Category: Politics

Last saturday, Blogwatch was featured in the radio show, Batas Barangay.  The radio show was aired at DZRH w/hosts Henry Uri, Christine & Atty. Ramon Barredo.  Batas Barangay is run by Batas Barangay Development Foundation.  It is a non-government organization that aims to educate the people regarding their rights and obligations towards the achievement of peace and development.

It was an honor to be one of the bloggers asked to represent Blogwatch in the radio guesting.  We were there to share with listeners what blogwatch is about, who blogs and why we write for the site.

It was my first time to be in a radio studio.  Can I just say that it was sooooo cool to actually sit in on the room (which was good for five people).  There were microphones and headphones ready.  Inside the room were some monitors like what we could see on television.  It is really popular that radio shows are now on Television too.

It’s funny that wherever I go, certainly there’ll always be bloopers that I make.  One big mistake I made was when they asked me who the presidentiables we interviewed were.  I answered: Villar, Gibo, Gordon, Perlas, Villanueva then… JC de Vera instead of JC delos Reyes!  On national radio and on TV!!!  It was so embarassing!  To think that JC de Vera is an actor and not a politician and definitely NOT a presidentiable!  So if both JCs are reading this entry, I apologize for the mixup. 🙂

Here are some information we shared during the 6:30-7:30pm show:

• Objective: The aim of Blog Watch is to give Filipinos, especially the youth, exactly what they need when they need it, and to try to produce a better-educated voter body in time for the 2010 elections through the use of new media and social media software applications.
  BlogWatch is a bloggers’ initiative aiming to cover underplayed stories that traditional media cannot cover due to limited resources and time.
• How the bloggers were selected: Their passion for writing was not just for a personal engagement but for a higher end. Referrals & word of mouth were mainly the instruments as to how the bloggers were selected.
• Demographics of Bloggers: Age: 21-66 yrs old; Gender: M-17, F-8; Metro Manila-20, Provincial-5
• Profile of Personal Blogs: Personal, food, politics, photoblog, internet marketing
• Difference between Blog Watch & Traditional Media:
  1) Traditional media – provides the medium for discussion.  It is Blog Watch, in new media where discussion takes place -twitter, plurk, facebook comments.
  2) Traditional media – tends to focus on Personality- or celebrity-centered coverage, He said, she said, Party Politics, reactionary.  Blogwatch – platforms, Issues, Campaign Finance, Automated Election, Voters Ed, Commentaries.
  3) What traditional media prints out or shows on TV passes through rigorous editing.  Sometimes long speeches and discussions need to be trimmed down to just a few minutes due to precious airtime.  Blog Watch – has almost no limit.  Interviews of candidates are hardly edited and are posted in full on our sites (only chopped up in YouTube due to the latter’s 10-minute per video limit.
• Categories: Voter’s Education (emphasis on relevant COMELEC laws), Automated Elections, Commentaries, Features & Campaign Finances.
• Format of interview: Casual ambiance (sometimes in internet cafes); interviewee is surrounded by bloggers in a warm setting; Blog Watch gets one question each, followed by Vibal, guest bloggers.  Questions from the online viewers via Twitter or the chatroom are also asked.  Bloggers end with photo ops (a trademark of bloggers as these pics are often used in their own blogs as well as on social networking sites and the actual Blog Watch articles they write).
• Interviews done: Manny Villar, Bro. Eddie, Kapatiran (JC de los Reyes/Jun Chipeco), Nick Perlas, Gilbert Teodoro, Gordon/Fernando and some senatoriables

One important point I want to call out (it was discussed briefly during the show) is how blogwatch is non-partisan.  I myself believe that there’s no such thing as being neutral.  While blogwatch is non-partisan, the bloggers in the group have their own choices when it comes to who to support.  We balance each other out.

To be honest, I am still undecided but based on who we met, I am already leaning towards supporting some candidates.  I’ll definitely share my choices once Blogwatch has finished all interviews with the candidates most probably a few weeks before election.

Rest of the pictures of our radio guesting can be found in my flickr page.