The number of election-related news reports continued to increase as the May 10, 2010 elections drew near. From 335 (22%) reports in Weeks 3 and 4, there were 388 reports about the elections or 26% of the news hole in Weeks 5 and 6.

The Freeman had the most number of election-related reports at 157 (33% of its news hole), followed by Sun.Star Cebu at 129 (22% of its news hole) and Cebu Daily News at 102 (24% of its news hole). Focus on the local elections rebounded as the official campaign period for the local positions started on March 26.

Placement

There were no notable changes in the placement of election-related reports in Weeks 5 and 6, with 5% of the election-related reports in the front page while the rest were in the inside pages (95%).  Eleven election-related reports, seven of which came from The Freeman and four from Sun.Star Cebu, were bannered. While the majority (56%) of the election-related reports were still in the main news pages, the secondary sections (Nation, Business, Community) carried more election-related reports in Weeks 5 and 6 compared to the previous weeks at 164 or 44% of all election-related reports.

Placement

Focus/Election-Related Area

For the third monitoring period (Weeks 5 and 6), coverage of the local elections rebounded from a decrease in the second monitoring period which focused on elections in general. This could be due to the start of the official campaign period for local elective positions on March 26.

There were 170 reports about the local elections, 124 reports about elections in general, and 77 reports about the presidential elections. There was a slight increase in the number of reports on the party-list elections due to the controversy on alleged bogus party-list organizations, among them Ang Galing Pinoy, which purportedly represents security guards, with presidential son and congressman Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo as nominee.

Focus

Themes

While greater prominence was given to the local elections, the coverage was focused more on political defections and alliances, and  the contest/horse race and cockfight (“he said, she said”).  Although One Cebu’s Gov. Gwen Garcia said Loren Legarda won over her closest rival, Jejomar Binay, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino-United Opposition vice presidential candidate, due to a shared advocacy for women and ecology, the coverage dwelt less on issues than on the  “elimination rounds” as One Cebu narrowed their VP choices first to two—Legarda and Binay— before choosing the former.

Notable was an increase in the reports on development/policy issues. Bu the discussion of candidates’ platforms, which could have benefited voters more, was limited to motherhood statements on development/policy issues. Coverage of the candidates’ stances on development issues rarely rose above the traditional politician’s  list of campaign promises. While Legarda was chosen by One Cebu for her track record in, and advocacy of women and environment, there was no report on her specific programs. The March 21 article, “Archdiocese to join Earth Hour” of Sun.Star Cebu was better. This article had local politicians elaborating on their eco programs. But as in the second monitoring period, the third period’s articles could have been more socially relevant if  the candidates’ campaign promises had been enhanced to include their track records and platforms.

The local Liberal party coverage focused on the return to Cebu of former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr., who resigned as UN ambassador to campaign for his son, opposition gubernatorial candidate Hilario Davide III.  The acrimonious fighting between the Bando Osmena-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) and the Kugi Uswag (Kusug) was played up when the Cebu City Government removed basketball boards and goal posts donated by Kusug congressional candidate Jonathan Guardo. With the removal of the boards sometimes occurring a day before a village tournament, this strategy of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña gave rise to so-called “basketball terrorism.” The Cebu City Government was also engaged in a word war with the Cebu province. After Vice Mayor Michael Rama was quoted by another local daily as saying he was willing to cooperate with Gov. Gwen Garcia, an arch enemy of Osmeña, this gave rise to cockfight stories, with the following configurations: Rama versus Tomas, Tomas versus Gwen, and Rama versus urban poor occupying Capitol lots (who felt betrayed by Rama’s “peace offering” to the governor, who has threatened to eject them).

Defections to the camp of presidential candidate Manuel Villar splintered political clans and parties: Kusug, led by former mayor Alvin Garcia, inked a partnership with the Nacionalista Party, while the other Garcias leading One Cebu—Gov. Gwen Garcia, Rep. Pablo Garcia and Rep. Pablo John Garcia—stayed with Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s Giberto Teodoro.  Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz and her entire Mandaue slate jumped the One Cebu ship to join Villar.

Another example of the “campaign” focus of this period’s coverage is the report on the March 21 launch of the Lahug for Cutie Movement (LCM) to support the congressional bid of Rachel “Cutie” del Mar in Cebu City’s north district. Lahug is the bailiwick of her Kusug rival, Barangay Captain Mary Ann de los Santos.

Launching their bids in a rival’s bailiwick or hometown was popular among local candidates. One Cebu started their provincial motorcade in Argao, hometown of the rival contender for gubernatorial post, Hilario Davide III. Davide and running mate, Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez, ended their motorcade in Garcia’s hometown of Dumanjug. The horserace angle played up the competition angle.

Commendably, The Freeman’s front-page reports on “Know Your Candidates” provided ample space for both the lighter and serious side of the featured local candidates’ views, personality and track record. It also provided them an opportunity to explain their stand on major issues and  their platform of government. Also, a Sun.Star Cebu “face-off” of local bets seeking the gubernatorial and mayoral posts was published on Mar. 26. “Bets Reveal Their Identities” had candidates answering, “What’s the most urgent challenge of LGU you want to lead.” The presentation of stance, programs and plans was culled from the paper’s reportorial team’s interviews with candidates.

Other observations:

1. In-house, non-scientific surveys putting local administration candidates at the lead were of little or dubious use to voters. One report said that 39,992 respondents were selected from Cebu Province but there were no other details regarding the sampling method.

2. Serious allegations between rival camps were still limited to “he said-she said” treatment.

For example, while an electoral issue, continuing investigation and lack of evidence on narco-politics kept the police from concluding that the illegal drug trade finances the campaigns of some candidates.

Themes

Subjects

The Comelec was still the most reported news subject. However,  in all three newspapers, the news hole was dominated by the major election players. The survey standing of tailenders appeared in the news mainly when they had sorties in Cebu. Nick Perlas, whose advocacy is  the environment, reproductive health and cultural recovery, was covered. A ½ page article on March 20 reported support for Perlas  from the Supreme Council of Datus-Alimaong (The Holy Warriors), a federation of cultural and indigenous tribes.

More articles reported the efforts of civil society in voters’ education. The coverage of civil society participation in the election included a March 14 article by Sun.Star Cebu on the Cebu Provincial Board requesting television networks to air the instructional animated video, “Voter’s Education Animation Project,” produced by non-government organizations in Cebuano and Filipino to educate voters on the Automated Elections System. Also featured was the series of online chats spearheaded by the Sun.Star Network Exchange, highlights of it reported in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper, following newsroom convergence. Election watchdog official Henrietta de Villa, current head of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), and Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal interacted with Sunnex followers in these online chats.

Subjects

Sources

No major changes in  news sources were observed during this period except for the notable rise of Cebu gubernatorial candidate Hilario “Junjun” Davide III in the source ranking from  the first monitoring period. Tomas Osmeña remained the most quoted, and perhaps the most soundbite-worthy, local news source for election-related reports.

Sources

Slant/Focus

Most articles (95%) included background and context to enable readers not just to understand shifting  local political alliances but, as in one newspaper’s report, also an incumbent’s  use of public funds and programs to “dole out” assistance during an election year.

As monitored during the second period of this study (February 28 to March 13), most election-related articles published during the third period also included context to show the complex   alliances between candidates running for national positions and local politicians and parties. But aside from explaining the acrobatics going on within and among political parties, background and context, particularly in Sun.Star Cebu reports, showed how City Hall programs could be used for political mileage.

