The incubator, which serves as the home for babies who came out from their mother’s womb earlier than expected, helps babies to fully develop their organs and body system. In the case of politicians who are trying to win the heart of the public, the media serve them as an incubator. The media become the politicians’ greatest ally in promoting themselves to the public, thus, in the end; the credibility of media is being questioned.
In the article Crossing the Line written by Alecks P. Pabico, there are many situations showing how politicians’ utilized media as their beautification tool were cited. Among them was the former president Joseph Estrada who was then preparing to launch a pro –masa image that can win him a presidential seat. He tried to use the media’s power of influencing in order to nurture his image and be promoted to the public as someone fitted to be the next president. Is this right? Well, of course it is not. The media’s main role in the society is to act as the watchdog of it and maintain its loyalty to the public. When politics are already included in media, media loses credibility. The media possibly won’t be able to perform its real duty to the public. And in the end, as according to the article Dirty Harry Goes to TV written by Luz Rimban, the audience were the losers and they don’t even know it.
Another thing that shows how media were used to promote politicians is the story of the current Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim which was also cited in the said article of Luz Rimban. Before, he ran for presidential seat but lost in the end. His lost in the presidential race was somehow buried in the six feet underground but his popularity bloom again after being launched as legal adviser and crime buster on both radio and television programs. Looking at Lim’s situation, it seems like he used the power of ABS CBN in order to earn him a hundred percent ‘pogi points’ from the public. If it is not true, just look at how he benefited from the programs entrusted to him by ABS CBN, Lim was able to establish again his name as the mayor of Manila, and he even managed to be re –elected twice for the same position.
There are also politicians who don’t need to infiltrate media and keep on acting as print or broadcast journalists, some tried to infiltrate media in a manner that the only thing they have to do is to produce dramatic commercials and air them during election. Just recall the 2010 National Election, a lot of politicians bombarded the media airways with PR commercials showing the public how good their names are, and persuading the public to vote for them if they want to have a change in their lives. One of them was the president himself Benigno Aquino III, his sister Kris Aquino is a great name in the television industry. She used her influence by acting like a prophet for his good brother. They produced PR commercials, and if we can remember it right, they even used the biggest stars to act for them on their PR commercials. Thanks to all those celebrities and to the great exposure into media, the Aquino bet was able to win the position.
The main point here is that the media were used by the politicians for their personal agenda, and the media allowed themselves to be used by politicians because they were being paid. Of course, the media stations cannot simply say no to money, their existence in the field depends on how much money they can earn, and earning no money at all means death for their existence also known as business. Aside from that, media cannot also say no to politicians who act like journalists because audiences seem to be oriented to watch programs which consist by known celebrities and also politicians. With this, the politicians nowadays are comparable to babies who still have to stay on an incubator for few months after premature birth, and of course, the incubator as the media. The politicians might have come out from their eggs earlier from expected, but with their glittering money, they can avail a place in the media and be nurtured there until they’re already the first –word of all household chores. Bad thing that media is business –oriented and cannot say no to it, and mostly, their work is also manipulated by the money of these politicians.
References:
Pabico, Alecks P. (January –March 1997). Crossing the Line. i Magazine.
Rimban, Luz. (October –December 1998). Dirty Harry Goes to TV. i Magazine.
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