University of the East

College of Arts and Sciences

2219 CM Recto Ave. Manila, Philippines 1008

Report
on
NEWS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAM

submitted to
Prof. Ellaine Hufano
Writing for Television

December 15, 2009

by
Izar, Nikko Norman C.
Mercado, Lalaine S.
Alcantara, Luis Jaime
Panaligan, Amaris

This report contains information on the background of news and public affairs programming. It
gives the fundamental explanations of news and public affairs. It gives its relationships and
premise. Moreover, the report cites the two Network titans to exemplify and made an overview
of news and public affairs in Philippine setting.
Table of Contents:

I. Definitions of news and public affairs programming.

II. Qualities and elements of news and public affairs program.

III. GMA news and public affairs

IV. ABS-CBN News and public affairs

Execut ive Summary:

Public affairs are a term used to describe an organization’s relationship with stakeholders.
These are individuals or groups with an interest in the organization’s affairs, such as MPs, civil
servants, shareholders, customers, clients, trade associations, think tanks, business groups,
unions and the media. Public affairs practitioners engage stakeholders in order to explain the
organization’s policies, provide statistical and factual information and to lobby on issues which
could impact upon the organization’s ability to operate successfully. Their work combines
government relations, media communications, issue management, corporate and social
responsibility information dissemination and strategic communications advice. They aim to
influence public policy, build and maintain a strong reputation and find a common ground with
these stakeholders.

Public affairs practitioners can be described by a whole host of different words in job titles
including: public affairs, policy, government affairs, government relations, parliamentary affairs,
parliamentary relations, European affairs, political advisor, political researcher, external affairs,
external relations, campaigns, corporate communications, corporate affairs, stakeholder
relations and stakeholder management.

Public affairs, a broadcasting industry term, refers to programming which focuses on matters of
politics and public policy. Among commercial broadcasters, such programs are often only to
satisfy regulatory expectations, and hence are scheduled at times when few listeners or viewers
are tuned in (or even awake); in U.S. broadcasting, this is known as the "Sunday-morning public
affairs ghetto". At some (particularly national) broadcasters, "Public Affairs" may be a special
unit, separate from the news department, dedicated to producing long-form public-affairs
programming, as at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation prior to 1992.

Media

Audience Demand
Timeliness

Nature of the show

Needs of the audience

News is what is new; it’s what’s happening.  Look it up in the dictionary, and you’ll find news
described as “a report of recent events or previously unknown information.”  But most of the
things that happen in the world every day don’t find their way into the newspaper or onto the
air in a newscast.

So what makes a story newsworthy enough to be published or broadcast?  The real answer is, it
depends on a variety of factors.  Generally speaking, news is information that is of broad
interest to the intended audience, so what’s big news in Buenos Aires may not be news at all in
Baku.  Journalists decide what news to cover based on many of the following “news values”:
News broadcasting is the broadcasting of various news events and other information via
television or radio. The content is usually either produced locally in a newsroom, or by a
broadcast network. It may also include such additional material as sports coverage, weather
forecasts, traffic reports, commentary and other material that the broadcaster feels is relevant
to their audience.

Timeliness

Impact

Proximity

Controversy

Prominence

Currency

Oddity

What makes news also depends on the makeup of the intended audience, not just where they
live but who they are.  Different groups of people have different lifestyles and concerns, which
make them interested in different types of news.  A radio news program targeted at younger
listeners might include stories about music or sports stars that would not be featured in a
business newspaper aimed at older, wealthier readers.  A weekly magazine that covers medical
news would report on the testing of an experimental drug because the doctors who read the
publication presumably would be interested.  But unless the drug is believed to cure a well-
known disease, most general-interest local newspapers would ignore the story.  The exception
might be the newspaper in the community where the research is being conducted.
News organizations see their work as a public service, so news is made up of information that
people need to know in order to go about their daily lives and to be productive citizens in a
democracy.  But most news organizations also are businesses that have to make a profit to
survive, so the news also includes items that will draw an audience: stories people may want to
know about just because they’re interesting.  Those two characteristics need not be in conflict. 
Some of the best stories on any given day, in fact, are both important and interesting.  But it’s
fairly common for news organizations to divide stories into two basic categories: hard news and
soft news, also called features.

