Changes in content of broadcast news, commentary: Four radio stations differ in ways, degree of the shift but adopt crime news as audience magnet
Changes in content of broadcast news, commentary: Four radio stations differ in ways, degree of the shift but adopt crime news as audience magnet
All the four radio station managers profess they still employ universal news values, such as newsworthiness and public interest, along with the assurance that they uphold broadcast ethics.
They just didn’t say it explicitly to CJJ and weren’t more specific. Only one appeared to stress that his media outfit was sticking to the major standards of traditional media (“medya gud ta”).
The lone news reporter CJJ interviewed, a veteran in the industry, said he is not resisting the change and he has been fully aware that consumer habits evolve and transform..
Embracing crime stories. What the station bosses conceded, clearly and expressly, is that they’ve been heavily shifting to news coverage of crime and police stories, even though the stories are not considered high-profile or sensational.
It used to be that only the inherently’ sensational crime stories landed in broadcast news. This time, even almost-petty crimes are gathered, “dressed up,” and given air time longer than each story deserved.
Not surprising though as the goal for each radio station has always been to capture a bigger audience than the competition gets. Whatever the mix or formula of content, it’s still a “ratings game” for the industry’s market strategists. They’re modifying content but, to be sure, for the same “purpose or goal.”
Balancing noble, less-than-noble goals. Except for a sharply different media environment, the broadcast industry is still, to repeat, a “ratings” competition. The bigger the audience, the bigger the return on investment and chances of survival and success. That was the “bottom line” before the advent of digital platforms and still is thereafter for-profit enterprises.
Explainers from within and outside the industry talk about “public good” or “public interest and welfare,” the “mission of traditional media.” True, good and praiseworthy. Yet the money in it is a huge component of most enterprises and media is not an exception.
The most basic motive remains keeping one’s head above the water: survival, growth and profit of the media outlet. The taint of capitalist “selfish” purpose notwithstanding, there’s the imperative of the news organization being financially sound and stable for it to achieve the noble, missionary part of its reason for being..
The process can be that cliché “vicious cycle.” Must a broadcast station sacrifice “news values,” bend ethics and standards, and pander to the dark side of the audience’s soul to compete and survive? Obviously, balancing is required.
And balancing capitalist and noble purposes — like balancing hard news and for-fun-mostly content — has proved to be tough. — Pachico A. Seares 
TOP HONCHOS in four local broadcast stations (from top left): Atty. Juril Broka Patiño, Brigada News FM; Futch Anthony Inso, DYSS GMA-7; Johnley Bayking, XFM; and Atty. Ruphil Bañoc, DYHP.
Four Cebu broadcast managers, one news reporter talk about the shift in radio news coverage
IRIS HAZEL MASCARDO
Sept. 21, 2024
Of four Cebu radio station managers interviewed by CJJ, all admit shifting to crime stories and veering away from governance news, using social media trends to pick subjects of coverage
Only one, from DYHP RMN, says it’s mostly sticking to traditional values of what’s newsworthy.
Consumers of broadcast news and commentary may not have realized it fully at once but changes in content and thrust has been going on for some time already, along with the “overhaul” of the process of media production and its impact on audience habits.
The shift in the nature of news coverage by broadcast stations in Cebu is being felt by many perceptive readers and watchers and if not yet now, pretty soon the transition will be recognized as an accomplished fact.
Cebu Journalism & Journalists (CJJ) has started chronicling this major transformation of broadcast content, which is obviously happening in other parts of the country, as a consequence of network planning and each owner’s keeping track of industry developments.
Keeping pace. The advent of social media not only widens avenues for news consumption but also opens more platforms that have to meet the changing taste and mood of media consumers.
Each media outlet has to keep pace primarily with what the readers and listeners’would like to watch.
How the changing market prompted changes in broadcast news coverage may be seen from the experiences of Brigada News FM, DYSS Super Radyo, XFM, and DYHP.
Sensationalizing crime stories. Lawyer Juril Patiño, station manager of Brigada News FM Cebu, admitted employing “sensationalism” in presenting news and information in their radio station.
