‘Teleserye mentality’ dilutes TV news coverage

Don’t look now, but the currently pervasive “teleserye mentality” may have adversely affected even the way that disasters like the recent “Ruby” typhoon have been covered on television!

Disasters are sometimes depicted quite subjectively, with a decided preference for upping the ante in terms of danger, loudness and melodrama to the point of hysteria—etc.!

To that effect, some on-cam broadcast journalists covering disasters look like they’re dressed for “combat” with violent nature, all decked out in the latest typhoon gear, boots not just for wading but for fishing(!), voluminous parkas that look veritably tsunami-proof, as well as the latest communication and rescue gadgets.

A few even have the “courageous” penchant for making their reports directly in harm’s way, with extreme winds and torrents of rain threatening to drown them in full view of the TV cameras—or sweep them off to the next island or province!

Perhaps it’s their “self-sacrificial” way of making viewers realize and empathetically experience the full strength of the typhoon, but they really don’t have to go that far, promise! We’ll implicitly believe them when they report 180-mph gales, and they don’t have to prove it by laying their lives quite so melodramatically on the line.

Fixation

Aside from “teleserye culture’s” fixation on extreme melodrama, risk, danger and even death, a few TV people covering disasters appear to be motivated in part by the need to underscore the so-called “teleserye ng tunay na buhay” mantra that has become such a buzz phrase in the biz of late.

This includes a bias against “dry,” objective reportage, and an extreme preference for emotional outbursts, traumatized reactions to danger and loss, desperate pleas for help (the more piteous, the better), and heaving and bug-eyed expressions of gratitude, complete with lachrynal waterworks galore.

Thus, we are occasionally subjected to the manipulative spectacle of field reporters who maximize a disaster’s capacity for blatant emotionalizing by asking a survivor who’s just lost everything he owns, “Ano ho ang nararamdaman niyo ngayon?!” —Please, have a heart, don’t ask.

Some other reporters go on to exploit another teleserye favorite, the “victim-victimizer” card, by inviting survivors to play the “blame” game, especially when it comes to delayed help from government agencies.

They blithely ignore harsh mitigating realities like washed-out roads, landslides and other impediments to instantaneous assistance, and make some survivors come off as inveterate complainers who peevishly rely on government to do anything and everything for them.

—After all, sila ang mga boss, di ba? —Uh, can we not take official slogans quite so literally please?

Bottom line

Fact is, the bottom line is that reality is far removed from the teleserye’s melodramatic and extreme version of it, so subjectivity is the bane, and objectivity is key, especially in disaster coverage. Because only a realistic appreciation of dangers and problems can result in their most expedient alleviation and solution.

—All else is the “business of show,” which TV news coverages should scrupulously avoid like the exploitative plagues and scourges they are.