Sunday, August 31, 2008 Estremera: Peace, perception, and the ratings war By Stella A. Estremera Spider's web
COMING from a place where you may not have heard anything about Mindanao except about war and strife, were you not worried that you were going on a tour at a time when Mindanao is supposed to be at war?" I asked a first-time visitor who arrived with his big group right in the midst of Kadayawan Festival and the so-called "Gyera sa Mindanao."
And he replied, "The issue is not as big as some people are saying."
I wanted to cheer and raise his hand in celebration, except that we were at the Lobby Lounge of Marco Polo Davao where hushed conversations were going on and people were in business suits.
I guess it takes the perception of someone who has seen the real thing to get the picture of a real war, as well as understand that the real world is not how a few people in the news production team all wanting to out scoop their fiercest competitor wants to paint it. The man I was talking with happens to be the director general of policy and planning general directorate of the Afghanistan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Abdul Ghani Ghuriani or just Ghani.
Afghanistan. It was not so long ago when our international news channels were covering war in Afghanistan, a real war.
Today, Afghanistan is a new country, a country propped up by the money of international aid, and nothing else.
There's nothing there right now, he admitted. Not even simple irrigation systems. They're starting from the real scratch, but they're hopeful and they believe they can make it.
"The issue is not as big as some people are saying..."
Ghani's words kept ringing in my ears as I watched the evening news once more, and the words stayed on till days later.
Zonked with too many work during Kadayawan, and more work right after Kadayawan because all non-Kadayawan-related work were set aside until then and a C130 plane just chose to disappear right after all the festivities, I was reeling from lack of sleep and exhaustion by Thursday evening but still had to pull out my laptop to work.
In the background was the droning of the television to keep me company, and the newscaster screamed, "Labi ng nawawalang C-130 ng Philippine Air Force, nakita na!"
I stared at the television, willing it to talk back as I asked, "Who said so?"
I waited for the full news to check on whether the blurb was just to catch the attention of the viewer. But the blurb and the news were the same. It was clearly said that the remains of the plane has been located at around 600 feet underwater, there was even a computer infographic of what appears to be a broken C-130 plane on the background and what appears to be a radar screen flashing what looks like a tube, and I wondered, where in heaven's name did the authorities searching for the plane in Davao City get such an equipment?
We were there with our friends, trying to help, or maybe just to show moral support to military elements flummoxed about the giant plane that went missing while Davao City slept. But we have not seen such sophisticate equipment.
As I had to work overnight, then I turned the television on again when it was time for the morning news and heard the same, and saw the same, and wondered... How many more news out there is made up like this? Are we really getting real news or are we being made to believe something else?
I hate to know the answer, being in the news industry myself. But I guess, a little bit of honesty and little less of "exclusivity and sensationalism" will give us the real picture of the world.
"The issue is not as big as some people are saying," Ghani said, and it was just unfortunate that English is a new language to him; otherwise, he may have a mouthful to tell the Filipino people, a mouthful that we all can learn from.
Just to make sure that my few hours away from the office did not take me away from the real breaking news, I texted my reporter: "Ano update sa crash?"
He replied, "Wala pa rin mam, may nakita lang charol na shoe."
And comes now the nauseating realization that the war in Mindanao is actually a TV ratings war. Sad. Not. Stupid. Not. Despicable. Yes.
