Extra! Extra! Read entertainment gossip on Duterte’s tabloid

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar holds a copy of a state-run tabloid. FILE PHOTO
Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar holds a copy of a state-run tabloid. FILE PHOTO

It’s unsettling to see that a state-funded tabloid newspaper would print not just blind items, but also presumptive headlines.

The front page, for instance, screams in English how “Duterte Wins War Against Drugs.”

We had no idea the war was already over! (Though we are confident he will win.)

Mula sa Masa, Para sa Masa, was launched on Thu, Aug 18, in Davao City, with a print print run of 5,000 copies.

What we can’t wrap our head around is the tabloid’s entertainment section, which carries blind items about personalities (including a beauty queen, action star and singer) whose lives and careers were supposedly destroyed by drugs.

Sample headlines: “Beauty queen bumatak muna bago maging preacher”. “Actor nang-rape nang ma-high, syut sa Bilibid!”

To put it bluntly, that’s not the type of journalism we were expecting from the Philippine government.

An online version of the eight-page tabloid will be launched within the next few weeks, while an accompanying TV show to be hosted by President Rodrigo Duterte is already in the works.

We’re hoping future issues won’t be as trashy.

It’s not just us who are dissapointed. PTV’s Facebook page, where a photo of the entertainment spread was posted, has been deluged by angry comments.

 

 

“I refuse [to allow] my tax money to be spent this way. The people deserve better than this trash,” said Clinton Balud.

Meanwhile, Joseph Guillermo remarked, “Inalisan niyo ng budget ang Wikapedia para dito the heck?”

“So this is what journalism looks like now. It’s bad enough that it’s hard to find brilliant stories these days. And now this. You’re propagating stupidity using our own money, Philippine government. Thank you. Thank you very much,” said Alora Uy Guerrero.



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