Many years of reading the Philippine Daily Inquirer has entrenched in me the habit of acquiring my latest bits of news from that newspaper. Unlike its competitors, it published Pol Medina, Jr’s daily Pugad Baboy that I think bolstered its sales and generated a broad reading audience from the old to the young.
But those days are over. Aside from the fact that Pugad Baboy is a satire comic speaking in behalf of liberal ideologies, PDI has been a spokesperson to the Aquino government, supporting its demolition job of political opponents. A startling pattern arises these last few weeks. The headlines of PDI have been centred solely in determining the 2016 elections, all pertinent news articles regarding the elections were printed and the ever constant demolition job of the vice president is underway.
I am not a supporter of Binay or of the present administration. I do not believe that a proper bureaucratic process can resolve the problems of this country. My radical leftist position demands that one criticize the dominant ideology prevailing in society; this prevailing ideology presents itself in the creation of dichotomies, between a supposedly clean government and a corrupt government. Grace Poe’s statements are reminiscent of Noynoy’s campaign slogan in 2010, honesty, Daang Matuwid, and competence are all used to convince the public of the effectiveness of the present regime (it would not be impossible to play parental association card again as Grace Poe would surely be campaigning in memory of her father, FPJ). Far from being a clean and effective government and mired in countless allegations of allowing the exploitation of the general population of workers and farmers and favouring the interests of the oligarchy, the present administration can and will convince public opinion of working for its benefits, thanks to PDI. By presenting a general enemy in the character of the Binay camp, the present administration can concentrate the anger of the population in the personage of the Binay family, diverting the attention of the masses to the systematic liberalization of the economy, leaving the country to the mercy of the oligarchy both local and foreign.
PDI presents itself now as a monument of liberal propaganda. All other alternatives present itself as partisan; since Philippine Star is owned by the Belmontes and Manila Times is owned by the Romualdez family, these newspapers will likely speak for the interest of their faction. In this case, there should be disavowal; journalism is not neutral but serves unwillingly in the present ideological arrangement (one is reminded of Rappler which even if it proclaims neutrality, speaks for the liberal bloc in its virulent anti-communism and thought leaders that speak for the liberal machine). Journalism is an act of persuasion for a political cause. In this case, what determines truth is not the correspondence between the words on paper and the really existing events; but which serves the interests of the people over the interests of the few. The presentation of events in a paper is not free of opinion but consists entirely of it.
The Post-Secular Blog 