Similarities

There are many similarities in the midterm elections that will take place in the United States early next week and the one in the Philippines in the middle of next year. But the most interesting of all will be that the results would serve as a referendum on the presidencies of both Donald Trump and Rodrigo Duterte, who themselves share many similarities.

Both Trump and Duterte remain hugely popular among their base constituencies but are hugely unpopular in the media of their respective countries. This unpopularity in the media owes in large part to the political bias that has afflicted media in ways that were unheard of perhaps just a generation ago.

And it is not helping the presidencies of both Trump and Duterte that both leaders are prone to embark on controversial policies or say the most startling things, all of which give fuel to a media that is always more on the lookout for sensational or negative things to report or discuss.

If you listen to the media in either country, especially those that have lost all pretense of objectivity and positivity, it is as if Trump and Duterte are completely and absolutely incapable of doing anything right. On the other hand, these politically coopted media self-righteously think of themselves as completely and absolutely incapable of being wrong.

And that is why the results of the midterm elections in both the United States and the Philippines are interesting in that they serve as referendums on the presidencies of both Trump and Duterte even if they themselves are not running. The electoral fates of candidates identified with either leader will tell a very compelling story.

But do not ever believe that if the results turn out well for Trump and Duterte that the media will shut up in tacit acknowledgement of its mistake. What the media will do in such an eventuality is simply to find a new narrative to spin.

The media may at times come up with perfunctory corrections or issue apologies. But they never shift gears on righteousness.

Nevertheless, a favorable outcome for either president should be telling enough to the publics of both the United States and the Philippines that the media is not always right and that it is always best and wise for these publics to make crucial determinations for their own selves.

If, on the other hand, the candidates of either president lose out, that still would not mean the media critical of these presidents are right. Electoral determinations have their own unique dynamics that media bias can only influence partly. In the end, it is still up to the people how they go about making choices critical to their own lives.