I have always argued that Philippine media is biased against Duterte and his supporters and that they are nothing but a part of the Liberal party lead opposition. They always claim to be practicing the essential role of the Fourth Estate and that their criticism of Duterte is just them being adversarial to power. Rappler, Inquirer, Philipine Star, ABS-CBN, GMA and CNN Philippines have all banded together to ensure that the Duterte administration loses credibility both here and abroad. This has always been part of the Liberal party strategy – discredit Duterte on all fronts in order to shore-up support for another one of their “people power revolution”.
If the Philippine media is truly functioning as the Fourth Estate then they should give both pro and anti-Duterte news/ events the same kind of coverage. But I have shown constantly in the past that this is not the case. The Philippine media floods out attention with anti-Duterte rhetoric while neglecting anything good about the administration. Take the case of Cocoy Gate. When pro-Duterte bloggers broke the story the Philippine media did not even bother with it despite the seriousness of the implication – a Liberal party connected and coordinated online troll farm. But when Jover Laurio came out the media jump right into it and ran a blitz about Jover. The only time they ever mentioned Cocoy Gate was in maligning the pro-Duterte bloggers who outed Jover Laurio and for their apparent “arrogance” during the Senate hearing. Read my take on Cocoy Gate here.
Here is another example of the media glorifying anti-Duterte movements, no matter how small they are while neglecting to cover pro-Duterte movements, but this time abroad. The Philippine Star ran an article talking about how Pinoys in the Netherlands will be picketing in the Hague to condemn extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. This is clearly part of the Liberal push we see recently for the ICC to step in. Articles like this serve only one purpose – to make it appear as if Filipinos both in the Philippines and abroad are calling on the international community to step in. The reason why I say this is the fact that the Philippine media never bothers to cover any of the pro-Duterte rallies happening across the world. Covering pro-Duterte rallies will go against the narrative they are trying to sell so they do not give it print space or air-time, but when anti-Duterte paid hacks gather in very small groups, the media goes on an orgy.
Philippine media is trying to silence and hide the true voice of the Filipino people around the world. We should fight back and make sure the true pulse of the nation is heard.
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