Brigada News FM Cebu began operating in Cebu City in 2014 after its national corporation decided to widen its reach. Patiño said their operations now include AM and FM frequency although, he said, their main focus is “delivering the news” rather than providing opinion through commentary programs.
On their daily operations, Patiño said, they are “instilling the vitality of verifying reports to extract roots” or, as journalism students learn in classrooms, verification of data gathered in reporting. He said they pick “interesting topics” from social media, preferably those that people talk about and react to, apparently the ones that go “viral.”
“Especially if there is trending news in the social media, our duty of course as media we have to verify, because the challenge of traditional media, is the proliferation of fake news,” said Patiño.
Patiño said they give importance to police reports, repeating while also advocating for fact-checking and verification when delivering the news.
“Of course sensationalizing police reports, trying to get interviews of those involved,” said Patiño, stressing again their newsgathering process.
Patiño said that “to keep the station on the map,” they listen to results of their surveys, which say that people tend to be more interested in police reports and incidents, rather than political issues. Thus the focus of their news coverage.
So police reports get more attention and time from their news reporters and anchor persons who “highlight or try to sensationalize victims and perpetrators”.
Indeed, Patiño said, they have changed format and content. Back in 2016, he said, when he was still handling a radio program, they “tried to deliver news entertainingly only to find out that people would rather listen to police reports and incidents” that disrupt peace and order in the neighborhood or community. And instead of just interviewing the police as lone news source, “we get the sides of those involved.”
Focus and avowed commitment. “In order to remain significant, of course, we have to focus on getting the interest of the people. Kay og wala na sila (people) ma interest sa imong balita, they will really not listen to your program,” he said.
Conceding to “the challenge from the rise of social media,” Patiño believes they need to “elevate marketing strategies” to keep their listeners’ patronage.
He assured they are “still committed to balance their news coverage” and “will continue to be a watchdog of government.” He didn’t say how that balance is achieved when, by his own, admission most of their time and energy are devoted to police stories and neighborhood disputes and they shun political issues — and, obviously governance stories, because “people don’t listen” to that stuff.
Same shift, different approach. The same shift yet with a different approach has been implemented in another broadcast institution in Cebu City, DYSS Super Radyo. DYSS is the regional radio broadcasting arm of GMA Network. Futch Anthony Inso, DYSS assistant station manager for news operation, considers it important that their news content is “aligned to the management’s mandate.”
Currently, their day-to-day news deployment still covers traditional beats: Capitol, Cebu City Hall, national regional offices, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu City. Inso said they use their “Patrol” reporting extensively, aside from the usual police beat coverage.
When the news editor senses that listeners would prefer to give attention to a violent crime incident, they shift gears on coverage. DYSS, like most other local broadcast stations, delivers news content simultaneously on radio and Facebook Live.
“Gradual change gyud na sya so far, kay dili man sa ingon nga ang kining mga incident maoy gi focus nato, aside sa kining mga violent, mga crimes, apil sad natong gitan-aw, unsay trending sa social media, mao sad na among apson,” Inso added.
The old criteria on news values remain, topped of course by newsworthiness, but there is change of the traditional dynamics. While professiong to “accommodate the interest of the masses,” they have to adjust news coverage to the listening preference and habit of a diverse audience.
Inso claimed they still serve the universal mission of media as “watchdog of government,” mainly by “fair distribution” of the beat reporters the station deploys. He said they prefer (“mostly lean on”) political issues in local government units.
Story budgets. Inso didn’t tell about preference of stories through allocation of time and resources. He talked of ranking in story “budgets.” In most line-ups of stories for broadcast, Inso said, crime news tops the headlines, while an “anomaly in government “comes in the middle.” A crime story may be bumped off the No. 1 spot by a big disruption in the LGU, such as the suspension of the city mayor.
‘Entertaining news.’ Johnley Bayking, station manager of XFM in Cebu, said they’re also adopting tools provided by social media platforms, putting the premium on “trending issues.” Like in Brigada News FM and DYSS GMA 7, XFM strategists believe that crime and community incidents are “usually what their audience consumes.”
