If Philippine elections were a classroom and electoral fraud the previous days’ lesson, then the people and civil society groups listened and learned. The media didn’t. The people and civil society got it. The media didn’t (some, at least).
The one central issue in the 2007 elections is the unresolved cheating of the past. Those who are looking for or dredging up other issues are unlikely to find any that will stick, or that will draw people’s attention and interest. The one thing that mattered to Filipinos was the systematic, wholesale cheating that took place in 2004—evidence of which came in the form of the “Hello, Garci” recordings—which remains unpunished to this day.
And yet how come (some in) the media didn’t get it? Was it fear? Vested interest? Bias? A misreading of the situation?
Friends and I were talking about this while we were in Davao last month. Ellen noted how (some) media organizations had failed to highlight “Hello, Garci” as an election issue, and how they seemed all too willing to let administration candidates off the hook, specially those who deliberately ignored the “Hello, Garci” question. Bon said that one TV network’s election special focused on issues like jobs, housing, health care, and the like, which were more suited to elections for president (or maybe local executives) rather than elections for the national legislature where each candidate is expected to have his or her own advocacy, not to mention knowledge of law-making.
