My reply to GMANews.tv editor in chief Malou Mangahas

UPDATED: Revised sentence to “During the recording of the Loren Legarda podcast, we were surprised when TV crews from GMA 7 and ABC 5 [went to our office] without even informing us.” Thanks to nagtataka for the heads up.

I ALREADY posted this as a reply to Malou Mangahas’ comment on “GMA 7, ABC 5 reporters, TV crew at INQUIRER.net office” but I figure, what the heck, let’s make it a full-blown post. Read her comment first, OK? She has a blog, by the way, over at the GMANews.tv Bloggers Network, which she last updated, as of this writing, on… Jan. 27.

* * *

Well, a visit from GMANews.tv editor in chief Malou Mangahas — what an event indeed!

That’s a rather dramatic opening: “An incredible amount of vermin and venom marks the tortured telling of this story.” Is it alliteration week? Is this how we should write, Malou?

I can’t speak for Mr. Abundo and the other bloggers who have commented over at Abe’s blog, but let me try to be civil in answering your comment.

From your long rant here, it seems fairly obvious that you’re clueless about the incidents that preceded this one. Or you choose to be clueless. But since we’re bringing things out in the open, let’s recap what GMA 7 reporters have been doing for the past few podcast recording sessions.

During the recording of the Loren Legarda podcast, we were surprised when TV crews from GMA 7 and ABC 5, without even informing us. I wasn’t there when they arrived, but I’m told that, in order to keep the peace, our editors decided to let it go and allow your reporter — I think it was Mark Salazar at the time — and crew to take their videos, which actually came out in your newscasts. I don’t know if the TV report mentioned that it was taken at the INQUIRER.net office, and that the podcast Legarda was attending was hosted by INQUIRER.net.

That our editors remained civil does not mean they approved of the presence of members of other media outlets. You’d better check your sources if you think this was the case.

The Editorial team thought this was the end of it, that maybe this was just a fluke and, surely, GMA 7 has more delicadeza than that. Yet it happened again with the arrival of Maki Pulido during the Kiko Pangilinan podcast.

So, since it was clear that reporters from other media outlets would not, on their own, refrain from arriving unannounced in the INQUIRER.net office, our editor in chief JV Rufino signed a formal letter of invitation to the candidates indicating that the podcasts are exclusive to INQUIRER.net, and that members of other media outlets will be asked to leave.

This was the agreement among the editors for strictly enforcing the rule to prevent further invasions from other media outlets. If any reporter had inadvertently asked your reporter to come up, that was not his or her call to make.

So just because people have been civil and have chosen to say what they really think in private instead of turning away your reporters from the start, don’t delude yourself into thinking that our Editorial team approves of these intrusions. That I enforced our rule just means I’m willing to take the flak and make sure these intrusions will never happen again. Oh, and that wasn’t a little camera — it was a camera phone. Such accurate eyewitness accounts.

I won’t speak for our editor in chief JV Rufino, as you presume to do in your rant, because he can speak for himself.

(Post edited by JV Rufino)

Share This