Open University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Development Communication (MDC). I have chosen to study and observe the case of the ABS-CBN shutdown under the Duterte administration in a conscious effort to undergo critical analysis.
Philippine media under Duterte administration 15 The modern scientific and technologically advanced world knows that global outbreaks were a thing of the past, far beyond reach. Philippine media under Duterte administration 17 stories drawn from a layered autoethnographic account of the events leading to the network's closure, and to contextualize the phenomenon according to traditional Habermasian critical analysis.
The Philippine Media under the Duterte Administration 41 not only obfuscating and politically motivated, but also a despicable act when it prioritized the government's pandemic efforts. Philippine media under the Duterte administration 42 Statements from legal experts and government regulatory bodies should have been sufficient grounds for a franchise renewal.
This does not mean that every member of the public should have control over social processes. Rather, as members of the public, they can exert influence through special institutionalized communication mechanisms and channels. One of the main discursive arenas where democratic deliberation is practiced and expressed is through media-based mass communication in the public sphere.
It is important to note that within these legal boundaries, people, usually in associational forms, should have the freedom to pursue their interests and happiness as they see fit (Bohman, 2005). Philippine media under the rule of Duterte 48 Societies are only stable in the long run if their members generally regard them as legitimate: as organized in accordance with what is true, right, and good. Habermas summarizes this requirement in his democratic principle of legitimacy: “only those statues can claim legitimacy that can obtain the consent of all citizens in a discursive legislative process that is in turn legally established.” Habermas describes democratic legitimacy as: citizens can regard their laws as legitimate to the extent that the democratic process, as it is institutionally organized and carried out, justifies the assumption that the outcomes are reasonable products of a sufficiently inclusive deliberative process of opinion and will formation.
While the use of autoethnography as a research method allows me to undergo a personal, reflective and analytical process to better understand the unfolding of events included in this study, it is critical theory, especially as defined and discussed by Jürgen Habermas, which grounds this study in its proper academic context. Apart from the effects and external manifestations of ideologies that are going on, this provides me with a worldview through which I can make sense of the phenomenon on a national, macrosociological scale.
Autoethnography is a social scientific method that attempts to systematically analyze personal experiences of the researcher in order to make sense of the social world (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011). As a member of the subculture in focus, I approached this study with a certain amount of knowledge about the organization and the cause. It is for such reasons that this study uses a qualitative investigation of the politically saturated phenomenon.
Philippine media under the Duterte administration 52 members of society: networkers, media practitioners and the isolated masses whose only source of news and information comes from the company's regional network. Duterte has often argued that the ABS-CBN issue is not a press freedom issue because despite being the largest media network in the country, it is only one of many media outlets. Using a layered description of autoethnography, I systematically analyzed personal experiences alongside data, abstract analysis, and relevant literature to develop a holistic and in-depth understanding of the ABS-CBN case, contemporary media condition, and sociopolitical phenomenon.
Case details and surrounding information throughout the included time frame of the study were coded and classified to identify key themes at play. The Philippine Media Under the Duterte Administration 53 article takes the audience through the trials of the cases, all the while carrying prior knowledge of the President's previous threats (from 2017) and public statements in which he specifically mentioned "blocking" the extension of the company's franchise.
Day: Cinco de Mayo
Most of us not involved in the day-to-day production of TV news programs stayed at home due to quarantine protocols brought about by the pandemic. The last free-to-air episode of TV Patrol was hosted by ABS-CBN News chief Ging Reyes, who has been with the company since its reopening in 1986 after Marcos took control of the network for 14 years. Our bosses led by President and CEO Carlo Katigbak went to the newsroom of TV Patrol and had a meeting with other staff.
Philippine media under the Duterte Administration 74 make an announcement that after all their efforts to fight for the renewal of the franchise on time, ABS-CBN was not granted a temporary authority to operate and will be forced to go off the air. TV Patrol ended with the Philippine National Anthem followed by the voice saying, “This is ABS-CBN Corporation Channel 2, serving the Filipino people. Others who had been with the company for so long said it felt like martial law again when our network was seized by the government in the Republic of Albania.
