There oughta be a handbook for TV broadcasters - STAR BYTES by Butch Francisco

Two Sundays ago, the Parish of St. John Bosco in Barrio Magsaysay in Tondo invited Channel 7 field reporter Susan Enriquez and this writer to talk about the responsibility of media to the public.

The topic taken up in this particular forum made me think about the big responsibility people on television have toward the viewers at home.

Actually, I don’t think there is a handbook that tells you how to become a responsible broadcaster. (The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas or KBP – published one many years ago, but I doubt very much if it was distributed among TV people.) In the absence of set rules, I’ve decide to formulate my own simple guidelines which I try to follow every time I appear on television – and which I expect of fellow broadcasters.

Let’s start with some basic rules. This includes correct grammar and pronunciation – both in English and Filipino.

People on television should be very careful when they pronounce every word they say on the air because most viewers have this notion that everything that comes out on TV is correct.

I try not to be too hard on those anchor persons who do their shows live – when anything can go wrong … especially tenses and even idiomatic expressions.

But I find it unforgivable when narrators of taped documentaries commit boo-boos. In one of the episodes of the cultural show For Arts Sake on Channel 4 a couple of years ago, there was this female voice-over announcer who had a problem with the Filipino word tala. Tala could mean either, star or records (as in according to records). In her spiel, she was obviously referring to records – or tala (with accent on the second syllable) because what she said was ayon sa tala. But all throughout the narration, she kept saying tala with accent on the first syllable. I really found this annoying because she kept repeating this mistake from the beginning up to the end of the show.

For Art’s Sake is a program that aims to showcase Filipino culture – and for her own sake, it was a crime for the show’s voice-over announcer to have committed this kind of blunder.

Of course, most of the words mangled by people on TV are in English. About 90 percent of our newscasters and field reporters sadly do not even know how to pronounce correctly the word southern (as in Southern Police District, Southern Tagalog, etc.) They keep saying "saw-dern," instead of the correct "suth-Ԧrn).

Also, please don’t say "with regards to…" Drop the "s" and say "with regard to…"

The mangling of English words doesn’t only happen on TV. It also happens a lot in Tagalog movies. In the recently-shown Kangkong, Rodel Velayo (who plays a seminarian in the film) referred to the First Joyful Mystery of the Rosary as "The Announciation," instead of The Annunciation.

But back to television. In the ’80s, there was this movie talk show host who kept plugging in his program a certain travel agency that was located in Arkansas St. in Malate. Trouble was, he pronounced Arkansas as spelled, instead of the correct "är’ k¶nsô’"

Well, this showbiz talk show host is now dead. Shall we now say "Long live the King’s Language?" No, this is bad taste. Never desecrate the memory of the dead. But before we tackle the correct values TV people should impart to televiewers, I guess I should emphasize the importance of giving the correct information on television.

In one recent episode of The Probe Team, the show’s segment host went on a food trip and tasted the culinary delights offered by the Bicol region, Pampanga, and Laguna.

In Pampanga, Probe Team member Robert Alejandro was made to eat this unique delicacy called camaru. In his spiel, he said that he didn’t know what it was – a grasshopper or a cricket?

Well, for your information, Mr. Alejandro, camaru is locust.

I thought it was his responsibility as a reporter to have provided this kind of information to the televiewers.

Of course, what Robert Alejandro committed wasn’t really a major crime. But then, I guess this only proves the importance of being prepared before setting off to battle.

Maybe, I should also stress the fact that it is important for TV people to read, read, read on varied subjects so that they may share whatever knowledge they have to televiewers.

This way, people would probably stop referring to television as the idiot box.

(Next: Values TV people should impart to young viewers).