“By understanding the news being delivered in our shared language, we have gained our power to be informed”
LANGUAGE holds its power to capture and keep its audiences. It has the capability to influence people in conversation to form their own opinion and thought from those that possess the authority to do so. Norman Fairclough, an English linguist, wrote that there are constraints that hold between “powerful and non-powerful participants” that affect the content, social relationships, and the position they occupy.
In the mass media setting, Fairclough argued that power is “hidden.” Media products exercise a one-way setting compared to face-to-face interactions in normal conversations. People who are in “power” may not know their audiences and could just assume that whatever they intended to produce may be tailored to the masses.
The expensive nature of television in the 60s and 70s made it solely available to the rich. As Martial Law came into effect, people turned to Harry Gasser for their nightly news at dinnertime. There is no denying that his use of English was their source of trust and company in the day’s headlines.
This persisted in the early 80s, especially when GMA-7’s Tina Monzon Palma gave voice to the dissidents of Marcos’ republic. Apart from her authoritative stature and actively measured tone, faces like Dada Lorenzana and Frank Evangelista complemented the norm that English newscasts possessed authority and discipline.
Filipino news programs weren’t exactly novel. When Channel 5 first took off the air, they introduced a 15-minute bulletin named “Pangunahing Balita” in 1962. ABS, in the 60s, responded with “Balita Ngayon.” The 70s gave birth to other newscasts in the vernacular, such as “BBC Balita.” Though there are no existing clips, I would only care to assume that they followed a sober tone in writing the news.
Then came TV Patrol, the newscast that many in the elite have derided for its tone and brash format. The concept, according to its creators, was akin to how radio news programs were delivered under their Radyo Patrol unit. It was tabloidish — slammed by the intellectuals but welcomed by the masses who felt that they were only limited to watching Anna Liza and Eat…Bulaga.
I used to be so indifferent to how news on TV shifted to Filipino full time. When GMA shifted “Network News” to Filipino, ABS-CBN followed suit — scrapping “The World Tonight” in favor of “Pulso.” I first thought that it degraded viewers’ choice for their news on free TV to clinch the top spot in the ratings.
Yet time and its sheer wizardry allowed me to learn and see the nuance of how TV news has progressed in the vernacular.
One journalist commented that the media should “set the standard” in promoting the power of (proper) English to the people. Ideally, he thought that they should not be dictated to the mass audience, whose habits on TV are filled with afternoon soaps. Anything otherwise would follow the proverb “garbage in, garbage out.”
However, when you take the masses into the equation, how can that power of news be spread if these are still being delivered today in straight, baritonal English? How will they be able to keep in touch about events and catastrophes if they will only try to puzzle the details out because of the language being used?
Still, there is no denying that the trend of mass-produced newscasts in Filipino was curated for the ratings. Networks, though, must not be blamed for having to respond to the call of the times where more people who can afford to buy TV sets are more interested to know the day’s stories. Along with the greater democratic space, the fervor of seeing the news on the air was inevitably supplied by the likes of “Patrol,” “24 Oras,” and “Frontline.”
“The medium is the message,” wrote McLuhan. The colloquial use of Filipino connected audiences from all, or most circles in society. By understanding the news being delivered in our shared language, we have gained our power to be informed.
(The writer is a 20-something year-old who floats around between writing and keeping himself company inside his room. For comments, you may send them at ngrolando2003@yahoo.com.)
