Media
Press
Since the end of the Marcos era, the number of newspapers published in Manila has sharply increased. As the competition among the papers is keen, there is a constant rush after the most sensational stories. Because thorough research would often spoil the sensational character of news, there is a tendency not to check the validity of stories but rather to stir up a controversy about the truth or untruth of a particular report.
Sensation, scandal, sex and stars are topics that increase the sale of newspapers anywhere in the world, In the Philippines where foreigners classically have received a kind of VIP treatment,the media treats them with almost as much preference as the local movie stars. Stories involving foreigners are often blown up and if the element of stardom can be combined with the elements of sex and scandal it's just perfect for the front page headline. What looks like an anti-foreign stance in many Philippine newspapers has to be seen in this light, too. Stories, particularly bad (bed) stories about foreigners in The Country receive a lot of space, generally not because the editor in charge has an anti-foreign paranoia but simply because it promises to increase the sales of a tabloid.
Offended foreigners often do not see that the Philippine press doesn't treat Filipinos with much more kindness. The press generally doesn't respect that ordinary people (foreigners and Filipinos alike) don't like to be subjects of a sensational report. When the police started raids on discos and nightclubs in Manila in March 88, the local media was always invited and published many photos of foreigners who were accidentally present.
Suspects of crimes (foreigners and Filipinos alike) are generally presented to the media to be photographed; in the reports they are treated as if they have already been convicted of the crime they are only accused of.
Bad experiences of Filipinas in their marriages to foreigners also make good stories - they contain several of the elements needed, at least scandal and sex. That tabloids dedicate a lot of space to such stories is not surprising.
Of political papers in contrast to the tabloids, one expects that they don't just sell sensations but primarily analysis and comment. If they deal with sex scandals, reporting alone would be too plain. They have to analyze and to comment. Therefore, if political papers deal with sex scandals involving foreigners, the impression of an anti-foreign stance has more weight than if a tabloids blows up the story.
Extended by analysis and comment, a report on an alleged sex scandal involving foreigners becomes more generalized. The individual case of a Filipina who went abroad as a prospective bride and became a prostitute appears as if this were a common fate. The impression is created that happiness abroad is out of reach. Columnists may go so far as stating that allegedly "Filipinas nowadays realize that it is better to marry a Filipino and stay poor, than to marry a rich foreigner and be beaten up three times a day."
Columnists
The competition among the political dailies for the largest numbers of readers is mainly fought by having the more popular columnists. Newspaper columnist wield enormous influence in Philippine society, and they are courted by the different political camps and by the newspaper publishers as well. Often columnist hold their own kind of court, usually accompanied by a late breakfast, usually at a coffee shop in a five-star hotels. Among the most famous columnists in The Country are Emil Jurado (Manila Standard), Louis Beltran (Manila Standard) Jose Guevarra (Manila Bulletin), Renato Constantino (Daily Globe), Theodor Locsin (Daily Globe), Hilarion Henares (Inquirer).
Louis Beltran gained much fame because President Corazon Aquino gave him the honour of filing a libel case against him after he wrote that she was hiding under her bed at the height of the August 1987 coup attempt. Two days after Beltran's piece was published, Cory Aquino lead a group of reporters into her bedroom to prove that Beltran's allegation could impossibly be true. The reason: she sleeps on a box-style bed; only cockroaches can crawl underneath. And the Philippine public now definitely knows that the President cannot hide whenever there is a coup attempt - at least not under her bed.
The following insight on columnists and libel cases was given by one of their peers, Francisco Nemenzo: "A veteran columnist (not of the Globe) reproached me for being too mild. 'The more libel cases you have, the bigger your readership,'he said. 'Filipinos love bomba. They don't care about issues and principles. To fight a policy, identify it with a person and heap dirt on his face.' Knowing the toothlessness of the present libel law, it is not always easy to resist the temptation to destroy reputations with your pen. But, much as I wish to build up my readership, I cannot in conscience do it over the shattered reputations of others. Columnist get all sorts of stories about the private lives of public figures. The most interesting of these are those conveyed to us through unsigned letters and anonymous phone calls. Perhaps to the dismay of my informants, I throw away their letters after enjoying them."(Daily Globe, July 29, 1989)
Because it erodes their credibility one of the worst criticisms columnists hurl at each other is the accusation of serving foreign interests. In order not to be suspected of being too pro-foreign there is a tendency among columnists to outdo each other in anti-foreign comments. Some columnists even propagate the perception that a foreigner staying in The Country longer than just three weeks must either be a internationally hunted criminal or a pervert (pedophile).
Newspapers
There are around 20 morning dailies in Manila, and the number still seems to be growing. The information given below reflects the situation as of February 1990; old papers close down and new ones are published every few months; columnists often switch papers.
The political newspapers are all published in English. The use of the English language is sometimes not exactly as it is in Oxford or Harvard but anyhow, it does make information easily accessible for foreigners staying in The Country .
Politically, this results in a kind of international glasnost. Because the media is in English, there is for the visitor as well as the media abroad much more information available on The Country than, for example, in Indonesia or China. Only sometimes the English as used in local papers is hard to understand, and then, the glasnost is somehow tinted. To substantiate this assessment, we quote from an article which was published under the headline "Tourism needs fresh outlook":
"The amorphous 'central bank' in the Ermita tourist belt, engaged in illegal foreign exchange transactions between old-timers in the tourist industry and foreign visitors, is one problem the tourism department cannot ignore. Another is the much-talked about 'sex tours' which makes tourism the most used and abused major dollar earning industry in The Country today... The illegal operation of the tourist belt 'central bank' and the promotion of the 'sex tours' in the Philippines are some of the findings made by a study of the International Academy of Management and Economics (IAME) on the problems plaguing the industry. The 'sex tour' attraction, which for a while rocked the Japanese homefront, resulted in many Japanese cancelling planned visits to the Philippines even on the part of those whose trips were for legitimate or business reasons, Santos lamented. Another finding of abuse is the industry's attitude that 'foreign tourists are loaded with money (especially foreign currencies), and it would be a waste not to earn some of it.'"(Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 23, 1989)
The sex-and-crime tabloids are published either in a mixture of English and Tagalog articles or purely in Tagalog. They are distributed in the morning and afternoon.
Virtually all newspapers in Manila are published 7 days a week. The price is usually 2.50 or 3 pesos. On Sundays most morning papers have a magazine section. Sunday issues therefore cost 5 to 8 pesos.
Columns carried by all major newspapers include TV schedules, movie showings, currency exchange rates, and a weather forecast which is, however, without barometric readings and rainfall.
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