Reporter, reacting to our previous post about SunStar’s Bzzz section (Tips & Tricks Dep’t.: SunStar’s Bzzzzz), brings out an intriguing point:
The Buzzz is an indicator of the kind of standard Cheking has for himself. During the past election campaign, Buzzz was in an adversarial mode when it talks about Capitol issues but an advocate when it mentions City Hall or a daughter of a former congressman.
Valid point. You’re already editor-in-chief, after all, with absolute control over what comes out in tomorrow’s paper. You write a twice-weekly column, where you can write about anything under the sun. You also run a daily tabloid in Cebuano by remote control. You control what comes out on your online network.
What is the overpowering urge to write a gossip column fit only for trashy showbiz tabloids? To scratch an itch of some baser instinct? Is that why he uses Bzzzz to obsess about a certain Fiscal Gwapa and her alleged sexual exploits involving men in power? Is that why he giggles like a teenage virgin about gossip romantically linking public personalities to each other?
It must be some Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing going on in some dark corner of the SunStar editorial offices.
Reporters, in fact, have stopped submitting tips for the Bzzzzz section (they used to get token prizes of a few pesos for tips) because Cheking — transmogrifying into Mr. Hyde — twists and mangles the stories such that they don’t come out the same. And they run into trouble with their sources.
Why? Because Cheking Seares, Gawad Plaridel awardee for his contributions to journalism, doesn’t want to lend his name (and hence uses blind items, and doesn’t put his byline) to the trash that he spews out in this gossip column. God forbid the Gawad Plaridel awardee soil his hands with his own sh**.
With the Bzzzzz section, the Gawad Plaridel forgets Plaridel and meanders down a nearby back alley. He should get the Gawad Junquera.
Except that our friendly neighborhood ladies of the night — who at least do not have pretensions to uprightness and moral rectitude — might object.
check on cdn’s siloy too. same thing. it hits the capitol and praises city hall. it also writes blind items on certain issues where other papers write it as legitimate story with both sides able to speak out. the gossip column is a powerful tool for editors to hit sources while hiding behind the cloak of gossip. another dark side of journalism.
oh, that’s right. cdn’s siloy. we totally forgot about them. onion-skinned promises to buy cdn from now on. that should up their circulation to 634.
this is soooo coool.
In The Buzzz, she can be herself … meaning she can write about her true feelings about certain people and institutions without putting her name.