Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

The Philippine Press is an institution that has been particularly vulnerable to pressure and machinations; and a tool to make and unmake Presidents (Ofreneo, 1986). Power brokers of all types have manipulated the press to further their vested interests. For decades, the Philippine Press has bombarded the nation with stories about the Marcos and Aquino Administrations. In many instances, the media heavily chronicled one side of the story while the other was largely obfuscated. This qualitative study narrates how the media played an important role in the time of the Cory Aquino Administration. It is grounded on the tenets of the Spiral of Silence Theory by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann which posits that interpersonal communication and media operate together in the development of public opinion. Following the steps of Creswell (2009), the researchers gathered and organized relevant data and reading materials from various sources; conducted in-depth interview with the participants; reflected on the over-all meaning; identified themes for coding; and finally interpreted the data. The research revealed the following themes based on the participants’ narratives: 1.) The Aquino Administration was cloaked in dictatorship, with a fair share of issues of incompetence, corruption, and nepotism; 2.) The journalists primarily encountered financial and moral struggles at that time and 3.) The Aquino media was mostly used as a tool for propaganda.