MANILA, Philippines — The team of media-shy candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the presumptive president-elect, promised greater government access for the media on Wednesday, but not quite yet.
At campaign headquarters in Mandaluyong, Rodriguez pointedly ignored Rappler reporter Lian Buan’s question about how Marcos would handle the contempt order issued against him by US courts when he becomes president and chief executive. diplomacy. Rodriguez refused to look at the reporter and instead stared at the camera and said “next question.”
Buan tried again later with a different question – whether Marcos could drop President Rodrigo Duterte’s proclamation of a national day of protest every September 21, the publicly recognized anniversary of the declaration of martial law by the father of the candidate.
Rodriguez, at the time, was waiting for a copy of a statement he was to read. Despite looking dead, the spokesperson ignored Buan.
Marcos team verifies PCOO protocols
Marcos has generally been opposed to the media since the campaign. Her team said they preferred one-on-one interviews to forums and debates, where they said candidates were “pitched against each other.”
But even with this format, they have been picky: opting out of a government-arranged interview and participating in events organized by the SMNI Network, a media network owned by self-proclaimed pastor and Marcos endorser Apollo Quiboloy.
“First we have to find out what their current configuration is and if it works. Then I don’t think we have to change it, but if it needs improvement, we will absolutely improve it to allow our friends media to have more access to government and governance,” he told reporters.
The Presidential Office of Communications Operations handles media accreditation and access under the Duterte administration, which also preferred to stick to state-run media.
Rodriguez said Marcos will meet with his transition team on Wednesday afternoon. On their agenda is canvassing votes and potential Marcos Jr. Cabinet members.
Marcos met the press at UniTeam campaign headquarters on Monday to deliver a short statement to his supporters. He said that while he acknowledged the count was in progress, his gratitude to them could not wait. Reporters covering the brief speech were asked not to ask any questions afterwards.
Even on campaign sorties, ambush interviews with Marcos were rare and often conducted in less than ideal setups. Getting a quote from the presidential favorite would mean walking past a crowd of security aides and, at times, supporters chanting “Protect BBM”.
Vlogger access?
Vloggers and influencers were given their own accreditation credentials so they could follow the UniTeam campaign with the media, which often had more restrictions on contestant access.
Will the country see vloggers at the Malacañang press briefing during a second Marcos administration? The team can be open to it.
“If that’s the setup, I don’t see any reason why we should change it,” Rodriguez said.
“If that’s not the current setup, I think that’s a good point that you [reporter] have raised. Maybe we should also consider vloggers because there has already been a transition from the media that we know, there has been a shift to digital platforms,” he added partly in Filipino.
The Palace floated the idea of accrediting vloggers in 2017. Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in August of that year that those with at least 5,000 subscribers could cover Duterte and bloggers accredited by the Palace. PCOO and social media influencers to cover the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Ministerial Meeting. This year.
Journalists, unlike vloggers, are bound by a code of ethics that the Philippine Press Institute, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, and the National Press Club adopted in 1988.
Among the elements of this code are “the duty to broadcast the other party and the duty to promptly correct substantive errors”. Journalists – and the media they represent – also risk losing their credibility as professionals when they make factual errors.
