Strong start for ‘Bandila’ By Nestor TorreInquirer
Last updated 00:18am (Mla time) 07/15/2006
Published on page A3-4 of the July 15, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer CHANNEL 2’s new 10:30 p.m. newscast, “Bandila,” came on strong during its debut telecast last July 3, when it became the first TV channel to air Gen. Danilo Lim’s videotaped withdrawal of support from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last February.
The late evening newscast anchored by Korina Sanchez, Ces Drilon and Henry Omaga Diaz took full advantage of its scoop, and presented excerpts of the tape with compelling visuals and editing that further underscored the drama inherent in the heretofore unseen material.
Ratings As a result, the half-hour newscast didn't have much left for its other news reports -- on Comelec Commissioner Borra, Sen. Jamby Madrigal, Imelda Marcos turning 77, another mountain scaled by Filipinos, and the record-breaking TV ratings of the Pacquiao-Larios boxing match.
A “Sa Wari Ko” portion had former Comelec Chairman Christian Monsod weighing in on reliable vote counts. This new feature is welcome, because it serves as a “citizen’s editorial” that shows how individual Filipinos feel about a current issue. The newscast’s brief backgrounder on the Philippine flag was similarly appreciated.
On the debit side, there was only one brief foreign news report, on a train accident in Spain. But, the program’s first telecast ended up on the plus side, buoyed up as it was by the Gen. Lim scoop.
Projection We also appreciated the fact that the anchors were relatively low-key in look and projection. And we were grateful for the fact that ABS-CBN was the first major network to bring its late-evening newscast back from midnight to the 10:30 slot. When will GMA-7 follow?
We also caught the newscast on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, and noted that it was still following up on its Gen. Lim scoop. That was understandable -- but, we wondered how the newscast would shape up without a major scoop to pump up its adrenaline, and ratings.
At the moment, we note that the newscast continues to pay scant attention to foreign news, and we wish it wouldn’t take this tack, because viewers need to know, not just how the country goes, but how the world turns.
We also wonder why news anchor Sanchez is situated in the studio, while Drilon and Diaz report from the newsroom.
Greater depth In addition, we hope that, aside from detailing its lead news item, the newscast would also go into greater depth when it comes to reporting on selected events or topics.
And that the production’s visual gloss doesn’t call too much attention to itself, but is more purposefully used to point out its news reports and underscore their significance.
Finally we note that, last week, the newscast did a reenactment of an event as part of its report. We wish that the production restrains itself from doing this again. While a reenactment provides “atmosphere” and “drama” when no actual footage is available, newscasts should rigorously be about events, not recreations of events.
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