Philippine Porn

I have come across Kevin Sites’ Reflection from the hotzone and have read on poverty porn, a term used by some African Journalists for stories or images of intense suffering that are designed solely for emotional impact, but that often have the effect of shutting people down rather than helping them step up.

The thought on Philippine Journalism suddenly flashed to my mind. I have seen so many news and images that doesn’t really help much… or should I say, doesn’t really help at all. Oftentimes they are sensationalized to make the stories sell or to push for their own personal interests… they are not just Poverty Porn but Philippine Porn. They are creating a bad image for the Philippines and the filipino people yet they are not really doing anything to help out.

There used to be a time when I could not sleep without watching the news. I would read the newspaper almost from cover to cover. The day doesn’t seem complete without it. Now my readings and viewings have become selective. Oh, I am not really looking only at good news for you can’t really run away from reality. It would be foolishness to shield yourself from reality but you must keep your sanity too! So you have to create balance… you try to read and watch only those news that could make a difference. But sometimes you can’t really help it… you are drawn to the news for our journalists really know their market well!

I have no control over the news…how it is told…so I do my own censorship! Oh, I get tempted too and read useless articles but I try my best to avoid them.
Don’t ask me about the news anymore… I am not as informed as before but it doesn’t really matter since I try to focus on matters that I think are more important to the life of this Filipina.