Seares: Free lunch for media: ‘there’s no such thing’
Thursday, September 9, 2010
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CEBU Vice Gov. Greg Sanchez has resurrected the issue of Capitol giving free lunch every day to news reporters. Not that the issue has ever been resolved.
What's wrong with free lunches at Capitol? Greg who had been mum about a lot of things until he and Gov. Gwen Garcia broke up politically says in effect that the daily feeding is seducing media to write nothing but praises for Gwen.
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To Greg, the packed meal, reportedly of the low-budget fast-food kind, must be spiked with some potion that makes the press corps froth in the mouth with alleluias for Gwen and slander for Greg.
Not true. Check news and photo/video clips. There are as many stories about Greg lashing at "oppressive" Gwen moves against him as there are about Gwen justifying her actions and hitting back at Greg. Gwen has sounded more defensive lately when Greg seems to be "stalking" her like a scorned lover.
It's doubtful if a steady diet of burgers and other fast-food fare inflicts more damage on Capitol reporters' writing than on their high cholesterol count. Ask their editors and doctors, who should know better.
Free but...
In the 1966 science fiction "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," Robert Heinlein wrote "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." But TANSTAAFL's meaning to him isn't much different from its meaning in economics and politics.
To public officials who offer and reporters who accept, the lunches are free but to province taxpayers they cost money. That's economics.
In politics, as in other aspects of life, a favor calls for repayment. And often one repays, consciously or not.
