Media Sensationalism

"A person is innocent until proven guilty." Such is the tenet of justice adhered to by all penal systems in our civilized world. Not, in media, no Sir! Trial by publicity is the practice. This newbie blogger should know. I have been victimized by the unscrupulous bunch of local media, while serving as Election Officer for the provincial capital city, in this side of the world.Very lamentable is the fact that, the more I kept silent, stooping to the gutter level is not my style, the vicious the lies, the accusations and innuendos ad nauseam became. Through it all, I maintained my silence. Sometimes dignified silence is the best response to malicious and unfounded accusations. Besides, far be it from me to attribute to malice what is,obviously, attributable to stupidity. Truly, before the 'bar' of media, in this jurisdiction, accusation is synonymous to proof.

With all due apologies to those who are responsible practitioners in the field of media, this group of "pseudo-public servants" (that's what they like to call themselves-public servants) seem to thrive on "sensationalism," which is the blowing out of proportion any newsworthy piece of "something" they can lay their hands on. In a loud, extremely controversial and attention grabbing manner, these purported media practitioners would go about their 'theatrics' and deliver 'infotainment' instead of news and information. Rather than report on more pressing issues which the general public need to know, these bias laden media outlets field foul mouths reporters to scout for stories with shock value. If it makes a good story, to hell with factual accuracy. Thus, even the ridiculous and false are assured of media mileage, for as long as these are controversial enough to grab attention.

They seem unaware that responsible journalism should present both sides of the controversy and just allow the public to decide. Informing and educating the public regarding a particular issue should be the main concern, nothing more. Not with this "kind" of media practitioners, who seem more concern with the share of the market their respective outlet is going to get, and the profit that will be derived in the process. These profit-conscious media practitioners employed by equally profit-conscious media outlet, are the "rotten" tomatoes in the basket of media professionals. Always, when money matters enter the picture, things get awry.

As in other fields of endeavor, media has a lot of practitioners working for countless outlets jostling for position, so as to be able to grab the lion share of the "market." End result: sensationalism is resorted to, to whet the appetite for whatever is controversial. The more malicious and vicious the manner of reporting or announcing, the more some people will devour the story. Responsible journalism takes a backseat to profitable sensationalism, as the focus is shifted from proper journalism to the 'juicy' aspects of a story. There's nothing like an embellishment of a few lies, here and there, to help pull in a larger share of the audience and equally larger revenues from advertisers.

This practice leads to misinformation of the people via the tri-media, the print, broadcast and television. Due to this misinformation, prejudiced, which is the result of ignorance, is formed. Prejudiced breed by these for sale (and can be bought CHEAP) pseudo-professionals, in the media, unnecessarily sullied reputations, unduly maligned characters and ruined lives. Mention must also be made that keeping the people ignorant on issues they should know about, hinders progress. A misinformed citizenry, carrying baggage of prejudices, will not be able to contribute their share in pushing their nation towards the path of progress.

Had the malicious media practitioners ever thought of these things? Obviously not! All they care about is their share in the listening, viewing and reading market, which will give profit to the media outlet they work for and will, in turn, fatten their own wallets from increases and bonuses. The more sensationalized the reporting or write-up, the bigger the bonus for the media personnel concern.

Gee, the pen is, indeed, mightier than the sword in "killing" the truth; and the mouth is, indeed, a lethal weapon of choice for those who want to spread some venomous lies, all in the name of public service with a price tag attached.

Here in the Philippines, this kind of media practitioners, who are engage in buying and selling services in the AC-DC (Attack and Collect or Defend and Collect) form, even have the gall to ask that libel be "decriminalized." Really, these people are unbelievable!