The Philippine Daily Inquirer published an essay by a sophomore Communications student attacking teleseryes and local variety shows as copycats and nakakabobo. There was a fleeting referrence to news programs where the entertainment segment seems to be getting more and more air time.
Welcome to the bangag (stoned) world of the Philippine broadcast media where news and entertainment have become one, where the definition of entertainment always finds new depths of degradation, where talent and skills were the fashion decades ago, where success is measured by one thing and one thing only–profits. So, whose fault is it? The owners of the broadcasting companies and the people they hire to perpetuate a culture that they define? Or is it the fault of the public for patronizing their products? Or are both equally responsible? In other words, are we being victimized by the businesses behind broadcasting or are we doing this to ourselves, clearly egging them on to continue with their current direction by patronizing what they dish out to us? Is choice a factor here? For whom?
Is it correct to use the label “fault” or is this one of those inevitable things that happen as human society goes through what it has been going through since its birth–change?
Duh! Too many questions and now I have to try and answer them to satisfy my own curiosity. I wonder where this will lead.
Choices are determined by pre-defined goals. When we say that broadcast media has a choice–whether to go for quality stuff or to copy formulae that have already proven profitable, for instance–those choices depend on what they want to achieve in the first place. Does media perceive itself as an agent of education and information, or of entertainment, or both? Or does it perceive itself to be a for-profit only institution? How media’s perception of its role in society evolves can be viewed in either of two ways: 1) as a dynamic collective phenomenon or 2) as something dictated by a few people.
As a dynamic collective phenomenon, we can say that media’s social role changes as part and parcel of social changes that take place on the macro level–changing values, lifestyles, morality. In this sense, media is a passive player–a reflection of society at large.
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