THE mass media are probably the most important public that a PR professional has to deal with. Hence, a PR practitioner must know the media in his country—its general history, the various newspapers, radio, TV and digital-media organizations that comprise it, their key people, their respective editorial policies, and so on and so forth, to be able to have a good working relationship with them. Hence, for our PR Matters column this week, we asked one of our colleagues, Butch Raquel, to relate his experience when he was with ABS-CBN from 1986 to 1998.
1986 will always be remembered in our nation’s history as the year when democratic institutions were restored through a nonviolent, military-backed civil revolt that toppled a 14-year dictatorship.
Media organizations, like ABS-CBN, that were taken over by cronies, reopened, to the delight of eager viewers thirsting for authentic news, after years of censorship and indigestion from pro-government fare.
The show window of any broadcast organization is its news department, and ABS-CBN revived its centerpiece late-evening English newscast, The World Tonight, shortly after the network resumed operations three decades ago. This year, the premier English newscast celebrates its 50th anniversary.
I was thrust into the program’s saddle not by design or any brazen attempt to trailblaze in the industry, but by pure circumstance, when the sitting executive producer was suddenly shifted to another assignment.
My biggest liability was I had no broadcast experience to speak of as I was only exposed to wire- service work in New York as foreign information attaché covering the United Nations in the late 1970s, and assistant foreign editor of the Philippines News Agency’s head office in Manila. My college course was political science, not journalism.
But, as the saying goes, the show must go on. And after observing how the process evolved right after the early evening newscast ended at 7 p.m., I was suddenly on the pilot’s seat.
My only advantage in drawing up the program lineup was that I was concurrently Desk editor, so the news from internal and outside sources passed through my hands during my work shift. I now had to select the news I could squeeze into basically a 20-minute newscast, minus the 10 minutes of commercial load and segment gaps.
My criteria were basically to feature news of national significance and interesting to viewers. It was tough, given the wealth of information at your doorstep each and every day. You also had to constantly refer to your guidepost that broadcast is such a powerful medium that it somehow mirrors the consciousness of the nation, so to speak.
So it was extremely difficult to accommodate material sent by marketing and PR agencies. However, I discovered to my delight that not all PR materials were about product endorsements per se, but had some social relevance, especially in corporate social responsibility work that companies and institutions do.
In these instances, but still depending on how the news of the day was unfolding, these socially relevant materials could be aired from time to time. But in the years I was with The World Tonight program that I fondly refer to as the crossroads of our nation’s history, specifically from 1986 to 1990, we witnessed no less than three coup attempts against the Cory Aquino administration.
There was one instance when the ABS-CBN broadcast facilities were under siege by rebel forces and we were holed up inside for several days. After the threat died down, we did not have the luxury of going home to rejoin worried family members, but had to produce a documentary of the failed coup for airing the same night. Such is the life of news people.
There was never a “slow news day” as we also had during this momentous period the first free elections in 14 years, a constitutional convention and unending destabilization threats, to name a few.
In 1994 Gabby Lopez decided to put up a corporate affairs office when the network went public. I was on the job until I retired in 1998 and joined another broadcast giant four years later.
Now that the shoe is on the other foot and having been on both sides of the fence, I can, in all modesty, say this has been a tremendous personal advantage, and a blessing, as well.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the International Public Relations Association, the premier association for senior professionals around the world. Butch S. Raquel, APR is Chairman and CEO of BSR Public Relations Co., Inc.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer the readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.