N.B. – A Bangkok-based journalist emailed a few questions about the reported negotiations between MediaQuest Holdings, Inc. and the Belmonte family who has majority control of Philippine Star for the sale of 87.5 percent of the latter. Allow me to share with you my answers. Thank you.
Update (February 6, 9:30 p.m.): I just got an email from Lynette Lee Corporal that her article has already been published online by the Asia Media Forum. Kindly read her article titled PHILIPPINES: Sale of Major Newspaper Brings Anticipation, Dread.
What do you think is its impact on the Philippine media environment in general?
The sale only shows the growing interest of PLDT Chair Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP) in Philippine mass media.
It may be recalled that MediaQuest (media arm of Beneficial Trust Fund that is owned by PLDT) and Smart (where MVP is also chair) started in March 2007 the mobile TV service using the platform called Digital Video Broadcasting – Handheld (DVB-H). The year before that (2006), MediaQuest acquired a 30-percent stake in BusinessWorld (BW) Publications.
In the context of the media environment, the sale (reportedly worth P4.8 billion) definitely means an infusion of fresh capital in the Star Group of Publications which includes the broadsheet Philippine Star. Unlike a minority stake in BW, MVP (this time through PLDT) wants substantial control of the Philippine Star. The reason for this is simple: Philippine Star is only one of the three broadsheets in the country that are actually earning (the other two being the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the Manila Bulletin), making them very attractive for investors like MVP.
What are your thoughts about the perception that this is yet another proof of the commercialization of the newspaper industry, or of the media in general?
The mainstream media are commercialized to the point that they are controlled by the moneyed few. For example, the Lopezes and the Cojuangcos who wield considerable influence in Philippine politics and economy own broadcast stations ABS-CBN and TV5, respectively. Newspapers are no exception as owners have other business interests that are often used to subsidize the former.
What may be worth analyzing in the near future are political plans of MVP and his close business associates as a result of buying into the Philippine Star, especially given that national and local elections will take place in 2010.
How will it affect public trust and the ideals of Philippine journalism?
This reinforces the corporatist orientation of mainstream media and this greatly compromises the highest ethical and professional standards of journalism.
Instead of exploring alternative options for newspaper operation that can dovetail with shaping public opinion through relevant information — the cooperative setup comes to mind, though a failed experiment of the Philippine Daily Inquirer in the 1980s — editors, reporters and other media workers currently end up working within a status quo that gives more priority to “selling” the sensational instead of “telling” the relevant.