Suffering amid a pandemic: The televised rejection of non-social amelioration program beneficiaries

Mediation of news offers a performative function which can bring people’s attention towards human suffering, but it can also evoke representations that shape public behavior and ethical norms. By using Lilie Chouliaraki’s analytics of mediation as a springboard, this research proposes two distinct r...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: De Leon, Anna Katherine Dela Cuesta
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Animo Repository 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_comm/4
https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=etdm_comm
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: De La Salle University
Language: English
id oai:animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph:etdm_comm-1004
record_format eprints
spelling oai:animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph:etdm_comm-10042022-07-13T08:24:48Z Suffering amid a pandemic: The televised rejection of non-social amelioration program beneficiaries De Leon, Anna Katherine Dela Cuesta Mediation of news offers a performative function which can bring people’s attention towards human suffering, but it can also evoke representations that shape public behavior and ethical norms. By using Lilie Chouliaraki’s analytics of mediation as a springboard, this research proposes two distinct regimes of pity or emerging characteristics of reports that were evident in two primetime news programs in the Philippines showcasing proximal suffering during a pandemic. The first regime is Patronage News, which is a concept patterned from the ancient Roman society’s patronus-cliens relationship called clientela or its legal term patrocinium in which patrons give support to their plebeian clients who, in turn, provide services and loyalty to them. This type of news narrativizes suffering to entrench the media’s role as a benefactor providing public service that fosters clientelistic ties between broadcast institutions and viewers. Meanwhile, the other type is Reflective News, which is derived from the Latin word reflectere which connotes ‘to bend something back.’ Similar to a mirror when the light waves bounce back to show a person’s reflection, Reflective News facilitates emotional engagement by dramatizing the condition of the sufferers on television so that the audience can relate with them or have an inward contemplation without the urgency to act on the suffering. Through these regimes, the Philippine media evokes representations that reproduce existing power divides between the viewers and the sufferers. I provide empirical context to this argument through the mediation of suffering shown by TV Patrol and 24 Oras about citizens who were not included in the Philippine government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP) during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. 2022-07-04T07:00:00Z text application/pdf https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_comm/4 https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=etdm_comm Communication Master's Theses English Animo Repository Pandemics--Philippines Television broadcasting of news--Philippines Film and Media Studies
institution De La Salle University
building De La Salle University Library
continent Asia
country Philippines
Philippines
content_provider De La Salle University Library
collection DLSU Institutional Repository
language English
topic Pandemics--Philippines
Television broadcasting of news--Philippines
Film and Media Studies
spellingShingle Pandemics--Philippines
Television broadcasting of news--Philippines
Film and Media Studies
De Leon, Anna Katherine Dela Cuesta
Suffering amid a pandemic: The televised rejection of non-social amelioration program beneficiaries
description Mediation of news offers a performative function which can bring people’s attention towards human suffering, but it can also evoke representations that shape public behavior and ethical norms. By using Lilie Chouliaraki’s analytics of mediation as a springboard, this research proposes two distinct regimes of pity or emerging characteristics of reports that were evident in two primetime news programs in the Philippines showcasing proximal suffering during a pandemic. The first regime is Patronage News, which is a concept patterned from the ancient Roman society’s patronus-cliens relationship called clientela or its legal term patrocinium in which patrons give support to their plebeian clients who, in turn, provide services and loyalty to them. This type of news narrativizes suffering to entrench the media’s role as a benefactor providing public service that fosters clientelistic ties between broadcast institutions and viewers. Meanwhile, the other type is Reflective News, which is derived from the Latin word reflectere which connotes ‘to bend something back.’ Similar to a mirror when the light waves bounce back to show a person’s reflection, Reflective News facilitates emotional engagement by dramatizing the condition of the sufferers on television so that the audience can relate with them or have an inward contemplation without the urgency to act on the suffering. Through these regimes, the Philippine media evokes representations that reproduce existing power divides between the viewers and the sufferers. I provide empirical context to this argument through the mediation of suffering shown by TV Patrol and 24 Oras about citizens who were not included in the Philippine government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP) during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
format text
author De Leon, Anna Katherine Dela Cuesta
author_facet De Leon, Anna Katherine Dela Cuesta
author_sort De Leon, Anna Katherine Dela Cuesta
title Suffering amid a pandemic: The televised rejection of non-social amelioration program beneficiaries
title_short Suffering amid a pandemic: The televised rejection of non-social amelioration program beneficiaries
title_full Suffering amid a pandemic: The televised rejection of non-social amelioration program beneficiaries
title_fullStr Suffering amid a pandemic: The televised rejection of non-social amelioration program beneficiaries
title_full_unstemmed Suffering amid a pandemic: The televised rejection of non-social amelioration program beneficiaries
title_sort suffering amid a pandemic: the televised rejection of non-social amelioration program beneficiaries
publisher Animo Repository
publishDate 2022
url https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_comm/4
https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=etdm_comm
_version_ 1738854809238241280