Video Don't Stress Someone You Are Exploiting To Begin With
I was reading this article that suggests our pathetic excuse for broadcast journalists compromised the safety of those hostages on the 23rd of August 2010. All of you reading this know the concept of KSP. In fact the President's sister is a prime example. After reading this, it is clear to me KSP is the root of all the evil that stinks from this episode. First of all Mendoza like TROLLianes and Panfilo Villaruel before him wanted attention to his cause so bad that he felt justified threatening innocent civilian life. What those guys ultimately did was exploit a media that itself is dying for attention. Once again the media forgets that they are there to get the story and not be the story. The problem with our sponsors ( who in turn feed the media with money) is they care more about the size of the audience than the quality of the audience. Number of eyeballs are infinitely more important than number of brain cells in this equation.
You don't have to know me well to know I am an NFL fan. Twenty years ago there were all sorts of fans who would trespass directly into the field of play well before the game was officially over. You could see them if you were watching the game and sometimes even during the highlights. Morgana the Kissing Bandit was one of the more famous ones or twos. One day, sports media got wise and decided to turn the cameras away from the field every time a fan decided they wanted to cross the line from being a spectator to being spectated upon. The media realized by showing these morons on their telecasts they were part of the problem. So by not giving these guys "pansin" or attention it was the equivalent of depriving a fire of oxygen.
If you understood what I just said , please explain it to the ambulance chasers we have that masquerade as journalists. Getting noticed is more important than saving lives or performing duties expected of journalists. Getting ratings (one upmanship) it seems really blinds one to lives that hang in the palm of an armed lunatic.
So now that I explained this vicious circle where attention hungry armed hostage taker exploits attention hungry mass media and vice-versa comes the moral of my story. "Don't Stress Someone You Are Exploiting To Begin With " . It's Murphy's Law. The guy is stressed as it and by manipulating the situation to benefit your network and yourself, there are other factors compromised. Factors like safety. It's exactly what happens in the video below. Well worth two minutes of your time.
Ed
http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/2/Manila_Peninsula_November_29_2007_
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100909-291266/Ratings-war-may-have-doomed-negotiations
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/man/2003/11/09/news/disgruntled.former.ato.chief.takes.over.naia.air.traffic.control.tower.html
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/pr/subs/siexclusive/07/09/flashback.morganna/
http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/1187/Video_Dont_Stress_Someone_You_Are_Exploiting_To_Begin_With_
Ratings war may have doomed negotiations
By Marlon Ramos
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—A raging ratings war among broadcast networks may have doomed negotiations and turned an 11-hourlong hostage drama into a bloodbath, a radio-TV reporter who was on the phone to the gunman during the critical hours told a fact-finding panel Wednesday.
Erwin Tulfo told the committee headed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima that the blow-by-blow coverage of the standoff was driven by the media tendency to “out scoop” each other.
“The problem is, we are all chasing ratings, exclusivity. My colleagues may not admit it, but that was the main thing, getting an exclusive report,” he said.
Eight Hong Kong tourists were killed during the Aug. 23 fiasco in which the abductor, dismissed Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza, 55, was also gunned down.
Tulfo said the ratings game was essential for media companies—be it newspaper, radio or TV—in luring advertisers as commercials and advertisements were their major sources of earnings.
Tulfo, an anchor at Radyo Mo Network (RMN) and chief correspondent of TV5, was summoned as a resource person at the marathon hearings as he was able to talk with Mendoza during the critical tense moments.
Roan Libarios, a panel member, asked Tulfo if the bloodbath could have been prevented had the police acceded to Mendoza’s demand to release his brother, SPO2 Gregorio Mendoza, who was arrested for allegedly conspiring with him.
“Yes, I think so,” Tulfo replied, adding that Mendoza became enraged when he saw his brother’s arrest on the TV monitor inside the bus.
Ethics and rules
At that point, negotiations had bogged down after Mendoza brushed off as “trash” a letter from the Office of the Ombudsman offering to review extortion and robbery charges that prompted his sacking two years ago.
“Ma’am Teresita Ang See was right when she said that something’s wrong with the media. If she’s talking about the ethics and rules, in the broadcast media, the ratings and exclusivity (matter more),” he said.
Ang See admonished RMN senior reporter and anchor Michael Rogas on Tuesday for his supposed failure to plead for the lives of the hostages.
De Lima remarked that the hostage crisis apparently “became hostage” to the competition among leading broadcast firms.
Earlier, RMN broadcasters told the committee they violated no law. Their counsel, former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., said that media were being used as a “scapegoat” for the government’s ineptness.
KBP guidelines
Ang See, a Chinese-Filipino anticrime advocate, said that guidelines of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) explicitly forbid media contact with hostage-takers.
“Are you aware of this rule? It’s very clear in your own KBP guideline … I’m really very sorry if this is the state of our media now,” Ang See lamented.
She also questioned the insensitivity of RMN to air the shooting rampage inside the bus which, she said, may have been heard by the children and other relatives of the victims.
Tulfo defended RMN’s decision to air the interview with Mendoza, stressing that they merely wanted to know the conditions of the hostages inside the hijacked bus.
Tulfo, who admitted that he was not a journalism graduate, maintained that they were merely doing their jobs as journalists during the coverage of the incident.
“Are you aware that no profession should be above human lives? Senator Pimentel said that RMN did not violate even the KBP’s own code of conduct. But isn’t calling Mendoza an interference?” Ang See asked.
Intervention
“You did not call it interference or intervention that at that most critical time you tied up the open line of the hostage-taker for almost one hour?”
Tulfo replied: “I don’t think so, ma’am, because I believe there was more than enough lines in that situation.”
“Are you aware that your own guideline said just calling in could tie up the open lines and complicate the negotiations?” she said.
“Yes, ma’am, but I did not stay long on the phone because I also reported live for TV5,” he answered.
Ang See then pointed out that Rogas could have incited Mendoza to shoot the victims when he repeatedly asked him about his plans after his brother was taken by the police.
Arena for propaganda
On Tuesday, Rogas said he asked Mendoza to stay calm and not to hurt the hostages.
“During that interview, the chief negotiator (Supt. Orlando) Yebra was trying to calm down Mendoza. Did it occur to you that he was not heard by the hostage-taker because you were interviewing him?” Ang See stressed.
She then reproached RMN for giving Mendoza “an arena for his propaganda and arena.” She surmised that the live media coverage emboldened Mendoza to carry out his threats to kill the hostages.
Susan Enriquez, GMA-7 anchor and reporter, also testified Wednesday that she was able to talk with Mendoza for at least three minutes, but the conversation was not shown on TV because of the network’s existing policy.
“I don’t recall any police officer telling us what to do and what we should not do,” Enriquez said.
Despite lapses by the media, neither President Benigno Aquino III nor his Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma considered the arrest of reporters in the aftermath of the Aug. 23 hostage crisis.
Coloma told the House appropriations committee that the thought of recommending the arrest of broadcast and print reporters in the bungled hostage drama never crossed his mind.
When asked by Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez if he would recommend the arrest of reporters as had happened in the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege, Coloma answered no.
“The answer I give is in consonance with the overall policy enunciated by our President when he faced the press after the hostage-taking incident and said that he doesn’t believe in imposing prior restraint,” he said. With a report from TJ Burgonio
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