Types of News

Hard news is essentially the news of the day.  It’s what you see on the front page of the
newspaper or the top of the Web page, and what you hear at the start of a broadcast news
report.  For example, war, politics, business, and crime are frequent hard news topics.  A strike
announced today by the city’s bus drivers that leaves thousands of commuters unable to get to
work is hard news.  It’s timely, controversial, and has a wide impact close to home.  The
community needs the information right away, because it affects people’s daily lives.

By contrast, a story about a world-famous athlete who grew up in an orphanage would fit the
definition of soft news.  It’s a human-interest story involving a prominent person and it’s an
unusual story that people likely would discuss with their friends.  But there’s no compelling
reason why it has to be published or broadcast on any particular day.  By definition, that makes
it a feature story.  Many newspapers and online-news sites have separate feature sections for
stories about lifestyles, home and family, the arts, and entertainment.  Larger newspapers even
may have weekly sections for specific kinds of features on food, health, education, and so forth.

Topic isn’t the only thing that separates hard news from features.  In most cases, hard news and
soft news are written differently.  Hard news stories generally are written so that the audience
gets the most important information as quickly as possible.  Feature writers often begin with an
anecdote or example designed primarily to draw the audience’s interest, so the story may take
longer to get to the central point.

Some stories blend these two approaches.  Stories that are not time-sensitive but that focus on
significant issues are often called “news features.”  A story about one community’s struggle to
deal with AIDS, for example, is a news feature.  A story about a new treatment option for AIDS
patients would be hard news.  News features are an effective way to explore trends or complex
social problems by telling individual human stories about how people experience them.  (We’ll
discuss these different writing styles in more detail in Chapter 3, “Telling the Story.”)

Where the News Comes From

Journalists find news in all sorts of places, but most stories originate in one of three basic ways:
• naturally occurring events, like disasters and accidents;
• planned activities, like meetings and news conferences;
• reporters’ enterprise.

GMA News and Public Affairs is the news department of the Philippine broadcaster GMA Network. It
produces news and infotainment programs for all GMA Network owned and affiliated television and
radio stations in the Philippines, and internationally through GMA Pinoy TV and GMA Life TV. GMA News
and Public Affairs is currently headed by Marissa Flores. It is headquartered at the Ground Floor of GMA
Network Center in Quezon City.[1]

News division

The GMA News division traces its origin from the Republic Broadcasting System, established by Robert
Stewart. Programming of its radio station, DZBB depended on mostly on news reports. The station
covered the eruption of Mt. Hibok-Hibok in 1951, and the election and untimely death of former
President Ramon Magsaysay. While RBS Channel 7 was established in 1961, it was in 1970s that GMA
became one of the most-watched television news source in the country. In 1983, Channel 7 was the first
to break the news of Ninoy Aquino's death, and later would be the only television station to broadcast
his funeral. The channel also became the first station to broadcast the Ramos-Enrile break-away that led
to the People Power Revolt.

In 1998, GMA teamed up with the Philippine Daily Inquirer to produce election coverage. Its flagship
newscast, Saksi, won the 1999 Asian Television Awards and 2002 New York Festival awards for Best
Newscast. In 2006, GMA News was praised by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for its news coverage,
and said that it was the reason for the network's high ratings. In the 2006 SWS Media Trust survey, GMA
News garnered 60% of public trust, second only to rival ABS-CBN with 68%. But a similar Pulse Asia
survey shows that GMA News is the more credible in the country and to key demographics.

GMA News became a pioneer in local television news in many ways. GMA was one of the pioneers of
women in broadcast journalism. Tina Monzon-Palma was one of the first women co-anchors when she
first presented News at Seven, one of the most-watched news programs in the 1970s. Helen Vela was
the first woman to anchor news in Tagalog, and Mel Tiangco was the first late-night solo anchor. GMA
was the first to broadcast an hourly news program, which is known today as the GMA Flash Report, and
the first station to use a ticker for breaking news and traffic information. GMA News was also the first to
use Electronic News Gathering Vans in the country. In 2004, it regularly began to use Satellite News
Gathering facilities to reach more remote areas. It also covered major events in the country, such as the
1995 World Youth Day, 2003 World Meeting of Families, and 2000 Today.

