Like dinosaurs, journalists are vanishing in today’s society, replaced by social media influencers and ordinary vloggers who draw much attention to the most mundane issues but which so many people can relate to.
People, including those in the media, were shocked to learn that CNN Philippines, the only English-language news channel, is set to close shop due to financial losses.
Another English-language cable TV news channel, ANC, will go on air for the last time on Feb. 24 on its main platform, with original carrier Skycable opting to move back as an internet provider.
OneNews would be the last standing English-language cable TV news channel, but it, too, has suffered losses, cutting back on programming and axing several news and public affairs programs.
What has happened to TV news consumption? Why is television news losing its audience?
Is the news media landscape changing? Is disinformation getting more traction than reliable and accurate information dished out by news programs?
By the second quarter this year, there will be more talented journalists, producers, and workers in the news industry that will be thrown into the streets.
They have to reinvent themselves, joining hundreds who will go into podcasts and as content creators on various social media platforms.
The news media cannot blame the internet and social media for the sudden demise of newspapers, radio, and television news.
They were very slow to adapt to the changing attitude and behavior of news consumers who now put a premium on tailored and on-demand information any time, anywhere, and whatever interests them.
Even global news brands have suffered the same fate. They were late in the game to go into podcasts and in using social media to broaden their market.
Even before the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and the rise of populist leaders like Donald Trump, Rodrigo Duterte, and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro a few years before, the news media should have detected the fast-changing political, economic, and sociocultural global landscape.
These changes had affected how people consume news, as technology has personalized information through mobile phones, laptops, and tablets.
From the time people wake up in the morning until they go to bed at night, they still browse through their gadgets. They no longer turn newspaper pages or switch on radio and television.
Everything has changed. The people’s attention span on the news was fleeting.
They don’t have the luxury of sitting for hours in front of a television screen or reading pages of newspapers.
That’s the sad reality. The phenomena is everywhere. Not only in the Philippines but even in Western countries, like the United States.
The influential Los Angeles Times recently announced it was cutting jobs. Even online news platforms are no longer sustainable.
Thanks are due to a few organizations and foundations who continuously support and provide funding to keep news media afloat.
In the Philippines, the news media’s slide to extinction was quickened by two factors — the rise of Duterte and the pandemic.
Duterte controlled the country by first discrediting the independent news media, proclaiming them as the government’s enemies.
His sycophants, including paid social media influencers, labeled the news media as paid hacks, biased and pro-opposition “dilawan.”
Mocha Uson, one of his social media influencers, even coined the term “press-titutes” to malign independent and critical news organizations.
At the same time, these social media influencers spread disinformation and propaganda to help the government hijack the narrative and deflect criticisms from the news media.
Duterte was so effective in destroying the reputation of the news media that a Reuters Institute survey done in 2020 showed the trust ratings of Philippine news media as among the lowest in the world at 27 percent, much lower than the global average of 42 percent.
The biggest blow happened in July 2020 when, under his orders, a panel at the House of Representatives rejected the legislative franchise renewal of ABS-CBN, the country’s largest broadcast network, throwing thousands of journalists and media workers out of their jobs at a time when the world was plunged into recession due to the pandemic.
ABS-CBN’s shutdown sent a chilling effect on news organizations in the country.
Duterte even weaponized the pandemic to restrict news media movements and access, and controlled information.
In a way, Duterte’s campaign to malign the news media helped Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his daughter Sara Duterte win the May 2022 elections.
Journalists are not giving up easily. They are pushing back and struggling to keep the news media afloat.
They know the people need accurate, unbiased and reliable information so they can decide for themselves and act based on accurate information.
Journalists have a great responsibility to society. They will never turn their backs against the public interest and will always act for the greater good, no matter what it takes, even at the risk of putting their own lives on the line.
The pandemic also gave them a good lesson to persevere and soldier on in the interest of truth-telling.
In the succeeding two years since the 2020 pandemic, the Reuters Institute survey showed improvements in the Philippine media’s trust ratings despite disinformation.
The trust rating in 2021 went up by 5 percentage points and the following year, there was another 5-percentage-point increase to 37 percent.
Although the trust ratings remained below the global average, the Philippines was among 13 countries around the world that registered improvements.
It only goes to show that there is still much room for improvement and the news media might be showing signs of winning against disinformation and propaganda.
Probably, one factor that helped the news media improve its trust rating was the fact that the people behind the campaign to discredit the news media under Duterte are in disarray.
There has been a split between the pro-Duterte trolls and pro-Marcos influencers. They have openly fought on social media platforms, leaving the news media to report on reliable and accurate information based on facts without interference from negative content creators in social media.
There is still much work to be done to restore the news media’s credibility and trust ratings.
The news media must also explore and experiment on viable business models to gain back audience and advertising revenues to make news organizations financially sustainable.
Perhaps, the news media can learn a valuable lesson from the closure of CNN Philippines and ANC.
News organizations must learn to operate on a leaner manpower and budget and try to exploit new technology for a meaner product.
There’s still hope for the news media.