Police Brutality and Media Insanity

I graduated with a bachelor's degree in Journalism which I am most proud of, having been trained by the best professors I could have from the media industry such as Prof. Luis Teodoro, Prof. Chit Simbulan, Prof. Rachel Khan, Prof. Crysta Rara, and Prof. Elena Pernia (who I met in a recent seminar where she was the speaker).

Several of them have mentioned and discussed the gatekeeping powers of media and have stressed out the other powers that media organizations and those working for these organizations hold.

We are all witnesses to the extreme hold and influence that media have. For the past decade, there has been a rapid increase in advertising time for shows. In fact, there are no regular and fixed program time slots now. There might be an actual flow of the programs per day but the time dedicated for each show is, unlike the past decades, not  fixed anymore. Before we would still hear from what time to what time this particular program will air; now, all we get is this program will air after this program. This is so because advertisers treat broadcast media as channels for selling. In turn, the media forget that their information-giving and opinion-building natures are being sacrificed because of the profit-driven nature of several media organizations.

Despite the presence of media regulation bodies such as the seemingly defunct Movies and Television Review and Classfication Board and the prestigious Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (whereI interned), media organizations can easily throw away their social responsiblity for profit increase.

Media organizations could easily say that they fulfill their duties with such ardor that they cannot be accused of being money hoarders and not information disseminators. Yes, we can see this in the most recent reports on police brutality and how lowly and undignified some members of the police force can be. I need not discuss anything more about this brutality for much has been said already, I am sure. Because that is the nature of the world - when it is trending, let us all talk about it.

I do not oppose this, as multiplicity of voices is key to peace, if all sides are going to air their sides properly. But for me, the media, which they should partly perform, need to inform the people beyond what the surface offers. Surface tension is pretty obvious - and I am being quite absurd here - and focusing on the different reports of the same nature is like eating various ice cream brands of the same ice cream flavor.

What media should do is to properly distinguish at which point should they stop reporting on the same thing and discuss more about the roots of the several issues and problems that are little by little being revealed by the present administration.
More than ever, this is the time when media need to be extra vigilant with issues that affects our human day-to-day function: the intrapersonal, the social, the emotional, the mental, the political, the financial, and the cultural aspect of our lives.

We have had an overdose of sensational celebrity news. A good number of the masses are already celebrity news obese but important issues lean. We need a balanced issues diet.