gaining more than 8,000 new lawyers, the first batch since the pandemic postponed the bar exams. They will be joining the Bar at a time when the law has become pretty much whatever the government says it is.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen in a message to the Bar passers, issued this call to service:There is suffering among our people. Their clamor for justice is beyond audible. Begin your practice with the values that we have inculcated during this bar examination: compassion, serve our people, and abiding passion for justice.