The FPJ-Sandra Aguinaldo Affair

Media bias towards FPJ

I think almost everybody by now have heard about the brouhaha over FPJ and Sandra Aguinaldo of GMA7. Nakakahiya lang nga ang mga reactions galing sa Inquirer at GMA7, lalo na sa mga "government-controlled" media and tabloids.

It's really much ado about nothing. Pero sinadyang pinalaki lang ito ng mga pro-GMA media para siraan pa lalo si FPJ.

Really Sandra, I know this is what media types like you do for a living, and doing your little "stand-upper" is part of that.

But can you at least do your "stand-upper" a little further away than 9 FEET FROM THE CANDIDATES????

By a little further away, I mean about 25-30 FEET AWAY AT LEAST! How about that, huh Sandra???

Tama si Ducky Paredes sa sinabi niya:

IT is wrong for a television reporter to do a stand-up report from an area where she creates a disturbance to the point where the live audience in the event begins to pay her more attention than the event itself.

It is just wrong.

Can you imagine someone doing a stand-up in the middle of the basketball court while the game is going on? Certainly, one does not do a stand-up right there on the stage and within hearing distance of the man who is trying his best to deliver a message to the audience.

A reporter must remember that this is the speaker's audience, not the reporter's and he ought to be given the leeway to have their attention all to himself,

In the case of what happened in Iloilo during a sortie of Fernando Poe Jr., the ones who must take the blame for this are the security persons of the KNP camp. They should not have allowed the television reporter to go on stage with her cameraman. They should not have allowed it because there is just no good reason for her to do that. When your main speaker is speaking, there should be no other movement on the stage.

If she wanted to do a stand-up, she could have done it far from the stage where she would not be in anyone's way. She would also not create any sort of disturbance. A more resourceful and more professional reporter would have done just that and would have done her job well.

Someone else other than the presidential candidate himself (who was visibly disturbed by having someone else talking on stage at the same time that he was) should have stopped her. There is no good reason for FPJ himself to have to do that job himself.

***

As a general rule, when a member of the press disturbs the proceedings itself that she is covering, as a result of something that she does, she ought to know (even without being told) that she is doing wrong. Reporters ought to be invisible to the event. Their presence should be reserved only for their audience (whether these are readers, listeners or viewers).

At isa pa, FPJ never threatened Sandra Aguinaldo nor cursed her, unlike what GMA has done to other reporters in the past.

Sure, FPJ could have used humor instead of sarcasm when he talked to Sandra, pero ano ba ang magagawa ni FPJ kung sobrang "sensitive" ang iilan sa mga reporters ng GMA7? Papaano ka makakatagal sa industriya niyan Sandra kung palagi na lang siyang iiyak sa mga maliliit na bagay?

Buti pa itong si Tina Panganiban Perez hindi iyakin, even though GMA threatened her and accused her of "abetting rebellion".

Dir. General Ebdane of the Philippine National Police (PNP) even had some of the journalists "monitored" for alleged "illegal activities" (shades of Martial Law) during that time, pero tepid lang ang reactions ng inquirer at iba pang media sa issue na ito compared to FPJ's.

One other thing, nung pina-cancel ni Mr. and Mrs. Pidal yung Probe Team for reporting the illegal activities of Efraim Genuino, an Arroyo crony... hindi ko yata napansin yung "outrage" sa mainstream media at mga ibang journalists?

Sa PDI, si Conrad de Quiros lang ang nagalit dito.

Strangely, Rina Jimenez David, Bel Cunanan, Amando Doronila, Solita Monsod and the rest of the PDI gang were very quiet or mute about the whole incident.

Judging from their reactions (or lack thereof), akala mo parang hindi nangyari yung pag-tanggal ng Probe team sa Ch. 7.

Sa GMA7, tahimik rin... like takot silang madamay sa gulo ng Probe Team.

WTF???

Nung pina-aresto rin si Ninez Cacho Olivares, the editor of a leading opposition paper, on 19 counts of BullShit... i mean libel, puro nakatanga lang ang lahat ng mga mainstream media sa mga pangyayaring ito.

Obviously, harassment ito vs. NCO, but since opposition naman ang kinakawawa, okey lang yan hindi ba, civil society?