Bayking said the changes in Filipino taste and culture more quickly relate them to “news features that entertain.” News is no exception, he said. “Serious” hard news no longer sells to the masses. What does that mean: hard news must be written or presented with a humorous slant, what Bayking called the “entertaining factor”?
What may prompt them to back off a bit on “entertaining news” is that they don’t want “pure entertainment.” Bayking said, “We divide (balance?) the news, but as much as possible we prefer stories that catch audience but dili pud purely entertainment or purely trending.” Reduced to one basic guideline, “as long as the people find it interesting,” that’s it, Bayking said, “it’s newsworthy.”
Sensationalizing, ethics. Disregard the label and the journalism meaning of newsworthy. That seems to be their ground rule, although Bayking said they at XFM wouldn’t wish and would make sure “we don’t end up sensationalizing the news.”
They keep the news “anchored to journalism ethics,” Bayking said. “Media man ta. Dili pwede nga atong pun-an ug dungagan ang balita… freedom of the press is not absolute,” Bayking said.
In the case of DYHP, a household brand in local broadcasting, there’s a subtle difference in policy. Atty. Ruphil Bañoc, station manager, said that despite the advent of social media, they stick to the “traditional way” of handling and delivering news.
Their broadcasting thrust still gives primacy to issues that affect public interest, emphasizing the line, “Media gihapon ta.”
Bañoc admitted a shift in their broadcast operations but qualified that it hasn’t “taken up much factor” as it has in other local radio stations. DYHP RMN does — as Brigada News FM, DYSS GMA 7 and XFM do — consider social media trends in selecting subjects of news coverage but “we only pick up legitimate issues” that affect general public welfare.
There are changes in society and media audience, Bañoc said, “we have to accept that reality, because if we don’t, mabiyaan ta.” But DYHP, he said, gives a lot of importance (“dakong percentage”) to its being traditional media. The way we take up the issues, Bañoc said, is “still how traditional media does it, ‘nga kato gyung’ issues affecting the public interest.”
Bañoc said they didn’t give much time and attention to recent topics that just went viral in Cebu. As member of traditional media, “we still have to deliver the actual news,” citing his station’s duty as member of the Kapisanan ng mga Broadcaster ng Pilipinas (KBP). Media can still uphold the responsibility of being a watchdog of government, he said, at the same time cover and report stories “that perk up the people’s interest.”
In competing for leadership in the market, Bañoc said, despite shunning issues that don’t align with its values, DYHP RMN has retained the loyalty of its audience. The “integrity” has enabled the radio station to keep its loyal audience despite not giving a forum for “issues that are no longer aligned with its values.”
Arnold Bustamante — reporter for DHYP, Superbalita Cebu and CCTN and president of CFBJ or Cebu Federation of Beat Journalists — understands the changes of the broadcast landscape and isn’t resisting them.
With the experience of a veteran reporter for 25 years (since 1999), Bustamante had seen and felt the results of the advent of digital technology and its effect on news media consumers’ preferences and habits.
As a police news reporter, Bustamante said he has observed a burgeoning consumption of crime news, displacing past appetite for irregularities and corruption in local governments. “Di kasabot ang mga tawo ana (the governance stories). Na feel na nato,” he said. Bustamante said ignorance of the language in government stories may be reduced by replacing jargon with plain terms.
Speck of a problem. He could be “under-estimating” readers and listeners. Still assuming he’s right, that’s only a speck in a glut of problems related to the issue of content in local broadcast stations. But removing that small bit — along with balancing hard stories with for-entertainment-only news and, of course, upholding media standards — is a component of the correction process.
IRIS HAZEL MASCARDO graduated from Negros Oriental State University with a degree in mass communication. Right after graduation , she started in 2019 writing for The Freeman, covering the defense (police-military) beat. In 2022, she took a break from media work and did corporate communication for a year. She rejoined The Freeman in September 2023 and was assigned to Cebu City Hall.