For instance, in reporting the Cebu City Government’s program offering summer jobs for 2,200 students this year, an election year, Sun.Star Cebu reporter Linette C. Ramos pointed out that this batch of beneficiaries was three times higher than the number hired last year.  In 2009, there were 681 beneficiaries, hired with a budget of P3 million. In 2010, P11 million was allotted for students at P267 per day, noted the Sun.Star Cebu report. In 2004, another election year, the budget for 3,000 beneficiaries was P12 million, reduced to 300 beneficiaries in the years 2005, 2007 and 2008.  Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Vice-Mayor Mike Rama have gone on record to deny the “dole-outs” for the students, as well as for senior citizens and persons with disability, are buying votes. Rama is running for the Cebu City mayoralty post while Osmeña is seeking the congressional seat for the north district.

Articles promoting  Comelec efforts to promote voters’ education on the automated elections were balanced with articles covering civil society’s criticism of  Comelec procedures and initiatives. Particularly in  the Sun.Star Cebu reports, the Comelec also disseminated its campaign to encourage responsible voting, such as checking the Online Precinct Finder before May 10 and voting early.

Four reports, particularly in The Freeman, appeared slanted in favor of Manuel Villar. Six reports appeared slanted against the Comelec, while Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo got negative treatment in two reports for his role as nominee in the allegedly bogus party-list for security guards. Cebu Daily News was the most neutral newspaper (91% of election related news), followed by Sun.Star Cebu (89%) and The Freeman (79%).

Neutral Reports

Neutral vs. Slanted reports

Cebu’s Bisaya-language Dailiesfocused on Local Elections
in Middle Weeks of the Campaign

Cebu Print Media Coverage of the 2010 Elections
Third Monitoring Period
(March 14,-27 2010)

As expected, there was a marked increase in the number of election-related reports published in Cebu’s Bisaya-language dailies as the elections draw near. In the third monitoring period from March 14 to 27, 28% of the reports were election-related compared to 19% in the second monitoring period. This time, SuperBalita had more election-related reports numerically and proportionally than Banat at 76 (32%) and 54 (24%), respectively.

Placement

Ninety-five percent of the election-related reports were  in the inside pages. Most of the election-related reports in SuperBalita were in the “Ngari/Didto/Nasod” section. Banat meanwhile concentrated its election-related reports in the “Balita” or main news sections. This explains why SuperBalita had more reports on the presidential, vice-presidential, and “elections in general” than Banat as the main news pages were usually allotted for local stories and national stories with local implications.

Placement

Focus/Election-Related Area

The focus of the election-related reports was still the local elections. In fact, reports on the local elections significantly increased, with 75 reports in this period compared to 53 reports in the second monitoring period. Twenty-eight reports were about the elections in general, 27  on the presidential elections, nine on the vice-presidential race, six on the senatorial contest, and three each for party-list and local elections outside Cebu.

Focus

Themes

The campaign was still the top theme of the election coverage of the Bisaya-language dailies which increased from 32 reports in the second monitoring period to 44 reports in this period. Notably, the candidates’ personalities, character and/or track record and their platform or programs also became the focus of the Bisaya dailies in this period, which  can be seen as an improvement considering that the “cockfight” angle  used to be given primary attention. Governance and corruption remained the top issues in reports that carried the theme “Development/Policy Issue,” followed by health, the economy/jobs, and poverty.

Themes

Photos and Artwork

Fewer election-related photos were published during this period compared to the second monitoring period, with 28 photos and one caricature. Twelve of the photos were  in SuperBalita while 16 were published in Banat. Cebu City mayoralty candidate Alvin Garcia had the most number of photos of him published (4), followed by his rival Michael Rama (3), Talisay City councilor Shirley Belleza (2), Bogo mayoralty candidate Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung (2), Cebu reelectionist governor Gwen Garcia (2), her rival Hilario “Junjun” Davide III (2), vice presidential candidate Loren Legarda (2), and Mandaue City mayoralty candidate Nerissa Soon-Ruiz (2).

Subjects

The Liberal Party and Cebu governor Gwen Garcia were the most frequently reported news subjects  during this period, with 21 reports each. They were followed by Manny Villar (20), Tomas Osmeña (15), Gibo Teodoro (13), the Comelec (12), Nacionalista Party (12), and Hilario “Junjun” Davide III (11). Reports about Gwen Garcia included her assertion that her party One Cebu would continue to support Gibo Teodoro despite the reported transfer of some of her local allies to Manny Villar’s camp.

Subjects

Sources

Cebu governor Gwen Garcia and Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña were the top news sources during this period, followed by the Comelec, the PNP, Liberal Party, and Alvin Garcia.

Sources

Slant/Focus

Most of the election-related reports had adequate background at 80%, an improvement from the 72% of the second monitoring period. Neutrality however slid by two percentage points from the second monitoring period with 82% neutral election-related reports during this period. Of the 18% of election-related reports coded as slanted, there were 14 positively-slanted reports and nine negatively-slanted reports. Of the two Bisaya-language dailies, SuperBalita was the most neutral at 91% while Banat was neutral in 70% of its election-related reports.

Banat had three positively-slanted reports in favor of Gibo Teodoro while SuperBalita had two positively-slanted reports about Bogo mayoralty candidate Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung. While the reports about Salimbangon-Yeung seemed only plain reports about her charitable activities, the context, title and propaganda-like tone of the report cannot escape a reader’s perception of bias (e.i. “Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung padayon sa pagtabang sa mga kabus”).

Neutral Reports

Neutral vs. Slanted reports

(This report can also be found on the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility’s media elections link at http://www.cmfr-phil.org/mediaandelections.)

Weeks 3 and 4 (February 28-March 13) of the monitoring period showed an increase in the percentage of election-related reports in Cebu’s English-language dailies from 19 percent to 22 percent (335 election-related reports to 1,511 news hole). Both Sun.Star Cebu and The Freeman allocated 23 percent of their news holes to election-related reports while the Cebu Daily News had 19 percent. A shift in emphasis from the local to the Presidential elections was evident.

Placement

Only 4 percent of  election-related reports were on the front page;  the rest were in the inside pages (96 percent). From 19 bannered election-related reports in Weeks 1 and 2, this decreased to eight reports in Weeks 3 and 4, although the Cebu newspapers continued to provide primary treatment of election-related reports; 62 percent (198) of election-related reports in the inside pages were placed in the main news sections and 38 percent were distributed in the secondary sections like Nation, Business and Community. Note however the difference of Cebu Daily News from the average data (second chart below).

Placement

Focus/Election-Related Area

Overall, coverage of the local elections (116) was second to coverage of “Elections in general” (119). However, data for each newspaper in Weeks 3 and 4 of the monitoring period reveal a shifting focus in the election coverage of Cebu’s English-language dailies from local elections-dominated in the first monitoring period to a growing coverage of the presidential elections. Except for Sun.Star Cebu which remained largely local elections-focused, the presidential election was already on top of the coverage of the Cebu press, followed by “Elections in general.” Party-list coverage decreased further.

Focus

Themes

With 122 reports, Cebu’s English-language newspapers continued to report significantly on the conduct of the campaign, including the unofficial campaign activities of candidates for the local elections where the campaign period is yet to officially start on March 26. Comelec issuances, rules, promulgations, actions and processes under the theme, “Other Comelec-related issues”, was still the second most covered election-related theme with 84 reports.

