EVERYBODY WANTS TO GO TO TACLOBAN

The dream of almost everyone in media today is to be able to go to Tacloban, and if it is impossible to get themselves to the city, to be at least in any of the typhoon-ravaged areas of the country.

There are so many things to write about, so many stories to tell. Unfortunately, alongside the use of social media came a greater sense of power by netizens who have informally raised the standards about who should and should not write or report about things happening on the ground.

If you haven’t been there and done that, you have lesser credibility talking or writing about the catastrophe.  Those of us who cannot be where the action is for one reason or another could only rely on reports in social, print and broadcast media.

Anybody in the press who refuses to admit that social media is overtaking print media these days is simply fearful of the responsibility that social media reporting and writing entails.  Because social media has the widest readership, writers have become extra careful about what they write, and media outfits about what they post online.

Broadcast media remains the most powerful medium, as a lot of people still prefer getting news straight from their televisions and radios than reading and viewing images from their laptops and PCs.

Broadcaster Korina Sanchez drew a lot of flak for her comments against CNN’s Anderson Cooper. While a few critics felt slighted at what they consider as negative reporting of situations on the ground by CNN, there were more who thought it unwise for Ms. Sanchez to question Mr. Cooper who is considered one of the most credible television personalities in the world, or CNN whom former UN Secretary Boutros Boutros-Ghali considered as the “16th member of the Security Council.” Anybody who would dare question the American broadcaster’s credibility should be prepared for a lot of bashing by his millions of admirers, including Filipinos.