The competitive advantage of Yellowtards over the pro-Duterte in media

The Duterte administration, one year into its term, remains terribly awful and inept at controlling the narrative. It still lacks its own public communications apparatus that it could use to bypass the other media stations. There’s PTV4, and the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), and yet so far both have proven ineffective.

Even if one doesn’t watch too much television, there is an easily discernible pattern that occurs in the communications of this administration:

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1) Duterte or his spokespersons say something;
2) Hostile mainstream media stations distort or take out of context what was said;
3) Duterte administration is forced to clarify what was earlier said.

Unfortunately, for the Duterte administration, this has happened one too many times. And the consistent result is that, they’ve come out looking like chumps unnecessarily. In this day and age of short attention spans and lasting first impressions, clarifications after the fact are considered useless.

Essentially, because of media’s first to market advantage, the Duterte administration and its supporters are left tripping over their own feet while trying to catch up. Rather than deliver its message through its own messenger, the Duterte government is haplessly and helplessly reduced to relying on unfriendly mainstream media to do it for them. It is because of this that the hostile media is able to control what it shows to its consumers.

Pro-Duterte bloggers and social media personalities fare little different. Numerous as they may be, their voices collectively have little weight, and it’s become easy for Duterte’s critics to discredit them, because they’ve allowed the focus to be on them as the messenger, more than the message. In contrast, anti-Duterte blogs have remained anonymous, and have successfully baited pro-Duterte bloggers, numerous times, into wasting time rebutting the oftentimes preposterous – usually petty – assertions made in those blogs.

Viewed from another angle, during the recent Senate inquiry on “fake news”, Mocha Uson and Thinking Pinoy RJ Nieto weren’t braver than the no-shows Rappler, Cocoy Dayao, or whoever the supposed owner of SilentNoMorePH and PinoyAkoBlog is. The two pro-Duterte bloggers were outwitted and outmaneuvered, consequently subject to a grilling by Liberal Party senators, and were unable to convince that their positions working with the government had no conflict of interest with their roles as “bloggers”.

Being brave (or showing bravado) doesn’t earn points in practical terms, being shrewd and knowing how to stay out of sticky situations does.

For a long time to come, Duterte’s government and supporters will have to rely on mainstream media – practically beg these media outfits – to convey their messages, and notice their shows of force and “uncovered scandals”. It is with this advantageous position that media can simply choose to ignore them. Or portray them in an unflattering light.

In short, they’ll never get the airtime they deserve.

[Photo courtesy: insidehr.com.au]

18 Replies to “The competitive advantage of Yellowtards over the pro-Duterte in media”

  1. Definitely, they’ve been autistically screeching since the dawn of the Philippine internet in the early 2000s during Erap and Gloria Arroyo’s time, they practically established and mastered their long routine of making crappy and idiotic political propaganda pages with shitty and non-witty blogposts and “articles” and “true facts” that can anger the forgetful and gullible average Filipino. Duterte needs his entire communication and media arm to be saavy and direct with his message without the need to redo it, the Mainstream Media has been friends with their Liberal Yellow Party saviors for years, along with the Oligarchs. One last criticism is the idiotic non-questioning stance or gullibility of spreading news or reports without a vetted source or citation, sharing and believing a fake story because you want it to be true, this is bad for the whole

    1. Considering they have been in power or influenced national government for 30 years I’m not surprised its like the DU30 bloggers are like the rebels fighting the mightly evil yellow empire.

  2. Like I’ve said, one of the Duterte administration’s weaknesses is to treat mass media with hostility and not partner with it. They’re thus unable to use an effective public address tool. Though that probably reflects the sentiments of the people who voted him in.

    1. How can the DU30 adminstration partner with them when these people have been hostile to him right from the very start of his campaign and there interests and old habits are being threatened. Like they say old habits die hard and there determined by all means necessary to preserve that impunity culture by all means necessary.

    2. The media, as it is now, is not ever going to partner with the Duterte administration. What Duterte’s government should do is bypass them. It’s giving the media outfits the very ammunition which they will shoot it with. What’s the use of PTV4 if it’s not being utilized more properly?

      1. Well you rebuilding a network that’s from scrap vesus a network with resources things cant change overnight my dear I mean I would love to but doesn’t work that way even though I feel Mocha’s putting way more effort than Martin.

    3. Opposition to Duterte will always use underhanded means to undermine his government. The Duterte administration, specifically his comms people and broader network of DDS “bloggers” are basically fighting fire with fire — using the same low-brow time-wasting approaches to combat these Opposition social media “inlfuencers”. But as the representatives of the incumbent (and to some extent, funded by taxpayers) they should have, instead, been taking the higher road, which is to remain consistent in terms of quality and professionalism.

  3. The Aquino Cojuangco political axis, has the ABS-CBN, GMA, Rappler.com, Blog Watch, Inquirer, etc…

    Most were used for 30 years feeding disinformation to ignorant Filipinos. The Aquinos, grabbed power with the help of disinformation from the U.S./C.I.A., and from political opportunists, like Enrile and Ramos.