While the theme “Development/Policy issue” came in third, a number of these reports lacked background and deeper treatment or tended to rely solely on motherhood statements from politicians. For example, a report entitled “Spend public funds on projects that help the poor: de Venecia,” quoted extensively senatorial candidate Jose “Joey” de Venecia III. However, nearly all the quotations sourced from a press conference were motherhood statements on poverty, corruption and rice importation. Such a report could be more relevant for voter’s education with the inclusion of background research on De Venecia’s track record and proposed programs.

More information and depth was achieved in the report “Nephews hit campaign trail to woo youth for ‘Tito Noy’”. The article blends human interest (Aquino nephews defend LP presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III against charges of autism and “weirdness”), survey standing (“statistical tie” between Noynoy and Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr., according to the latest Pulse Asia survey), a local ally’s political platform (gubernatorial candidate Hilario Davide III’s planned review of Capitol’s questionable contracts and focus on district hospitals, should he win), and the reaction of a political opponent to the candidate’s  statements.

The local press has shown sustained, if not increasing, coverage of the political battle through personality-oriented reports (74) and cockfight or mudslinging themes (65). “Complaints or reports of irregularities” also increased from 23  (Weeks 1 and 2) to 42 reports (Weeks 3 and 4). There were fewer reports on “Election-related violence/Peace and order” as the heated political conflict in northern Cebu, or the initial interest it generated, tapered off.

The top development or policy issues in Weeks 3 and 4 were corruption (18), health (13), the environment (13), and infrastructure (12). The corruption angle and the tip that voters should not vote for candidates corrupting the Church emerged, for example, when during the launching of the “Vote God” campaign of the Church, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal admitted to receiving candidates’ donations. The Comelec pointed out that this was illegal. Though the candidates might be assisting charity, they might also be corrupting church leaders or getting the implicit endorsement of Vidal.

At a school forum in Cebu, presidential candidate Richard Gordon also repeated his accusation that his rival Manny Villar offered him a Cabinet position and a reimbursement for his campaign expenses if he withdrew from the presidential race. The other report was a repetition of this point, with Gordon noting that Villar also made an offer if Gordon would conspire for the toppling of Juan Ponce Enrile in the Senate’s investigation of C-5 road extension project.

Education (eight), the economy/jobs (eight), governance (eight), and poverty (eight) were also reported about from the pronouncements of candidates. Reproductive health also became an issue in six election-related reports as church groups embarked on their “Vote God” campaign and amid the related issue on the distribution of condoms by health officials in the campaign against AIDS/HIV.

Themes

Photos and Artwork

There were 108 photos, four caricatures, four infographics and one artwork about the elections in Weeks 3 and 4. Presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino had the most number of photos in the papers at 14. He was followed by Manny Villar (nine), Joseph Estrada (eight), and Richard Gordon (six). Other personalities with photos in election-related reports were President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (five), Ricardo Cardinal Vidal (five), Mar Roxas (four), and Tomas Osmeña (four). Cebu gubernatorial candidate Hilario Davide III had more photos (four) of him in the papers than reelectionist Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia (two) although the latter appears more frequently as a subject and source in election-related reports.

The newspapers published photos showing candidates giving aid to fire victims. One was a contributed photo showing Rep. Raul del Mar and his chief of staff Cutie del Mar giving cash assistance to fire victims. The caption (“In less than 24 hours after their houses were razed in a fire…”) and the “Del Mar” campaign shirt worn by Cutie del Mar, running for congressional seat in Cebu’s north district, frame the subject in a favorable light. The photo was placed beside an unrelated story, “SC to ATO: return lot to family”.

Another photo showed three Kusug (local) candidates giving a plastic bag of relief goods to a mother and infant, one of the Tisa fire victims. The photo is approximately ¼ of a page and positioned above the fold. The prominence of size and placement seem to ironically comment on a nearby story, whose headline reads, “Politics ‘threatens’ aid”. A third photo showing another Kusug candidate directing aid for fire victims was published with a related article. Captioned “Shelter,” the photo shows Barangay Captain Mary Ann de los Santos supervising the distribution of housing materials and other aid to barangay Lahug fire victims. The accompanying story, “’No politics’ in fire victims’ aid” quotes the Kusug candidate running for a congressional seat as saying that “the aid is not some campaign gimmick.” However, there was no mention of the individual or party making this accusation against her in the first place. De los Santos was the only source quoted in the story. Del Mar (BOPK) and De los Santos (Kusug) are vying for the same congressional seat. Taken together, the photographs balance any perceived bias. However, as mentioned earlier, news readers are not necessarily serial readers. There is also a discrepancy of days between the Del Mar photo (Mar. 7) and De los Santos’ article and photograph (Mar. 11) so readers may not see the connection.

Subjects

The most reported news subject was still the Comelec (80). With increasing local press coverage of the presidential election,  survey frontrunners Aquino (47) and Villar (42) were more frequently reported than the other presidential candidates. Estrada also became more visible as a news subject with 35 reports compared to only 16 reports about him in the first monitoring period. Other presidential candidates in the news were Teodoro (32), Gordon (10), Eddie Villanueva (seven), Ma. Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal (four), John Carlos “JC” de los Reyes (three), and Nicanor Perlas (two).

The vice presidential candidates in the news were Mar Roxas (18), Jejomar Binay (seven), Loren Legarda (six), Bayani Fernando (four), and Edu Manzano (two). Senatorial candidates in the news were Juan Ponce Enrile (10), Gilbert Remulla (seven), who also happens to be the spokesperson of the Nacionalista Party, Vicente Sotto III (seven), Neric Acosta (six), Ralph Recto (six), and Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel (six). Others were Jinggoy Estrada (five), Franklin Drilon (four), Joey de Venecia (four), Ruffy Biazon (four), Alex Lacson (three), Gen. Danilo Lim (three), Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr. (three), Susan Ople (three), Adel Tamano (two), Col. Ariel Querubin (two), Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. (two), former Cebu governor Lito Osmeña (two), Pia Cayetano (two), and Kit Tatad (two).

Local personalities on top of  election-related reports were still Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña (42) and Cebu governor Gwen Garcia (27), ahead of their respective rivals—Jonathan Guardo (15), Osmeña’s rival for the Cebu City South district congressional post, and Hilario Davide III (14), son of the former Chief Justice and Garcia’s challenger for the gubernatorial post.

NGOs, civil society and civic groups also became more frequently featured as news subjects with 39 reports, including “election watch” efforts, voters education and organizing candidates’ forum. There were also reports about civic and Church-affiliated organizations voicing their stand on issues like reproductive health and corruption. The Church also became more prominent in election-related reports with 22 reports.

Subjects

Sources

The Comelec continued to be the top news source for Weeks 3 and 4, with its local and national officials interviewed or quoted in 62 reports.  What was notable for this period was the prominence of the Church as a news source (15 reports) with the launching of the “Vote God” campaign and the church officials voicing  their stand on morality, corruption and reproductive health.

In the first monitoring period,  incumbent Gov. Gwen Garcia was quoted as a news source in election-related reports far more often than her rival Hilario Davide III, at a ratio of 3:1. For this study period, the ratio was 1:1— Garcia in eight election-related reports and Davide in seven.

In covering campaign rallies, reporters tended to estimate crowd size in a campaign based only on the opinion of a single and partial source. Cebu City Sports Center manager Ricky Ballesteros estimated 60,000 people in the report about the Liberal Party rally organized by local Bando Osmeña and LP allies, the source may not also be impartial, aside from being the only source of the crowd estimate. The slant favoring the LP and its local allies was balanced by the follow-up story where LP allies and critics gave their varying assessments of the LP proclamation party. It must be noted though that news readers may not be serial readers and may miss reading follow-up stories.

