BMPM: Breaking through apathy - Gemma Bagayaua Mendoza
By Gemma Bagayaua Mendoza, abs-cbnNEWS.com/ Newsbreak | 09/03/2009 12:59 AM
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As a journalist—and an online journalist at that—I have come to accept that people do not care enough anymore about what goes on in our country. They are just too busy with their own lives and with every other available medium that is trying to catch their precious attention.
The Web cruelly underscores this fact every day.
Publish a story on boxing champ Manny Pacquiao and the story quickly lands under the list of “most read” items. Publish one about how the president has been taking liberties with the administration of the national budget and you’re lucky to have a thousand readers.
It scarcely matters how much you try to humanize the story to make it more interesting. Entertainment and celebrity still lords it in the battle for eyeballs and page views.
Anything that is “malayo sa bituka” (not a gut issue) has little chances of catching the public’s fickle and hard to get attention—except when it becomes controversial enough to dominate the top story block of your news website for a few days.
What then are the chances that things as important as voters’ registration and election automation will get discussed enough by the public to significantly impact public behavior and policy outcomes?
It gets to the point when you are almost discouraged, almost ready to give up. You wonder whether your job, as a journalist, is still relevant.
Battling apathy
It is in this milieu that the News and Current Affairs team of ABS-CBN decided to come up with the Boto Mo Ipatrol Mo: Ako Ang Simula campaign.
The challenge at the outset is how to break through the public apathy, illustrate how the coming elections is a make or break situation, and convince people that they have to get involved and keep informed.
It is, admittedly, skirting along the boundaries of what defines journalism—a craft where practitioners are supposed to practice distance from their subject to maintain objectivity. It borders on advocacy—something that would probably raise the eyebrows of hardcore journalism old timers.
But it is proving to be an effective campaign to make news—particularly news about governance and politics—relevant to people, particularly the young, once again.
It does this by making people realize that issues being discussed at the national level impact on them at the personal level.
Choose the wrong leader and the street leading to your home will remain plagued with potholes. Stay in the sidelines and you will get stuck with a corrupt president and corrupt public officials for the next six years.
Fail to get properly informed and you will be unable to discern which candidate is really the most worthy of your vote.
Powerful tool: citizen journalism
It also gives people a powerful tool for involvement—citizen journalism that is directly hooked up with the country’s biggest network, essentially giving an otherwise lonely poll watcher in Jolo the chance to get noticed by a nationwide audience.
The message is simple.
Instead of just blogging about your recently purchased iPhone or about your latest vacation, why not blog about how the Comelec is conducting voters’ registration in your area?
Instead of mouthing expletives every time your street gets flooded despite the fact that a huge billboard about a flood control project in the area, dominated by the picture of your smiling city mayor, has been posted at the corner of your street for months, why not send a text message about this matter to 2366?
You might just get some re-election aspirant to act on your complaint along the way.
Responses from citizens
And the response to the Boto Mo Ipatrol Mo (BMPM) campaign has been tremendous—enough to melt even the cynical hearts of most hardened journalists.
Case in point is when people began posting their thoughts regarding the death of former President Aquino. They were not just sending memorabilia. Many saw Cory’s death as a reminder of their duties as citizens.
One patroller wrote (translated from Tagalog): “We no longer need another Ninoy Aquino to die for the country. What we need are live heroes. Each of us are heroes—a people who truly love our country and are working for its betterment.”
Another patroller, in discussing aspirants whose ads are already dominating the airwaves even though it is still far from election time, said (in Tagalog): “We have to think, be observant, and be critical. Let’s clarify what needs to be clarified and find out what we need to know.”
Messages like these make you realize that journalism is not a pointless job, and that there might be hope for this country after all.
The election draws near. Get involved. To know more about Boto Mo iPatrol Mo Ako ang Simula, log on to www.abs-cbnNEWS.com/botomo or botomoipatrolmo.multiply.com.
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