Public Affairs division

GMA’s Public Affairs division was established in 1987 [2] when Tina Monzon-Palma, then head of GMA
News recognized that a 30 minute newscast was not adequate and sufficient to inform the general
Filipino public on what is happening to the recently established Aquino government after the historic
People Power Revolution in February 1986]. It started with five news personnel including Marissa La
Torre Flores (now handles GMA News and Public Affairs as senior vice president) and held office inside
the cameramen’s locker room before moving into the state-of-the-art GMA Network Center with no
experience, equipment, camera and an improvised set broadcasting at the old GMA building in Edsa
with only a passion to work attitude. Now with more than 500 news personnel—here and abroad—and
producing 16 of the most awarded programs on Philippine television today.

The public affairs program Weekend With Velez, was the first network-produced program on GMA,
afterward renamed to Velez This Week and was hosted by Jose Mari Velez. Later that year it was joined
with other public affairs shows such as Firing Line with Teddy Benigno (later on hosted by Oscar Orbos);
View Point with Dong Puno; Straight from the Shoulder hosted by Louie Beltran and The Probe Team by
Che-Che Lazaro.

From a makeshift and improvised set, the once GMA News garnered several honors and recognitions
from local and international award-giving bodies, including two gold medals in the New York Festivals
and their first Peabody Award in 1999[5], one of the most distinguished merit in the broadcast industry,
the only one awarded to an Asian country. The first Peabody was given for Kidney for Sale, an
investigative work on the selling of kidneys in a depressed area along the coast of Manila Bay. The award
also recognizes Marissa Flores as the executive producer and a team of producers, writers, directors and
reporters, as well as Jessica Soho, Michelle Seva-Recto, Jay Taruc, Leogarda Sanchez and Rowel Cornejo,
Melchor Quintos and Gregg Gonzales.

Coinciding with its 20th anniversary in broadcasting excellence, GMA News and Public Affairs aired a
documentary entitled 20: Dalawampung Taon ng GMA Public Affairs (20: Twenty Years of GMA Public
Affairs) on October 28, 2007[6].

The Public Affairs division of GMA is now headed by Nessa Valdellon as Vice President for Public Affairs.

ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs is the news and current affairs division of Philippines
broadcaster ABS-CBN. The organization is responsible for the daily news and information
gathering of the network's news & current affairs programs. According to a SWS media trust
survey, ABS-CBN News & Current Affairs topped the list, garnering 68% of public trust; thus its
current slogan "Panig sa Katotohanan, Panig sa Bayan" (Sides for the Truth, Sides for the
People).

It serves the main ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation, ABS-CBN Regional Network Group,
Studio 23, ABS-CBN Radio (both AM and FM networks) and the ABS-CBN News Channel. The
division operates mainly from the ABS-CBN Broadcast Complex in Quezon City while the
regional ABS-CBN stations also have their local news divisions, which also help in newsgathering
for the whole network. It also has several foreign bureaus—one each in North America, Europe,
the Middle East, and now in Australia with the help of ABS-CBN Global.

The organization is split into three sub-groups:

  News Group, headed by ABS-CBN Vice-President and former CNN Jakarta Bureau Chief
Maria Ressa;
 Current Affairs Group, headed by former American Broadcasting Company news
correspondent and former GMA Network vice president for news and public affairs
Luchi-Cruz Valdez; and
 News Gathering Group, headed by former Reuters correspondent and one-time ABS-
CBN reporter Charie Villa.

Aside from regular programming, it also operates the ABS-CBN News Channel, the first and
currently only 24 hour news channel in the country. The division also operates a news website
in partnership with The Philippine Star and The Manila Times.

Current programs

 Bandila  Salamat Dok!

 Bottomline  S.O.C.O. (Scene of the Crime
 The Correspondents Operatives)
 Failon Ngayon  Sports Unlimited
 I Survived  Trip na Trip
 Kabuhayang Swak na Swak  TV Patrol World
 Kulilits o TV Patrol Sabado
 Matanglawin o TV Patrol Linggo
 News Patrol  Umagang Kay Ganda
 Probe  Urban Zone
 Rated K  XXX: Exklusibong, Explosibong,
Exposé

Appendices:

http://www.publicaffairsnetworking.com/whatis_pa.php

http://www.america.gov/st/freepress-english/2008/April/20080416211618eaifas0.8870203.html

www.wikipedia.org