The last message from ABS-CBN Channel 2 before it was canceled and the screen went dark. Philippine Media Under the Duterte Administration 75 Photo 4: ABS-CBN's official statement on the NTC's cease-and-desist order.
During the hearing, the opposing solons accused ABS-CBN of circumventing the law by stratifying corporations. Philippine Media under the Duterte Administration 87 disagrees with the report and would like the committee to approve the ABS-CBN franchise. Philippine media under the Duterte administration 88 Throughout the hearings, workers, artists, journalists, lawyers, advocates, civil supporters and freedom fighters exercised their right to protest by holding organized and planned barrages of noise, unity walks, as and trailers around ABS- CBN compound.
Figure 5: The author and others from the ABS-CBN events department in support of the franchise extension. The Philippine Media Under the Duterte Administration 90 Photo 6: This was taken at ABS-CBN headquarters after the accession. It took a majority of forty-four (44) to kill and deny ABS-CBN's franchise renewal.
Philippine Media Under Duterte Administration 92 Despite the stern "NO" votes by Congress, we still took it upon ourselves to continue the silent struggle through a vigil outside the compound of ABS-CBN next to Sgt. Photo 8: ABS-CBN President and CEO Carlo Katigbak spoke to the employees via Zoom conference. Philippine Media Under Duterte Administration 98 Photo 12: It is not only ABS-CBN employees who were the collateral damage, but also other businesses around ABS-CBN, such as Starbucks.
He lived alone and ABS-CBN had been his life for as long as I could remember.
Edgar Hoover to gather information about homosexuals in the Capitol press corps and instructed aides to develop and distribute damaging stories about reporters to "kill the sons of whores." In a May 19, 1972 article written by Manuel Rueda for ABC News, he said that the biggest threats to press freedom in Latin America don't just come in the form of shady criminal groups like Mexican drug cartels or harassing Colombian paramilitaries and sometimes they kill journalists. report on their activities, but also from a new emerging threat. In a December 6, 2019 review of history professor Frank Dikötter's book How to Be a Dictator: The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century, Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker described what would be a typical end for most dictators and to the authoritarians who finally succeeded in gaining power and suppressing dissent: “What could follow is the isolation of the dictator within his palace – friendless and paranoid – and the pruning of his circle to an increasingly sycophantic minority.
True democracy can only happen when every individual or institution in the state has the freedom to express their views properly and respectfully, without fear. The closure of ABS-CBN suggests that the Filipino people are living in a pseudo-democracy; that democracy in the country only exists on paper. On the other hand, Vice President Leni Robredo stated that it will certainly have a chilling effect as editorial choices in newsrooms across the country may now change as a result of the way ABS-CBN was “put through the wringer.” While entertainment is a big part of ABS-CBN, the news and current affairs service is one of the most respected, active and reliable teams in the country.
This has been proven time and time again during disasters, when the only source of news and information in disaster-stricken areas is ABS-CBN's vast network of radio stations, with a host of reporters on the ground who are in the middle of every disaster. reporting at the grassroots level. We often forget that the power of the nation's highest office is not given as personal means.
In 2016, De Lima presented to the public a self-proclaimed hitman Edgar Matobato, who claimed that he was part of the “Davao Death Squad”. Sereno condemned the Duterte administration's blatant neglect of the rule of law in the implementation of their war on drugs and, as a result, shared a similar fate as De Lima. I am one of the 11,000 employees of ABS-CBN who have been deprived of their main source of income, stability and security due to mismanagement.
Thus, to some extent, the events of the closure of ABS-CBN under the Duterte administration can be seen as a microcosm of 21st century Philippine media, society and politics. See 37:41 to 37:51 for the Board's proceedings on ABS-CBN Corporation's application. NTC revokes frequencies assigned now without ABS-CBN franchise. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1333843/ntc-recalls-frequencies-given-to-now-franchise-less-abs-cbn.
The Fall of the Dictatorship https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/featured/the-fall-of-the-dictatorship/.
