I think mass media report on crimes sensationally because it is easy (and cheap, as in no investment required) to do. Consequently, the people are “taught” it is important that is why it is “news”.

Just this morning, there were two news items I saw on TV. One is about PGMA’s trip to Thailand which the station gave a few seconds of coverage (about 5 secs I think) with a one-liner interview of Serge Remonde. Meanwhile, immediately after, a 5-car relatively minor (no injury) accident was given what seems to me more than 5 minutes of coverage complete with interviews with at least 4 of those involved and a police officer, and different camera shots of the damage (few broken bumpers and headlights)!

But what choice do we have We see the same kind of reporting in almost every channel we turn to. Amazingly, these channels even win awards such as in the recent CMMA!

The problem of the country is obviously not in the masses but in the mass media controlled by some in the elite. I think what we need to do is to compete with them (in their own game). How to do that? I do not know yet… We at LeadPhil are already trying to do that but perhaps not as effective as we hoped. But I think if all our resources and thoughts are focused on this problem, then we can start the country moving in the right direction.

That’s the effect of a visually-rich communications medium like TV. Humans are very visual creatures. So in the visual arts/media, there is more opportunity to gloss over substance because once you’ve captured a consumers’ visual senses, the substance behind the message becomes subordinate.

Truly fine works of visual art — the kind that stands the test of time has multi-layered meaning underpinning them; which accounts for how those who view a piece of fine art say that they see something different or different aspect/facet of it everytime they come back to view the same piece again.

TV content is very fleeting and it’s all mostly geared towards capturing eyeballs and holding them for at least as long as the next commercial break.

I realize there is also a certain business component to the journalistic decisions that are made; viewers’ eyes on screens equals money in the bank, and it’s easy to understand how things can quickly spiral away from information and towards entertainment. Overcoming that requires a mutual effort on the part of the news organizations and the viewing public: the public needs to learn to demand better, and the media needs to learn to guide public choices towards something more substantial.

the problem is the people running the newsrooms. many of them have grown into the job thinking that sensationalism should be the norm. the situation is even worse in tv newsrooms where substance is often trumped by “great video.” an editor friend of mine says of all so called journalists those in tv are the stupidest and least responsible.

And some people blind themselves to these little things and still pin the blame on the government leaders for not doing their part, supposedly. Come on, it isn’t anyone’s fault but yours if you decide you want to try being a stuntman and cross a dangerous highway and then you end up dead. We’re responsible for our own lives, not other people. This is chronic dependency that we have and we need to get rid of it.

Check the newspapers (print or online), and the TV station websites. They’ll generally publish the plate numbers. I’ve always found it strange, and disturbing in a way I can’t really put my finger on, other than to say that if it were my car that was stolen or involved in an accident, I would be extremely uncomfortable with my plate number being publicized.

To me it seems like a part of the attention that is paid to superfluous details for the sake of established the authority of information; for example, when SM has a 30% off sale, and they’re obliged to print the DTI permit number on the sign in the store window (that there is an actual permit required for that sort of thing is another matter entirely).

License plate numbers on cars are not really personal information, after all, but does the public really need to know the plate number of a car involved in an incident? Where’s the line between informative and intrusive? Like I said, if the car happens to contain a gang of armed thugs fleeing from the police, that would be one thing — but if that car hits the car of an innocent passer-by, why do we need to know his/her plate number too? Very curious.

I have no idea what the CHR thinks of this, if anything, but I do know they’ve openly criticized the parading of suspects, which is a good start.

i personally have never seen such video of the plate numbers of the victims, but i have seen the line-up press conference.

i wonder what the CHR has to say about it…

That’s a good example of how tragedies in the Philippines are made. It brings to mind the Bocaue Pagoda Tragedy. Maybe they just love to do the impossible. Like fly without wings, cross the street without getting hit by speeding vehicles or succeed at business without a sensible business plan. Common sense is a bit foreign to Philippine culture.

Jesus, I remember seeing something on the news about a guy who got run over and his wife was sobbing to the camera and blaming the government for it.

BUT LO AND BEHOLD, 10 FEET AWAY FROM THE BODY WAS THE BLUE AND PINK PEDESTRIAN OVERPASS THAT WOULD HAVE SAVED HIS LIFE HAD HE ACTUALLY USED IT.

[insert facepalm, headdesk and lots of sighing here]

I swear, that woman ought to have cursed her husband’s stupidity instead. If he hadn’t been too lazy to use the stairs on that overpass, he would have been alive. They’re just stairs, for crying out loud! What do these people want? Elevators?!

And yet, I’m told to sympathize with people like her and blame the administration? Why? It’s not my fault I’m still alive because I had the common sense to use the pedestrian overpasses once they were built. I can’t call it much of a loss if it was a result of stupidity.

the problem though, if everyone acted so selfrighteously none of us would be alive

Bad News sell. Good News will never sell. The more sensationalize the news, the more it sells.
We have to find something that is worse from our situations. Since Ondoy hit us all. And food
is scarce to come. A Holdup in Greenbelt Makati. Place of the rich.
At least, we are not only the miserable. Someone is more miserable than us! And they are in
the rich exclusive Mall area…