Category: Media

TIME Magazine is using Shibby de Guzman to influence Philippine politics

November 10, 2017 Ilda 10 Comments

If you want more evidence Western mainstream media is deliberately manipulating politics in the Philippines, take a look at TIME magazine’s latest list of the most influential teens around the world. The international publication included 14-year old Filipina Shibby de Guzman in the list. It is not clear how the editors arrived at the conclusion…

Education, Media, Politics

We need to help develop true thinking Pinoys rather than mere following Pinoys

November 9, 2017 benign0 3 Comments

My colleague Paul Farol, the other day, pointed out that the best way to combat the Yellowtards’ troll-like social media behaviour and style of “debate” is “to take the game to where the yellows cannot follow.” It seems some key social media personalities within the so-called “die-hard Duterte supporters” (DDS) clique have failed to do…

Culture, Government, Media, Politics

Harry Roque should speak in plain language to avoid confusing Filipinos

November 7, 2017November 7, 2017 benign0 11 Comments

The on-going hoo-ha over certain fears that certain spokespersons would “throw hollow blocks” (or cinder blocks, a popular low-cost building material used in the Philippines) on the heads of certain noted reporters from one of the big mainstream media outlets who, in turn, is threatening legal action against certain pro-administration bloggers for suggesting such an…

Culture, Government, Media

Florin Hilbay blocks people on social media because he cannot handle dissent

November 4, 2017February 13, 2022 benign0 5 Comments

What kind of lawyer does not listen to dissenting or alternative opinion? Weren’t they trained to present sound and robust arguments in a logical manner? Well, it seems former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay is one such lawyer who does not like to listen to arguments and understand points of view that run counter to his….

Media, Politics, Society

Filipinos were taught FAKE Philippine history for 30 years!

November 2, 2017November 2, 2017 benign0 11 Comments

Back in the heyday decades of Yellowtardism in the 1980s and 1990s, mass communication was pretty much a one-way street. The ability to efficiently reach a mass audience was a capitalist monopoly — held by those who possessed the means to organise enterprises that could build and operate what today are regarded as conventional broadcast…

Media, Tech Talk

Thought leaders are at the top of the intellectual food chain, near the bottom are ‘investigative journalists’

November 1, 2017 benign0 4 Comments

The media and the partisans who presume to constitute the Philippine National “Debate” may have succeeded at dividing the Philippines into Dutertards and Yellowtards and, they presume, maintain a lively chatter that, they say, is the heart of a vibrant “democracy”. But whilst this chatter is generating a lot of noise, none of that noise…

Media, Politics

Support Rappler! Why? Coz God’s Gift to Journalism cannot surivive on DATA alone

October 31, 2017October 31, 2017 benign0 7 Comments

Why should we “support Rappler”? Good question. Rappler is, supposedly, a business venture. It’s got investors who expect a return on their investment that is proportionate to the risk they’ve taken parking that money in Rappler’s books (i.e. more than, say, what they could have earned in interest had they invested those funds in a…

Media, Money Talks

Filipinos’ fixation on “fake news” may be a symptom of an intellectual shortcoming

October 29, 2017 benign0 9 Comments

Media “watchdog” Blogwatch recently posted the article Fake News: 7 Types Of Mis- And Disinformation (Part 1) in which it listed satire and parody among categories of online content it deemed part of the “misinformation ecosystem”. It was suggested that the two genres could be dangerous in the Philippine setting because though its authors may…

Culture, Media, Society