Sources

Slant/Focus

All three newspapers during this period were basically neutral  in 280 of 337 election-related reports or 83 percent of the stories. Of the slanted reports, there were 29  with a positive slant and 32 with a negative one. Manny Villar both had the most number of  stories with both positive (six) and negative slants (five). These were found in reports like Richard Gordon’s accusation that Villar tried to buy him out of the race, in poll surveys (“Villar, Aquino remain ‘tied’ in latest survey,” “Villar not moved by recent survey results”), and endorsements by various groups. In the report “Pro-life groups back candidacy of Villar,” the headline did not jibe with the report as there was actually no definite decision yet if the groups would support Villar because they were still in the process of considering other candidates.

Some national news reports filed by wire agencies like Sunnex, Philippine News Agency and Agence France Presse did not present all the sides in a controversy. The report “Bishop: Voters list padded by 5 M” cited Church sources alleging that the Comelec had discontinued the cleansing of the voters list. However, the Church official declined to name the former commissioner who blew the whistle on Comelec. The story did not carry the Comelec’s reaction to the allegations of flying voters. The New People’s Army (NPA) was reported to have killed a local candidate in Pasacao in the Bicol peninsula. The NPAs were also alleged by a Comelec official to be eyeing P2-5 billion for extortion from candidates. However, neither article reported the reaction of the NPA.

Most of the reports provided adequate background (88 percent.) Most included context to show the complex and shifting alliances among the candidates in the national and local elections. Cebu politicians and political parties select a variety of politicians and parties to endorse (e.g.,  One Cebu’s endorsement of Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro but not his vice-presidential running mate Edu Manzano). The complexity of alliances cuts across political clans and parties. While Gov. Gwen Garcia and the One Cebu party endorse Teodoro, the governor’s relatives and fellow candidates, Alvin and Raymund Garcia lead Kusug party mates  in endorsing Nacionalista Party standard bearer Villar.

An example of context woven in the news coverage is “Recto addresses rally, but stays off BOPK’s list.” The reporter wrote an illuminating fact that may be only known among longtime observers of local politics: “Because the BOPK is not a political party recognized by Comelec, it coalesced with the LP so that its candidates are running under the banner of Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s party.”

Neutral reports

Neutral vs. Slanted Reports

THE CEBU BISAYA-LANGUAGE DAILIES
In the second monitoring period, 19 percent of the reports  in Cebu’s Bisaya-language dailies were election-related (100 election-related reports in a 518-report news hole), lower than the 22 percent during the first monitoring period. Banat had more election-related reports numerically and proportionally than SuperBalita at 51 (22 percent) and 49 (17 percent), respectively. Some of the reports were stand-alone public relations-like photos of candidates appearing in the “Komunidad” (Community) page.

Placement

Most of the election-related reports (97 percent) were in the inside pages. Banat had three election-related reports in the front page. Of the 97 reports in the inside pages of the two papers, 24 (25 percent) are in page 2.
Placement

Focus

There was no significant change in the focus of the election-related reports of the Bisaya-language dailies during this period. Both  reported more on the local elections in Cebu with 53 reports, followed by “Elections in general” (28) and the presidential election (25). Party-list, senatorial and vice-presidential elections coverage remained meager.

Focus

Themes

Reporting about campaign sorties, strategies and other campaign activities of the candidates and their parties was still the top theme of the election coverage of the Bisaya-language dailies (32 reports). Candidates attacking their opponents also received significant attention as the second most covered theme with 20 reports. Standing out among these reports were the politicians in Talisay City, particularly vice-mayoralty candidates Aberdovey Belleza and Alan Bucao who were quarreling over their respective parties’ standing in the surveys and other issues.

“Other Comelec-related issues” moved three notches down from being the second leading theme in the first monitoring period. Corruption, poverty and governance were the top issues in reports with the theme “Development/Policy Issue.”

Themes

Photos and Artwork

There were 39 election-related photos in the Bisaya-language dailies, most of them in Banat (31). Five photos featured Benigno III “Noynoy” Aquino, four, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, and three,  President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. One of the photos on Aquino with Cebu gubernatorial candidate Hilario Davide III welcoming him at the airport was on, the front page of Banat. In the community page of Banat, photos of party-list Rep. Jun Alcover of the Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD), an anti-communist organization, appeared three times showing him in various activities, thus  projecting ANAD in a positive light. Candidate for Cebu City councilor Margot Osmeña, wife of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, and candidate for Cebu City North district representative Rachel “Cutie” del Mar, daughter of the Rep. Raul del Mar, were also featured in similar p.r.-like fashion in the community page.

Other news subjects with photos were Jonathan Guardo (2), Manuel “Mar” Roxas III (2), Lakambini Reluya (1), Hilario Davide III (1), Alvin Garcia (1), and the Aquino nephews (1). Senatorial candidates with a photo each were Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, and Gilbert Remulla.

Subjects

The most frequently reported news subject in the second monitoring period was the Liberal Party (21), including personalities and candidates speaking on the party’s behalf. This was followed by the party’s standard bearer Aquino (18), Comelec (15), Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr. (14), Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña (10), and Joseph Estrada (10). This was the period where the Liberal Party held a major rally with local party ally Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) in Cebu.

Notably, SuperBalita reported the political intramurals in neighboring Talisay City, featuring reelectionist Vice Mayor Alan Bucao and his challenger Aberdovey Belleza. In the background was Bucao’s ally, Mayor Socrates Fernandez, who has been under attack for allegedly trying to protect his controversial son Joavan. The latter has been accused of illegal drug use and of  harassing people.

Subjects

Sources

The Comelec remained  the top news source on election-related reports in this period with 10 reports. It was followed by the Liberal Party (6), the PNP (5), Pulse Asia (5), Aberdovey Belleza (5) and the Church (5).

Sources

Slant/Focus

Majority of the election-related reports were provided with adequate background (72 percent). Reports that lacked background included some of those on the contest among candidates, which simply carried partisan accusations sans context, motherhood statements from  politicians on issues, and reports about survey results.

The Bisaya-language dailies remained generally neutral at 84 percent  of the time for this period. Of the slanted reports,  eight were positively-slanted and 10 negatively-slanted. Three election-related reports from Banat were  biased for the anti-communist group ANAD party-list, the same observation in the first monitoring period. Conversely, leftist candidates for senator Liza Maza and Satur Ocampo got one negative report each.

Neutral reports

Neutral vs. slanted reports

(This report can also be found on the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility’s media elections link at http://www.cmfr-phil.org/mediaandelections.)

Print Media Coverage of the 2010 Elections: Cebu’s Bisaya Dailies
First Monitoring Period
(Feb. 10-27, 2010)
Written on March 11, 2010 – 8:59 pm | by media |

CEBU’S BISAYA DAILIES (Feb.10-27, 2010)

For 2010, CMFR is monitoring the coverage of the national elections, but has also entered into a partnership with the Cebu Citizens-Press Council to include a monitor of the Cebu press’s coverage of both the national and local elections.

The Cebu newspapers monitored (Banat, Cebu Daily News, Sun.Star Cebu, Sun.Star SuperBalita, and The Freeman) by the CCPC team were noticeably focused on the local rather than the national elections. Although the presidential elections did receive attention, these still came in second in terms of number of reports. Some reports were also on the presidential, vice presidential, senatorial and party list elections, but in general these reports were fewer and far between compared to those on Cebu’s local elections. Significantly, the Cebu press also reported on local elections in other provinces, indicating an understandable preferential bias for the proximate and the more immediately relevant.

