N.B. – This was published in The Lobbyist (November 2) where I write a weekly column (Subtext).
The word media is jokingly defined as the plural form of mediocre. Obviously, no English dictionary will confirm this (not yet). Then again, people are inclined to accept the joke as the unfortunate truth.
Ask any person what’s wrong with the media and he or she is wont to say a mouthful. To paraphrase an old joke, the only thing we can be sure of whenever we read a newspaper is the date on the front page. To recall a song from Queen, all we hear is radio gaga. An older song from The Buggles claims that video killed the radio star. Just how relevant is television? As early as the 1970s, Gil Scott-Heron had an interesting rap: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.
Such negativity indicates perception of mediocrity. What do you expect, after all, from media that do anything and everything to get ahead of the rat race euphemistically called competition? The ratings war among broadcast stations prompt them to focus more on entertainment instead of providing necessary information through news and public affairs programs. In fact, the latter are given entertainment flavor to the point where important issues get trivialized or sensationalized. Why is it necessary, for example, for a State of the Nation Address (SONA) to be treated like a product launch detailing what (read: “who”) the guests were wearing. Why do crime reports show pictures or footage of blood and gore and provide graphic details of violence?
Even if there is occasional public criticism (the coverage of the August 23 hostage-taking incident comes to mind), media normally get away with many shortcomings. Why does this happen? Let me start with a clarification: It is NOT the audiences’ fault. The danger in repetition is acclimatization. Through constant exposure to various media contents, audiences get so used to the reprehensible that they tend to accept these with little or no resistance. In other words, media do not get criticized for many of their shortcomings because audiences do not anymore consider them as such.
Rumor mongers, for example, get to be called entertainment journalists and through their “reports” the audiences are led to believe that blind items are acceptable in the media profession. Situational comedies or sitcoms get reduced to slapstick routines with sexist jokes in between. Primetime variety shows are transformed into televised nightclubs as scantily clad women who dance in the background actually serve as the main attraction.
Despite claims of truth in advertising, deception sometimes becomes a campaign component as advertisers tend to interpret the truth according to what suits them best – a product can make your skin white in seven days, another one can improve your memory and yet another one can make you as tall as a basketball player. A relatively new trend in media today is stealth advertising or product placement where advertisements get embedded into radio or television programs and audiences cannot anymore distinguish between the advertisement and the program.At this point, may I ask: Is this kind of programming acceptable to you?
Of course, there are also “little things” we’ve come to accept like some TV stations’ constant failure to follow the programming schedule. As a result, they do not anymore announce the exact time a program starts and ends. All they tell us is that this program airs after another program, and we are left to estimate for ourselves what time the program we want to watch actually starts. The explanation for this “little shortcoming” is simple: Media organizations find it more important to accommodate advertisers than to be sensitive to the needs of their audiences.
To know what’s right or wrong about media, we have to understand how they operate. We also need to be aware of the professional and ethical standards of media, specifically journalism; advertising and public relations; and entertainment. Only then can we, the audience, make the right and reasonable demands.
Consider this space a venue for media criticism as we analyze the subtext of various media contents.
Editor’s note: This column appears every Tuesday. The columnist, Danilo Arao, teaches journalism at the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP CMC) where he concurrently serves as College Secretary. He also edits and writes for other publications. For more information about him, please visit his website at www.dannyarao.com.