I have to give it to Richard Javad Heydarian. The political analyst who never gets anything right because he doesn’t have the freedom to speak his mind or just because he’s so damned in love with neoliberalism, now thinks of himself as a journalist.
The rise of “influencers” since 2016 now has the social media landscape littered with them. There is a great debate about “journalists” versus “bloggers” and “vloggers.” The new PCOO Secretary wants them accredited to cover PBBM.
It’s natural that the “journalists” are up in arms. The Malacanan beat is one of the pinnacles of the journalistic profession, such that there is the Malacanan Press Corps. But, time have changed and continue to change. The rule of seniority may have to give way to whoever makes the most impact on the public. Digital platforms have made it easy to quantify public sentiment in terms of likes and shares. The basic bone of contention is a journalist takes up a four-year course and undergoes training with a broadsheet while a blogger/vlogger relies more on sensationalist content and packaging.
But it’s funny how Heydarian thinks of himself as being all too important to the journalistic profession since he began writing a column in the Inquirer.
I lost count of the torrent of hate messages and death threats I have received throughout the years. Not to mention the network of well-oiled “bloggers” and trolls who never tired of collectively harassing and denigrating every catchy statement I conjured in my works and social media posts.
Until recently, I got jitters whenever a motorbike passed by my car. For a while, I had to train myself against all sorts of contingencies by deploying my decade-long background in martial arts, as well as brief training in using semi-automatic rifles. There were, however, times when I almost succumbed—and began questioning everything, including my own determination to continue speaking truth to power.
Someone should tell him that journalism was a dangerous profession long before he got into it. To begin with, blogging is not journalism per se. It’s more an op-ed than reporting the news. It’s expression an opinion or an analysis of events which have taken place or about to. The danger lies in investigative journalism where expose’s are the norm. Think Watergate and Deep Throat which caused the resignation of Richard Nixon. There are also the attack dogs who focus on an single personality. They are the most likely to end up dead if they trifle with someone who doesnt’ have any qualms about murder when they are targeted.
I don’t really think any politician would target Heydarian. Not even Duterte. To most Pinoys, he’s a laughingstock. A joke even. The average Pinoy can read the political tea leaves better than he does. All he is, is a mouthpiece for his patrons.
But there is an argument to be made about objectivity. One should not be beholden to anyone as a public intellectual. An example would be the old school journalists who never stopped criticizing the powers that be. A good example is Louie Beltran. He was anti-Marcos but made it a point to expose the shenanigans in the Cory administration. He was even sued for libel by Cory herself.
This is what establishes the credibility of the journalist. Sadly, this is what is absent now with the current crop of “journalists” we have. They have become personalities in their own right. They have contracts instead of paychecks and are also “content creators” on social media platforms. These days, it’s a popularity contest out there. It’s not much about substance but more about what tickles the public. The line between politics and showbiz has definitely been blurred and so we have “journalists” and “influencers” who are more and more like gossip columnists in the Entertainment section.
Six years later, I can barely recognize myself. Physically, I may look not much different, though entering mid-30s made me rethink my fashion and facial hair. But spiritually and psychologically, I have had to grow in leaps and bounds to maintain my inner integrity and burning passion for truth.
Surviving, perhaps even thriving, in the new and perilous political landscape necessitates recognizing the fundamental shift in our informational ecosystem. None of this—the trolls, the trashy “bloggers” and disinformation—is going away.
Hope alone is a poor strategy. It has to be met with preparation, reorganization, and dynamism. The doctrine of the marketplace of ideas has clearly degenerated into a market failure: The most sensationalist is rewarded, while the most nuanced is ignored, if not punished. Thus, meeting the challenge before us requires both personal and structural reforms.
On the personal level, journalists and public intellectuals will have to embrace genuine humility, namely recognizing their declining relevance—if not hegemony—in the new information ecosystem. For the past decade, we ignored, if not sneered at, platforms such as YouTube and, more recently, TikTok, which have become the primary source of infotainment for much of the population, especially the youth and the elderly.
The opposition and their cohorts, such as Heydarian, blame their defeat on what Maria Ressa refers to as “networked disinformation.” It’s not actuall that which cost them the “victory” they thought was within their reach but more because of the fact that they were the ones who were actually guilty of historical revisionism. The promised change after the ouster of Marcos didn’t come. The pandemic made the Filipinos realize that if it weren’t for the hospitals Imelda built during her time, they would probably be dead.
Heydarian and the rest of his ilk, blame Duterte for the state of journalism in the country today. What did Duterte do but expose the truth for what it is. This is why Duterte stepped down as the most popular President in the post-Marcos era.
As far as Rappler goes, there is a legal basis for its closure because it violated several laws. The opposition is for the unequal application of the law whenever it’s convenient for them. As such, they want PBBM to give Rappler a pass. It’s even gone to the extent that Ressa and her American allies got Hillary Clinton to tweet against Rappler’s impending closure and how it should go on speaking truth to power.
I have nothing against exposing anomalies in government. That falls not only on journalists but for every Filipino. What I am against is how the likes of Heydarian are so enamored of their foreign allies that they think that they are god’s gift to the Filipino.
If Pinoy journalists want the public to believe in them, they have to regain their credibility. The only way to do this is to be objective, to respect the rule of law and the people’s mandate.
Leni Robredo and the rest of the opposition aren’t holier than thou that they don’t have any skeletons in their closet. It can’t be said also that they’re shit isn’t as odious as ours. It’s the same shit.
Just like Heydarian’s.
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