The Bisaya-language dailies in Cebu monitored from February 10 to 27 were Sun.Star SuperBalita and Banat. The pages monitored were the front and inside pages including the main news sections, “Gawas sa Sugbo/Dinhi-Dito/Nasod (outside Cebu/Nation) and Komunidad (Community) sections, except the sports, entertainment/showbiz, and world news sections.

The Bisaya dailies have a starkly different readership compared to the local English dailies in Cebu. Smaller in format and with fewer pages, they carry less advertisements but have a bigger readership base composed mainly of tricycle, Jeepney and taxi drivers, vendors, security guards, rural people, workers.

From February 10 to 27, Cebu’s Bisaya dailies allotted 22% of their news pages for election-related reports (122 election-related reports out of 543 news stories). SuperBalita had 64 election-related reports or 26% of its news hole, while Banat had 58 election-related reports or 19% of its news hole.

Focus/Election-Related Area

SuperBalita and Banat focused more on the local elections with 57 reports, followed by “Elections in general” (33) and the presidential election (30). Less attention was given to the senatorial (10), party-list (8), and vice-presidential (7) elections. Local elections outside Cebu were also reported mainly because of their subjects (i.e. the Mangudadatus and Ampatuans of Maguindanao, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Lilia Pineda and Governor Ed Panlilio of Pampanga).

Themes

For the first two weeks of election coverage, the Bisaya dailies followed the campaign trail which included sorties and other campaign activities of the candidates, producing a total of 52 reports with this theme. Not even close were reports about Comelec rules, issuances and activities with 25 reports, and the Contest/Horse race with 22 reports. Aside from the theme “Campaign,” SuperBalita also focused on the Contest/Horse race (14) while Banat also focused on Development/Policy issues (18).

In the 20 reports about Development/Policy Issues mostly found in Banat, the top five issues were peace and order (5), corruption (4), the environment (4), poverty (3), and agriculture (3). Notably sidelined were the issues on education (0) and the economy (1), which were the top two most-reported policy issues in the Cebu English dailies.

The least covered themes in this period were The ‘Arroyo’ factor (4), Civil society and elections (5), Complaints/reports of irregularities (7), and Poll automation (8).

Subjects

The Comelec was the most frequently reported news subject in the Bisaya dailies (36 reports), followed by the Philippine National Police (31 reports).

Of the candidates for president, Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr. (18) was the most frequently reported news subject, followed by Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. (13), and Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III (12). The rest were not reported at all. Among the political parties in these elections, the Nacionalista party was the news subject in 16 reports, the administration Lakas-Kampi CMD party in nine (9), and the Liberal party in seven (7). There was scarce reporting about the vice presidential and senatorial race. Both candidates for vice president Loren Legarda and Manuel “Mar” Roxas appeared as subjects in only five (5) news reports.

On the local scene, the resulting tension after the proclamation by the courts of Augusto Corro (15) as the rightful winner in the 2007 election for mayor attracted media attention to the town of Daanbantayan in northern Cebu, a potential election hotspot with a history of election-related violence. Other primary subjects in this story were Daanbantayan mayor Sun Shimura (15), Shimura’s mother, Vice Mayor Ma. Luisa Loot (11), and Loot’s husband Sr. Supt. Vicente Loot, Jr.. Other related news subjects in the tensions at the north were Bogo City Mayor Celestino Martinez, Jr. and his political rival, Fourth district representative Benhur Salimbangon.

Among the party-list groups, only the Cebu-based and anti-communist group Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) became a news subject, notably six (6) times in Banat, of which three (3) reports were positively slanted in ANAD’s favor.

Sources

The top news source in the election-related reports of the Bisaya dailies was the Comelec (31), followed by the PNP (16), and Augusto Corro (12). Notably, the partylist group ANAD topped all other traditionally more prominent sources of election-related news like the survey frontrunners in the presidential race and local candidates in the city and province. Bisaya dailies usually do not substantially source their stories from the wires or national news agencies, so perhaps the only time national candidates were interviewed was when they had campaign sorties in Cebu.

Unlike in the English dailies, both Cebu City mayoral candidate Alvin Garcia (3) and congressional candidate Jonathan “Atan” Guardo (5) were ahead of their respective incumbent rivals Vice Mayor Mike Rama (0) and Mayor Tomas Osmeña (2) in the number of times they were sought as news sources.

Slant/Focus

Majority of the election-related reports of the two Cebu Bisaya dailies were neutral at 70%. That means 86 out of 122 election-related reports from February 10 to 27 were neutral. Most of the reports had adequate background at 75%. Seventy-seven percent (77%) of SuperBalita’s election-related reports were neutral. Banat, on the other hand, had 64% neutral election-related reports. Therefore, Cebu’s English dailies were more neutral (86%) than the Bisaya dailies (70%) for the first two weeks of election coverage.

Of the reports coded as slanted, there were 28 positively slanted reports compared to nine (9) negatively slanted reports. Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro had the most number of positively slanted reports (5), followed by Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino, Jr. (4), and ANAD party-list (4). Meanwhile, three (3) reports about Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña were seen as negatively slanted against him.

(This report can also be found on the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility’s media elections link at http://www.cmfr-phil.org/mediaandelections.)

CMFR has been monitoring media coverage of Philippine elections since 1992, and reporting the results through the Philippine Journalism Review and, in 2004 and 2007, in special publications.

For 2010 it is monitoring selected news broadcasts by major Manila based networks and the reporting by the Manila based broadsheets on the elections. An added feature of the CMFR media monitor of election coverage is the monitor of the coverage of the national and local elections by the Cebu Citizens-Press Council, which CMFR has engaged as a partner for that part of the project.

Following is the first of several reports CMFR will be releasing every two weeks for the duration of the national and local campaigns. It is limited to the timekeeping and Cebu analyses. The discourse analysis section of the report and analysis of the Bisaya dailies Sun.Star SuperBalita and Banat will follow shortly.

For more information about this project, please visit www.cmfr-phil.org/mediaandelections/.

CEBU’S ENGLISH LANGUAGE PRESS
FOCUSED ON LOCAL POLITICS
(Cebu Print Media Coverage)

For 2010, CMFR is monitoring the coverage of the national elections, but has also entered into a partnership with the Cebu Citizens-Press Council to include a monitor of the Cebu press’s coverage of both the national and local elections. Following is the CCPC team’s initial report for the first 17 days of the campaign.

The Cebu newspapers monitored (Banat,Cebu Daily News, Sun.Star Cebu, Sun.Star SuperBalita, and The Freeman) by the CCPC team were noticeably focused on the local rather than the national elections. Although the presidential elections did receive attention, these still came in second in terms of number of reports. Some reports were also on the presidential, vice presidential, senatorial and party list elections, but in general these reports were fewer and far between compared to those on Cebu’s local elections. Significantly, the Cebu press also reported on local elections in other provinces, indicating an understandable preferential bias for the proximate and the more immediately relevant.

Cebu’s English dailies (Feb.10-27)

The English-language dailies in Cebu monitored from February 10 to 27 were Cebu Daily News, Sun.Star Cebu, and The Freeman. Pages monitored were the front page and inside pages including the main news sections, Business, Nation, Community, and other similar sections except Sports, Entertainment, Life, and World pages.

All three Cebu English-language dailies combined allotted 19% of their news pages for election-related reports (389 election-related reports to 2,010 news hole). The Freeman had the most number of election-related reports (145), followed by Sun.Star (144) and Cebu Daily News (100). In proportion however to their respective news holes, Cebu Daily News led with 20% election-related reports, followed by Sun.Star and The Freeman with 19% each.

