Monday, October 13, 2008 Seares: ‘Not news if it’s not new’ By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
TALISAY City Mayor Soc Fernandez isn’t entirely right, or completely wrong, when he says that only the new must be in the news.
In complaining against news stories that recall past sins of his son Joavan, Soc spells from “news” thus: n, e, w—new.
Joavan’s capers, which resulted in criminal charges of physical violence and serious illegal detention, have made the young man top all other news personalities in that city, counting newspaper space and broadcast time devoted to his pranks.
Why repeat his son’s past misbehavior in current stories? They’re history, the father gripes to news reporters: “You must be part of a PR firm” hired against the mayor.
Reported events are repeated in a news story as “background” to help the reader place the event in context. Writers and editors assume that not everyone has read or still recalls what Joavan allegedly did.
Why media do it
A long-time-ago incident but just uncovered is also news, journalism teachers say.
Recently publicized: Joavan using a City-owned payloader to take him and his friends around, which happened a few months back (before he learned that driving an ambulance was more fun, with siren blaring and people scampering away).
Forgive the mayor’s failure to grasp news basics but not his accusation of reporters being paid hacks.
Unlike Sarah Palin, Republican bet for vice president, who couldn’t name a single newspaper she has read, Mayor Soc can identify reporters who’ve made his life miserable.
Yet, that’s small comfort. He still wonders why all the media fuss. To this day, Mayor Soc still doesn’t get it.
