No news, no views
No person or entity provides regular updates anymore from officialdom on crucial developments in the country as they happen except for the news that comes from mainstream or social media. The usual dose of news bulletins from the Malacañang press secretary, desirably during the time of then Press Secretary Vic Rodriguez, has become a forgotten lore.
Every public office or official took the initiative to communicate their agency reports on their websites or webpages on a fairly consistent basis. Beyond merely echoing the official line, some tailor-fit their agencies to their latent presidential ambitions and they projected themselves as men of the hour.
No one can discount how important it is for the public-atlarge to be informed directly by the presidential spokesperson in the Office of the President. When did it become a threat, nay a weakness, of governance to shun regular broadcasts of anything at all imbued with public interest?
Stated differently, when was the last time the press secretary made an announcement or held a press conference precisely to give updates on quite urgent or pressing societal concerns? The near absence of periodic updates from Malacañang ought not to be symptomatic of the leadership style of the present dispensation unless clear indubitable signs prove how results-oriented it is to even do some “talking” than “doing.”
Frankly, communicating effectively even before news comes out in print, radio, or television is the more reliable source of information the public needs at crucial points in our collective lives as a people. Absent that, our individual ideological compass might point in various directions.
News, press conferences, public statements that are viewed directly as they come from the mouths of the President or his Press Secretary are more comforting than the increasing pattern or “sleep mode” that the seat of power or office concerned has conveniently chosen, thereby abandoning its raison d’etre.
Doing away entirely with this public information business only heightens the disconnect between the leader and the governed as it is from the latter that the former derives its authority and legitimacy. No one can take the initiative that must originate from the presidency itself.
We may be experiencing an information deficit about the things the government is doing. On purpose, it seems to be doing away with informing the public of its activities, thus equivocating – “no news, no views.”
Before leaving for Australia on a state visit, FM Jr. expressed the idea of holding simultaneously the mid-term elections and the plebiscite to ratify the proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution in May next year. Truly, this will yield P13 billion in savings if the two political exercises are held at the same time.
More than a mere press statement from the President done in haste, the public is eager to hear how the media as the proverbial Fourth Estate would raise more crucial questions about the official responses.
Rehearsed speeches read over teleprompters do very little for the public awareness that matters. It may even be a great disservice to what should otherwise be a vibrant democracy at work.
Besides, the general public may not be in full agreement with whatever the government is doing or not doing. It’s important to have a continuing dialogue where views different from the official line could be heard.
Even Congress cannot play proxy for how the Filipino people think of the things going on like the “anti-China, pro-US” sentiment or the “Charter change” move instigated by the House of Representatives.
There’s always good ground not to invoke such an obsolescent notion as the voice of the constituents being what their representatives say it is — the same being, at best, mere legal fiction.
The conduct of press conferences — as direct sources of news updates on current concerns — ought not to be viewed as a ritual with a lot of moving pieces. Allow everyone to join in the national conversation.
No one should outsmart the President.
“On purpose, it seems to be doing away with informing the public of its activities, thus equivocating — ‘no news, no views.’
“No one can discount how important it is for the public-atlarge to be informed directly by the presidential spokesperson in the Office of the President.