Placement

Most of the election-related reports were in the inside pages (92%). Of the 30 election-related reports in the front page, 19 reports were banner stories. Of the 359 election-related reports in the inside pages, 227 (63%) were in the main news section. The rest were distributed in the other sections like Business, Nation and Community. This could indicate primary treatment the newspapers gave in the placement of election-related reports.

Focus/Election-Related Area

Cebu’s English-language dailies focused on the local elections (161 reports) rather than the national elections, indicating an expected bias toward what is immediately relevant and proximate to the local readers. “Elections in general” was covered in 145 reports and the presidential election in 92 reports. Far behind were the coverage of the senatorial election (34), vice-presidential election (29), and party-list election (25). Coverage of local elections outside Cebu (i.e. Pampanga, Maguindanao) which were carried by all three newspapers due to its national significance or interest, are separated under the category “Local (non-Cebu)” with 28 reports.

Themes

The “Campaign” theme which covers sorties, strategies and other activities in the campaign trail was at the top of the local newspapers’ coverage of the 2010 elections with 132 reports. Commission on Elections (Comelec) issuances, rules, promulgations, actions and processes under the theme, “Other Comelec-related issues,” was the second most covered election-related theme with 110 reports. Notably, the local press gave considerable space for candidates’ platforms under the theme, “Development/Policy Issues,” with 93 reports. Cockfight, mudslinging, or accusations-counter-accusations among candidates also caught the Cebu English-language newspapers’ attention with 71 reports. This was followed by “Personality/Track Record” with 63 reports.

Among the major themes, the least covered were “The Arroyo factor” and “Complaints on irregularities” with only 23 reports each. Also, “Poll automation” did not figure in as a primary theme with only 32 reports which include stories about efforts by the Comelec and civil society groups to educate the public about poll automation, and assurances by Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM officials about the integrity of the process.

The top development or policy issues were education (20) and the economy (18), followed by corruption (14), and governance (9). Health or cheaper medicines (8), infrastructure/facilities (8), peace and order (7), poverty (6), the environment (6), anti-illegal drugs (3), and senior citizens’ concerns (3) were also reported as among the advocacies of the candidates. Notably, there was little to zero coverage of issues like the Reproductive Health Bill, Charter Change, and women and children. At the local level, the results of the May 2007 poll recount that proclaimed previous losers as winners hogged the news pages, especially about the situation in the northern Cebu town of Daanbantayan, a potential election hotspot due to the intense rivalry between two political camps that will again face off in the coming elections.

Subjects

The most reported news subject was the Comelec (94), followed by Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña (62). Among the candidates for president, Manuel Jr. “Manny” Villar of Nacionalista Party (58) and Benigno Simeon III “Noynoy” Aquino of the Liberal Party (56) were the most frequently reported news subjects, followed by Gibo Teodoro of Lakas-Kampi (35).

Other frequently reported news subjects were the Liberal Party (45), Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia (42), President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (36), Jonathan “Atan” Guardo (35), the Philippine National Police (33), and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or civil society groups. Guardo’s prominence both as a news subject and news source was largely brought his rivalry with Tomas Osmeña for congressman of Cebu City South District.

Of those running for vice president, only both Manuel “Mar” Roxas (23) and Loren Legarda (15) figured quite prominently as news subjects. In the local scene, incumbents had the advantage over their rivals as in the case of Mayor Osmeña (62) versus Guardo (35) and reelectionist Governor Gwen Garcia (42) versus Hilario Davide III (17). Garcia’s runningmate Glen Soco (19) however had more frequent coverage over incumbent vice governor Greg Sanchez. The pair of Garcia and Soco, both single, has been rumored to have a love interest angle.

At the local level, the results of the May 2007 poll recount that proclaimed previous losers as winners hogged the news pages, especially about the situation in the northern Cebu town of Daanbantayan, a potential election hotspot due to the intense rivalry between two political camps that will again face off in the coming elections. The court declared Augusto Corro the rightful winner in the 2007 mayoralty elections against incumbent Sun Shimura, son of the town’s vice mayor Ma. Luisa Loot.

Campaigns and activities of NGOs, school and civic groups on voters’ education and for cleaner elections were also reported (30).

Of those running for senator, those who became news subjects were former Cebu governor Lito Osmeña (9), Gilbert Remulla (7), Serge Osmeña (6), Liza Maza (6), Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (5), Vicente “Tito” Sotto III (5), Miriam Defensor-Santiago (5), Juan Ponce Enrile (4), and Saturnino “Satur” Ocampo (4). Others were Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros-Baraquel (3), Jose “Joey” de Venecia III (3), Adel Tamano (3), General Danilo “Danny” Lim (3), Franklin “Frank” Drilon (3), Ariel Querubin (3), Ramon “Monmon” Mitra (3), and Pilar Juliana “Pia” Cayetano (3).

Among the party-list groups, only the anti-communist group and Cebu-based Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) (5), and leftists Gabriela (4) and Bayan Muna (3) have been reported about so far.

Sources

The top 10 most interviewed or quoted news sources in election-related reports were the Comelec (98), Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña (49), PNP/Police (41), NGO/Civil society (36), Jonathan Guardo (20), Cebu governor Gwen Garcia (19), Media (17), Noynoy Aquino (13), Manny Villar (12), and Gibo Teodoro (11) who is also tied with Cebu City representative Antonio Cuenco. Media as a news source means that the media outlet or person concerned became part of the news and was interviewed for comment. This included the complaint of senatorial candidate Lito Osmeña whose camp accused a giant TV network of refusing to air his local advertisement because it was in Cebuano language, an accusation which the TV network had denied.

As with news subjects, local incumbents had more opportunities to be interviewed compared to their rivals. Gubernatorial bet Hilario Davide III for example was only sought as a news source six (6) times compared to his opponent, Governor Gwen Garcia (19). Either Davide or his campaign made him scarce as a news source or Garcia who gets regular interviews by virtue of being governor had managed to set the agenda in an election-related angle. Also, both aspirants have been politically cordial to each other so far, unlike Osmeña and Guardo, which could explain the relative lack of exposure of Davide in the news as a rival of a major incumbent, given mass media’s innate bias toward the controversial.

Slant/Focus

The election-related reports of the three Cebu English dailies were generally neutral at 86%. That means 333 out of 389 election-related reports from February 10 to 27 were neutral. Sun.Star Cebu had the most number of neutral reports both numerically (135 neutral articles) and proportionally (94%), followed by Cebu Daily News (83 neutral articles, 83%), and The Freeman (115 neutral articles, 79%). Most of the reports had adequate background at 86%.

Of the reports deemed slanted (14%), the positive slants outnumbered the negative slants by almost a half, 40 is to 22. Seven (7) positive slants were for Noynoy Aquino, six (6) for Manny Villar, four (4) for Tomas Osmeña, three (3) for Loren Legarda, and three (3) for ANAD Party-list. Five (5) negative slants were against Villar, three (3) each against the Comelec and Jonathan Guardo, and two (2) each against President Arroyo and Tomas Osmeña.

Slant does not necessarily indicate manifest or deliberate bias. In most of the election-related reports that were coded as positively or negatively slanted, the latent content or the more subtle results of many different factors in the reports were considered – such as missing to get the side of a news subject on a major issue or accusation that requires his or her reply or rebuttal, and lack of adequate background which can otherwise provide proper context to the story.

(This report can also be found on the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility’s media elections link at http://www.cmfr-phil.org/mediaandelections.)

