Sensationalism in Media

From: DINDO B. DONATO <dbdonato@info.com.ph>
To: <feedback@inquirer.com.ph>
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2002 10:32 PM
Subject: Sensationalism in Media

For: Publisher & Editors of PDI...

During the Cory years, I recognized the emergence of Inquirer as a hybrid form of print. It had the physical size of a national newspaper of general circulation, but its headlines and articles were fit for a tabloid. So in my mind I named the Inquirer as the “oversized taboid.” Kulang na lang mga bomba pictures sa frontpage at centerfold.

During the early FVR years, the sensationalism and intrigues continued. However, after the international media started calling the Philippines a “Tiger Cub,” it seemed that the local media (including the Inquirer) was shamed into rethinking its pointless albeit profitable finger-pointing. Until today I could not understand why the local media (including the Inquirer) had to take its cue from the international media when it comes to positive news about its own country.

Now in the early GMA years, it seems that the Inquirer is back to its brisk business of selling sensational and intriguing stories about the fate of its own hopeless nation.

By this short and simple e-mail, I do not dream of changing the mindset of Inquirer overnight. I expect that Inquirer will continue with its money-making ways of publishing sensational and intriguing headlines and articles, even at the expense of social order and national development. In due time however, I hope that the bulk of your limited middle class readers will learn to read between your lines, or that some responsible members of the Inquirer organization will have the courage to say (NO) to sensationalism, or that both will happen.

Sincerely,
Dindo Donato
Makati City