    On the issue of Blogging, I believe they are losing. I have tangled with many of the Aquino Cojuangco paid hacks and paid trolls. They sent viruses, malwares, script writers, etc… to my computer. Nothing worked on me. I am still here blogging.

    BenignO, the WebMaster is still here. Get Real Philippines is still here.

    I want these paid hacks and paid trolls, to tangle with me, in the GRP. All they do is disappear, with new names. It is easy to spot them. Their way of rebuttals are the same…their way of thinking is : they lack vital information , to their subjects being discussed and are ignorant to most subjects, we are discussing. They are as ignorant and stupid, as Bam Aquino, their leader…

    I don’t believe we have lost to them. I am still receiving , viruses, malwares, script writers, etc..I still have paid hacks and paid trolls, following my “tail” !

  4. Well as it appears, it’s like asking the competitor to do the marketing for you, then getting angry why their effort doesn’t translate to actual sales revenue. But where can you get brand recognition for free nowadays? Everyone’s using media (pro-Yellow or not) to their own advantage: Senate hearings provide free media mileage for grandstanding politicians beefing up their image for the next elections. So all we hear from Senate halls these days are hearings, investigations, citations for contempt… anything just to get their names and faces on mainstream or social media.

    Could it be that the Du30 brand simply thrives on controversy? It’s what brought him to the limelight in the first place. We just have to hand it to the guy: Only a political genius can make the quantum jump from mayor of a remote city to president with such little capital. It could be that this back and forth – the “being misunderstood” then “seeking clarification” – though looking stupid is all part of a cleverly designed media stunt that keeps Du30 consistently on front-page headline news.

    With an unpredictable president that’s more than meets the eye, it’s possible Du30 has the pro-LP media exactly where he wants them in his political chess board. I have the feeling Du30 loves a good fight, which is why he may be intentionally provoking Yellow media to keep bashing him. It’s when SWS surveys show him with 80+ approval ratings that he then gets the last laugh: Check mate.

  5. Here, have some more websites that shared the same adcode as SilentNoMore

    thinkingmillennialsph.com data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8283971809912134″ data-ad-slot=”3642
    twentyeightfourteen.com data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8283971809912134″ data-ad-slot=”4073
    realphilippines.net data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8283971809912134″ data-ad-slot=”9961
    ultimatefitnessguy.com “data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8283971809912134″data-ad-slot=”52624
    popganern.com data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8283971809912134″ data-ad-slot=”7809
    stopthetrolls.net data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8283971809912134″ data-ad-slot=”7809
    imbentongbongbong.com data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8283971809912134″ data-ad-slot=”7809
    chakadoll.com data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8283971809912134″ data-ad-slot=”3151
    wesupportbamaquino.com data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8283971809912134″ data-ad-slot=”7809
    wesupportlenirobredo.com data-ad-client=”ca-pub-8283971809912134” data-ad-slot=”7809

    1. It’s obvious. Cocoy Dayao holds the adsense money on behalf of all the other bloggers, in the same way that politicians and people like Andy Bautista hold money on behalf of family members. ( sarcasm off )

    1. And they should do something about PTV 4’s reach. Even as a free channel, it’s abysmally 1) unwatchable and 2) lacking in mass appeal. It’s a comms battle, and relying on social media alone is not going to cut it.

      1. Appealing to masses without having to stoop as low as some “popular” television networks would go is going to be a tough act.

  6. If the Government really wants to get its message across to the people, they really must do so! Should they let third-party media to speculate or clarify things for them? The Government has all the machinery at its disposal.

    But how do you handle something of a case like the mysterious and unexplained death of Maj. Harim Gonzaga of the Presidential Security Group inside his office at Malacañang Park?

    In contrast to what the Government extended to UST student hazing victim Horacio Castillo, whose case even merited a Senate investigation, the Palace still has no definitive official finding about what really happened 14 days since Gonzaga’s September 26 death! No crime scene investigation was ever conducted!

    The Government’s silence regarding this matter leaves the public in the dark, clueless and even prompted some people to theorize some kind of cover-up.

    “…if our layman’s theory is correct, that the major could not have owned the Norinco cal. 45, then it means he had his own officially issued sidearm, unless it is now PSG official regulation that officers should report for duty unarmed. But if, in fact, he had a government-issued sidearm, that could no longer be found, and had been replaced by the Norinco pistol, which in theory did not exist. If he had no “officially issued sidearm” at the time of his death, then it means he was completely unarmed when he was killed, and either the Norinco pistol or another weapon was used to kill him, and the Norinco pistol was planted on him after he was killed.”

    1. Gonzaga’s murder or suicide will not be solved. The same as the :Mamapasano massacre, Hacienda Luisita massacre, Mendiola massacre, Ninoy Aquino, Jr. murder, etc…Sorry, they are just political casualties !

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