the point madame

headline sa isang tabloid: GMA to media: Bad kayo!

this must be a joke. either the president was misinformed and needs a serious reappraisal of the whole situation or she has a different view--distorted by her desperate attempt to cling to power.

first off, it's never the media's job to be a dutiful son of democracy (or whatever rhetoric she wishes to describe the role of the media), if by dutiful she means helping the government implement its program singapore-style. nice try wishing madam but that just can't be. marcos tried that, by force or by inducement, and where did that lead us?

the point is not that the media chose to deliberately play up the negative angle, but that there simply is nothing positive worth reporting. should we expect the media to report on the merits of the e-vat law when the ones who could feel the benefits are only those in power while the ordinary citizens will have to bear the brunt of increased expenditures? should we ask the media to praise the pnp for its honesty in admitting that it wasn't sahiron, the suspected terrorist, whom they presented to the public but some innocent person? and yeah, should the media congratulate gloria for maligning the credibility of a journalist based on flimsy intelligence report and for standing by it?

the point is not that the media should stop focusing on the faults of gloria and her administration but that she, as a public officer, should have cleaned her own closet in the first place.

maybe she should try understanding the dynamics of the media first (and verifying her stories) before opening her mouth and later refusing to take her words back.

..........
it's ironic that the president wants the media to present positive stories about her and her administration when she can't even answer one basic question: did she cheat in the 2004 elections? answerable by a yes or a no but she chose to say: i won in the elections.

her refusal to answer the question may not be conclusive of guilt. but she owes it to the public to tell the truth. unless she does so, all that she says and will say are gibberish.

in the words of my favorite professor, "you're not being responsive to my question."