Media Watch

We should not ignore the power of the mainstream media (MSM) to influence individuals’ perception of reality and understanding of issues that affect their lives. In the Philippines, most mainstream media practitioners are anti-reason, anti-individualism, and anti-capitalism. They are anti-reason because they preach the virtue and gospel of altruism and self-sacrifice. Most of them support anti-Man, anti-Life social policies such as redistribution of wealth, taxation as the means to help the poor and the marginalized, massive government spending, and the politics of big government. There are two camps of MSM in the country- the conservative media and the neo-liberal media. Both are statists and call for more government spending and more government rules to govern people’s private lives and political freedoms. The conservative media are composed of religious media companies and practitioners who believe that religion plays an integral in our society and political affairs. The neo-liberal media are those that preach empty secularism (the kind of secularism that abridges individual freedom and rights) and believe that the government must provide everything the people need, from education to health care to pension to transportation to housing and so on.

The fundamental aim of this page- Mainstream media Watch- is expose the logical fallacies, ideological evils, ignorance, gullibility, and irresponsibility of the country’s professional media practitioners.

Real Child Abusers

Based on my objective, impartial analysis of this controversial matter that made people forget of the evils of another controversial issue, the Reproductive Health bill, those most guilty of child abuse are none other than the altruist-statists of the CHR and MTRCB and their do-gooder cohorts (Carandang, Grate and Silva) who believed they had the right to supersede the parental authority of Jan-Jan’s parents. These people, who are perhaps motivated by various reasons (e.g., publicity, altruism, leftism, etc.), have this so arrogant a belief that their purported compassion or concern for the psychologically and emotionally “abused” tyke gives them the right to disregard the parental responsibilities of the concerned parents and call on the government to intervene.

In Defense of “Child Exploiter” Willie Revillame

This is a defense of Mr. Revillame’s freedom from government interference. That is, the TV host must be free from the shackles of the state, which has unleashed some of its agencies, namely, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Commission on Human Rights to probe him and his show. I believe that the government has no right at all to intervene in this issue since no case has yet been filed by the actual victim or his parents/legal guardian against the TV host in a proper court.

Abusive Media Versus the Power of the Markets

I don’t believe that the government must intervene in this issue. The TV station’s management must make the right decision, and it should be the right decision so to preclude the government and some of its agencies from promulgating rules that would limit their freedom to produce and air shows and programs. For the sake of preservation of free speech and freedom of choice in the entertainment sector, Channel 5 has to fix the damage done by one of its major talents.

Social Reproductivist Buddy Cunanan Just Got Pwned!

Mr. Cunanan, a hardcore RH bill advocate, writes opinion articles for The Manila Times. Very recently he published two columns wherein he defended the RH bill and called the Catholic Church “Taliban” and RH bill opponents “either misinformed or ignorant”.

Ignorant and Gullible Mainstream Media

Today, the existence of the Internet and new media technologies allows people to maintain constant interface with media users in countless social networks, produce and post personalized or home videos on video-sharing platforms (e.g., YouTube, Veoh, Fotki, MyVideo, Vuze, etc.), and published blogs. This important development in the 21st century inevitably led to what Karl Marx called “creative destruction”, a situation wherein new and creative developments in one economic sector would inevitably lead to the destruction of traditional or previously created productive forces. For instance, the advent and rise of the Internet, computers and digital technologies led to the destruction of old technologies such as typewriters, electric typewriters, manual SLR, film cameras, among many others.

Pro-RH Bill Buddy Cunanan’s Display of Cosmic Ignorance

Mr. Cunanan, one of the strongest media supporters of the Reproductive Health bill, wrote two ill-informed, laughable opinion articles titled Catholic Taliban and The Silent Pro-RH Bill Majority. In the first column, Mr. Cunanan passionately defended notorious social reproductivist Carlos Celdran and criticized the Catholic church’s trying to “sway state policies by alluding to issues in homilies or employing back-channel approaches to quietly influence politicians.”

A Lesson from the Most Gullible Columnist in RP

If you’re a blogger, always maintain some professional and ethical standards. Blogging is a selfish online endeavor. You blog not because you want to inform or impress others. You blog because you want to write. My attitude towards blogging is best explained by philosopher Ayn Rand: “You are not writing for the cause, for humanity, for posterity. You are writing because you *want* to write; and if you do not want to, you do not have to, neither today not ever. Remind yourself that it is all for your own happiness, and if you truly dislike the activity, do not try it. Writing is too difficult to do with a half-intention.”

Philippine Daily Inquirer: “Stupid” Anti-Obama Voters Motivated by Racism

With its anti-intellectual “racist” rhetoric, the Inquirer is belittling the intelligence and confidence of the American voters, even calling them “stupid” for trying to take back America from the claws of statism or socialism. It  suggests that the Americans didn’t vote for the founding principles of America- that they didn’t vote for limited government, lower taxation, and reduced spending. That they voted for Republicans simply because they hate Obama “strictly on the basis of his color” and because of his “difference.”

‘Bad Economist’ Winnie Monsod Versus Free-Market Capitalism and Freedom

What then is the proper function of government? Since the government holds a monopoly on the use of force, its only proper function is to protect individual rights. We need courts to protect our property and contracts from breach or fraud by others, and to settle disputes by rational rules, according to objective law. We need the police to protect us from criminals and rights-violators. And we need the army to protect us against rebellion or foreign invaders. It’s not the role of government to provide the people with their basic needs. Proper understanding of economics tells us that the government is not a productive agency. It can only acquire wealth through taxation.

The Rise of Citizen Journalism

The advent of technological advancement led to the intensified and dramatic demassification of the mass media.
Less than a half-century ago, both TV and radio stations were considered as the ‘generalist’ model, offering any type of program for the general public audience based on the concept of public service model in broadcasting. The rise of the print media shared this concept, although the subsequent years saw a change in the usual format.At the dawn of the new millennium, media elites began to realize the need to change the format and marketing strategy and leadership approach, which led to the birth of demassification, a deviation from the very concept of the word mass media specifically conceived and designed to reach a very large audience.