THE Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Smart Communications yesterday turned over equipment for use in the Election Media Center located at the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 in Camp Sergio Osmeña Sr. on Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City.

The opening of an Election Media Center to serve as a one-stop shop for reporters on different facets of the election was decided on by major election stakeholders in several consultations with the Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC).

Election venue

The Philippine National Police, Commission on Elections and the citizens’ watchdog group C-Cimpel will have the opportunity to hold joint press briefings there at designated hours from the run-up to the elections until the proclamation of winners.

The center is jointly managed by the PRO 7 Police Community Relations Division 7 and the CCPC. The PRO 7 has outfitted the center with TV sets and a fax machine to aid reporters in monitoring and reporting on the election.

PLDT is providing the center with telephone lines, while Smart is providing the connectivity that will enable the center to receive information from various points and reporters to file their stories to their newsrooms.

The Visayan Electric Co. is also supporting the center by providing the snacks for reporters using the media center.

An election media center (EMC), initiated by the Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC), will be set up at Camp Sergio Osmeña, headquarters of the regional Philippine National Police (PNP) along Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City.

Officials of the major stakeholders in the May elections—PNP, Commission on Elections (Comelec), and the citizens’ election watchdog group C-Cimpel—yesterday agreed with CCPC representatives that EMC will hold dry-runs next month to prepare the center for the run-up to the elections until the proclamation of winners.

Ideal site

The EMC, to be managed by the regional police public information officer and the CCPC, will be located at a building now being constructed near the gates of the PNP camp. The site is considered ideal because of its accessibility to news reporters and proximity to news sources.

Chief Supt. Lani-o Nerez, regional police chief, hosted the meeting in his office. Those who attended included Rene Buac, Comelec regional director; Marilu Chiongbian, executive director of C-Cimpel; Maria Jane Paredes, senior manager, Smart Communications public affairs (Vismin), and Edgardo Albay, senior supervisor for the network of Smart; and Pachico Seares and Cherry Ann Lim, executive director and assistant executive director of CCPC.

The opening of an EMC for this year’s elections was decided by the stakeholders in several consultations with CCPC. “The center,” Seares said, “serves a practical purpose: a one-stop shop for reporters on different facets of the election.”

Briefings

Spokespersons from Comelec, PNP and C-Cimpel will brief the media on designated hours at the EMC. News crews certified by their editors or news directors will be accredited by the EMC to regulate entry and use of the center’s facilities.

Paredes said Smart will provide the “connectivity” that will enable the EMC to receive information from various points and reporters to file their stories to their newsrooms.

• They’ll watch and record local press coverage of the 2010 elections

STUDENTS tapped by the Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC) to monitor the election coverage of local print media received training last Friday from a Manila-based press freedom watchdog.

Ten students from the University of the Philippines Visayas Cebu College (UPVCC) and St. Theresa’s College, along with their team leaders, attended a workshop by Luis Teodoro, deputy director of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), and Hector Bryant Macale, senior staff writer of CMFR, at the UPVCC multimedia newsroom.

As part of its mandate to improve the media craft, the CCPC is working with the CMFR to monitor the Cebu media’s coverage of the May 2010 elections.

The Cebu monitoring team, led by Ian Manticajon, local coordinator of the United Nations University-Regional Center of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development; Belinda Espiritu, UPVCC professor; and Mia Embalzado-Mateo, coordinator of STC’s mass communications program, will monitor the election coverage of the three English and two Bisaya daily newspapers in Cebu—Sun.Star Cebu, The Freeman, Cebu Daily News, Sun.Star SuperBalita [Cebu] and Banat News—from Feb. 10 to May 10.

They will be assisted by CCPC members Mayette Tabada, a masscom instructor, and Fr. Aloysius Cartagenas, a professor at the Seminario Mayor de San Carlos.

3-month

During the three-month period of the monitoring, the team will give the newspapers a copy of its findings and an assessment of their performance every two weeks. This is to encourage the newspapers to improve their coverage within the election period.

In 2007, the CCPC had also monitored the coverage of the elections by the five newspapers, forming the team led by Manticajon, Mateo and Tabada for this purpose.

This year, the CMFR lends its election monitoring methodology to the council, leaving room for the Cebu team to go into areas where analysis would help the local journalists better serve their community.

The CMFR had done its own election coverage monitoring in 2004 and 2007, covering Manila-based broadsheets and television networks.

The CMFR is a non-stock, non-profit foundation that works to protect the press and promote professional and ethical values in journalistic practice.

The CCPC is a Securities and Exchange Commission-registered foundation that helps to protect press freedom, enhance the sense of accountability of journalists, and shape public opinion on media issues.

This year’s election monitoring is a project of the Cebu Citizens-Press Council with partners CMFR, Smart Communications and Cebu’s five daily newspapers.

Along with the media coverage monitoring are the consultations being conducted by the CCPC with the Commission on Elections, Philippine National Police, C-Cimpel and other election stakeholders.

THE Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC) last Wednesday passed a resolution asking news outfits to secure training for their journalists who will be sent to cover the May elections.

“These are things that cannot wait,” said Atty. Pachico Seares, CCPC executive director, during the council’s 17th quarterly en-banc meeting at the MBF Cebu Press Center.

The training should focus on election laws, procedures and ethics and can either be carried in-house, meaning by the news outfits themselves, or via joint seminars.

It should also provide the news reporters and photo-journalists a sense of familiarity with the area of the coverage, the people they cover, the political situation in the area and the customs and habits of the community.

“We have to do this now, before the election campaign period starts,” Seares said.

Moreover, news outfits are also urged to “help educate voters through news and features on the procedures of voting, especially with the shift to automation.”

They are also urged to run stories discussing the qualifications of candidates and the issues on competence and integrity, thus enabling readers to make informed choices.

News outfits are also called upon to come up with stories urging for safeguards against fraud and those that inspire people to help protect the voting and its results.

During the quarterly en-banc meeting yesterday, the CCPC’s board also resolved to enter into a partnership with the Manila-based Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) for a study which aims to assess how media covers the polls.

“We will improve on what we did in 2007,” Seares said, referring to a similar project implemented during the last elections and whose inputs are now part of coverage guidelines for 2010.

Ian Manticajon, local coordinator for the United Nations University-Regional Center of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development, said the research will assess actual media election coverage via content analysis.

The study, though, will be limited to Cebu’s print media—currently three English dailies and two Bisaya tabloids—and will exclude radio and television.

“That (including them in the study) would be very interesting to do.

But we can’t handle it for now. That is such a tedious process, and we simply don’t have the manpower,” Manticajon said in Cebuano.

Students from the University of the Philippines’ (UP) College of Mass Communication, as well as their counterparts at the St. Theresa’s College (STC), will carry out the study.

Manticajon, UP professor Belinda Espiritu and STC mass communications coordinator Mia Embalzado-Mateo will conduct the analysis and pen the consolidated findings and recommendations. CCPC member Mayette Tabada is also part of the team.

AFTER members of the Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC) spoke at the consultation of citizens-press councils in Manila last Oct. 26, 2008, journalists from other parts of the country expressed fears that forming a similar body in their own localities would mean just shooting themselves in the foot.
Why, they asked, give the public a rope with which to hang media?

First, let’s make one thing clear: Cebuanos are not suicidal.

Second, although the CCPC indeed provides a forum for news subjects to air their grievances, the whole idea of providing an added means of redress is to reduce the incidence of lawsuits and violence against journalists.

