TV poll coverage focused on 4 leading presidential bets - watchdog

MALOLOS CITY , Philippines  – Election coverage of the three major television stations have not changed in the fourth and fifth week of the campaign period, a media watchdog reported yesterday.

Based on the monitoring report of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) on the March 1 to 12 broadcast of ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol World, GMA 7’s 24 Oras, and NBN 4’s Teledyaryo, coverage remain focused on the four leading presidential candidates, namely Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III of the Liberal Party (LP), Joseph Estrada of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), Manuel Villar Jr. of the Nacionalista Party (NP), and Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. of Lakas-Kampi-CMD.

Coverage was so focused to the extent that other presidential candidates, and bets for other national positions such as vice president, senator and party-list representatives, were virtually excluded.

“Consistent with the first three weeks of the official campaign period, reports about the presidential race continued to dominate broadcast news, with both TV Patrol World and 24 Oras devoting the lion’s share of election coverage to the presidential candidates.  Only Teledyaryo focused on issues other than the presidential elections, but its reports were mainly Comelec-related,” the CMFR said.

On top of the list of most covered candidates by the three television networks is Villar with a total of 26.19 minutes.  Villar was second in coverage of the said stations in the first three weeks of the campaign.

The CMFR said the media feasted on Villar after Bagumbayan standard-bearer Richard Gordon disclosed that Villar tried to buy him out of the presidential race.

In second place in the most covered candidates is Teodoro with 25.45 minutes, followed by Aquino with 23.41 minutes and Estrada with 10.27 minutes.

In the first three weeks of the campaign, Estrada was the most covered candidate, while Teodoro and his cousin Aquino were the third and fourth most covered, respectively.

Independent presidential candidate Jamby Madrigal placed fifth in media coverage in the first two weeks of March with 7.19 minutes, followed by Bangon Pilipinas’ Eddie Villanueva (5.81 minutes), Gordon (5.01 minutes), Vetellano Acosta of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) with 4.23 minutes, JC Delos Reyes of Ang Kapatiran (4.01 minutes), and independent candidate Nicanor Perlas with 3.6 minutes.

The CMFR said Acosta “received the most airtime of his short-lived presidential bid when he was disqualified from the presidential race on March 4, 2010.”

But while presidential candidates hogged the limelight, their running mates were virtually neglected by broadcast news media in their coverage in the fourth and fifth week of the campaign, the report further said.

The CMFR said, “24 Oras devoted the most airtime to the vice presidential race, with 20 percent of its total election-related coverage given to the candidates. TV Patrol World devoted only 12 percent of its election-related coverage to the vice-presidential race, while Teledyaryo aired a measly one percent.”

In this meager airtime, actor Edu Manzano of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD topped the coverage with a total of 10.96 airtime minutes, followed by NP’s Loren Legarda with 3.43 minutes, Bangon Pilipinas’ Perfecto Yasay (3.27 minutes), PDP-Laban’s Jejomar Binay (2.77), LP’s Mar Roxas (2.32 minutes), Bagumbayan’s Bayani Fernando (0.74 minutes), KBL’s Jay Sonza (0.55 minutes) and Ang Kapatiran’s Dominador Chipeco with 0.22 minutes.

This only shows that like the presidential candidates, media coverage of vice presidential candidates was not necessarily fair, the report said.

It is evidenced by reports on the perceived lack of support for Manzano from his party, rather than reports on his programs and advocacies, it said.

If the vice presidential candidates get meager airtime from the three major television stations, the senatorial and party list candidates got even less, the report added.

The CMFR said that TV coverage in the first two weeks of March only focused on prominent faces and names in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“Hardly any airtime was devoted to new entrants such as the Liberal Party’s Yasmin Lao or the Nacionalista Party’s Susan Ople, not to mention the candidates from Ang Kapatiran. The party-list elections received almost no airtime from the three news shows, although among those covered were those mostly associated with the current administration,” the CMFR said.

“Of the 187 party-list organizations accredited by the Commission on Elections, the three news programs covered only 10 during the monitoring period. Only three groups out of the 10 received more than one minute of combined airtime from all three programs,” it said.