Third, the CCPC does not attempt to solve all the problems of the industry. It entertains two types of complaints only, those relating to (1) the right to reply and (2) the accuracy of the material printed or broadcast. These are basic journalism precepts anyway.

Fourth, far from hanging media, the council advances its interests, primarily by providing a forum in which to discuss issues affecting media practitioners. For instance, the council has helped shape public opinion and policy on bills now pending in Congress to decriminalize libel and to compel the right to reply.

Waking from sleep

The idea for the Cebu Citizens-Press Council began in 2001 when three Cebu journalists—Eileen Mangubat of the Cebu Daily News, Noel Pangilinan of The Freeman and Pachico Seares of Sun.Star Cebu—spoke in Manila with Marvin Tort, then executive director of the Philippine Press Council, about setting up a local press council. Veteran journalist Juan Mercado helped lay the groundwork for the organization.

There were consultations with potential members as well as with Melinda Quintos-de Jesus of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, which wanted to help set up press councils in Cebu, Palawan and Baguio.

A year later, Seares presented to the prospective members the proposed Code of Practice and Rules of Procedure of CCPC, adopted from foreign models and from consultations with other convenors and based on the local experience. Then the project went to sleep—for three years.

In 2005, Seares volunteered for Sun.Star Cebu to lead the revival of the CCPC. The council has been meeting quarterly ever since.

No club

What sets the council apart from other media councils is that it is not composed entirely of media members. It is not an old boys’ club.

Of its 15 members, less than half—or only seven—of its members are from the media. These are the editors-in-chief of the five daily newspapers in Cebu and two representatives from the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas-Cebu. Two members are from the academe, while six are from the general public.

Except for Seares, who is the executive director, none of the council’s officers is a journalist.

The CCPC’s president is a doctor. The vice president is a business leader and honorary consul of Denmark and Norway. It was on his suggestion that the council registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a non-stock, non-profit organization in 2006. The council’s secretary is a lawyer and university dean, while the treasurer is a priest.

Eye on the bill

From its early years, the CCPC (www.cebucitizenspresscouncil.org) has lobbied for measures to help journalists not just in Cebu but elsewhere in the country.

In 2006, it recommended and helped draft two bills, one seeking to include broadcast and Internet journalists under the protection of the Sotto Law, the other seeking to limit the venue of libel cases against community newspapers to their principal office of business.

The Sotto Law allows journalists not to disclose their source of information unless demanded by the security of the state.

Earlier this year, the House of Representatives approved the two bills.

Through position papers and resolutions drafted with the help of the Cebu Media Legal Aid (Cemla), the council has also made known to Congress its opposition to the bill compelling the right to reply and its support for certain provisions of the bill decriminalizing libel.

Cemla is a group of volunteer lawyers whose eventual goal is to help defend journalists against cases of libel, contempt and similar complaints arising from the exercise of journalism.

Through Rep. Raul del Mar, the CCPC has proposed amendments to the right to reply bill now undergoing plenary debates in the House.

Last year, the CCPC began work to improve journalists’ access to information. It held discussions with news sources from the prosecutors’ offices, the courts, police and local governments. It also produced the documentary “Access Denied: Journalists’ Lament, News Sources’ Plea” detailing the frustrations of journalists in getting information, as well as the concerns raised by news sources against journalists seeking to get information from them.

Raising standards

Fighting for the rights of the press, however, also requires an acknowledgement that some of the complaints of news sources against media are legitimate. This is why another major task of the CCPC is to set professional standards for the media industry in cooperation with stakeholders.

In 2006, the CCPC adopted standards for local media coverage to protect the human rights of suspects and detainees. Parading of suspects with placards and wearing uniforms marked “Prisoner” is now banned.

The following year, standards were adopted toward more responsible
reporting on religion and erring religious officials. The documentary “Covering Priests—Clearing the Air, Bridging the Gap,” featuring interviews with Church officials and the media, was also produced to help improve understanding of Church and media structures so that there may be a better flow of information between the two institutions.

Following an academe-led analysis of local media’s coverage of the 2007 elections, the council invited politicians and representatives from the Commission on Elections, the police and election watchdogs last June to the first in a series of CCPC-stakeholder consultations to improve media coverage of the 2010 elections.

Tasting success

Why has the CCPC largely succeeded while press councils in other parts of the country reportedly struggle?

The secret lies in its modest goals, simple structure, greater representation of public than media members, and the solidarity among Cebu journalists that enables them to achieve common goals.

It is this same solidarity that enables Cebu media to work together to organize the annual Cebu Press Freedom Week celebration in September, and to benefit from joint projects like the Cebu Media Medical Aid Fund and the Cebu News Workers Foundation.

More than anything else, the CCPC has helped the public better understand how the media operates. Policing its own ranks is but a small part of the council’s work.

Journalists who practice the profession ethically have nothing to fear from a citizens-press council.

Cherry Ann T. Lim is managing editor for special pages and features of Sun.Star Cebu. In the Cebu Citizens-Press Council, she is assistant to the executive director, Pachico A. Seares. Press Forum is a publication of the Philippine Press Institute.

By Karlon N. Rama
Sun.Star Cebu, September 26, 2009

A CONGRESSWOMAN and an election hopeful urged the media in a forum Thursday to correct how spin doctors are affecting coverage and how journalists themselves slant the news in favor of “the other side.”

“It happened to us,” Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz said at the Cebu Citizens-Press Council meeting last Thursday at Cebu Marriott Hotel.

The congresswoman of Cebu Province’s sixth district cited how she once sent a press release to three newspapers but only two ran the story “as is.” The third, she said, edited the story and gave more weight to the comment of the other party in the story.

Businessman Efrain Pelaez Jr., for his part, said some reporters took to calling the allegedly overpriced computers earlier bought by the Lapu-Lapu City Government as “workstations” in their stories.

The term, he said, gave the impression that the units were actually worth the amount the city government spent despite official findings that they were overpriced. He said the reports with the reference began appearing after the city hired a spin doctor.

“Our policy is to get the other side and subject the story to our editorial evaluation,” said Atty. Pachico Seares, editor-in-chief of Sun.Star Cebu, in response to Ruiz’s claim.

He explained that if the other party’s comment is more relevant, then the paper will naturally give it more prominence.

Isolde Amante and Eileen Mangubat urged aggrieved parties to “show proof” so steps can be taken by the individual news organizations concerned.

Amante is Sun.Star Cebu managing editor for news while Mangubat is Cebu Daily News publisher.

Meanwhile, the CCPC has approved the commission of a study, to be conducted by mass communication students from at least two Cebu City-based schools, which will look into how newspapers cover the 2010 election.

A similar study was done during the 2007 polls and part of the aim of the new study is to determine if the observations taken during the last one have been corrected.

The CCPC also adopted a recommendation that news organizations begin drilling their reporters in election procedures as earlier as now for the polls in May next year. This measure “just can’t wait,” said Seares, who is also executive director of the CCPC.

Pelaez, during the forum hosted by the Cebu City Marriot Hotel, cited ethics.

He said some media practitioners double as PR workers and lamented that those who do not have the money to hire them “can never have the last word on issues.”

Mangubat, in reaction, said the policy at her paper is to have those journalists resign.

On the other hand, broadcaster and lawyer Ruphil Bañoc, station manager of radio dyHP, says he reshuffles the assignment of his reporters whenever he notices reports that seem to slant towards a particular party.

But PR specialist Alex Uypuanco, who attended the forum on behalf of Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, said correct media handling isn’t about influencing reports but clarifying issues for the media.

He instead urged media to “show more of its investigating side rather than just its reporting side.”