On August 18, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar announced that a national television show called Mula sa Masa, Para sa Masa will be launched, based on President Rodrigo Duterte’s weekend TV show when he served as Davao City mayor called Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa.
While the studio for the said TV show is still being prepared in Malacañang Palace, Andanar said that a tabloid version of the show will be released.
“Ladies and gentlemen, habang wala pa po yung television show, ginagawa pa po naming yung studio sa Malacañang, please welcome Mula sa Masa, Para sa Masa tabloid,” he told reporters on Thursday during a press briefing in Davao City.
He then showed the maiden edition of the tabloid for August 19-31, 2016, featuring the main story of the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs.
The tabloid will be a bi-monthly publication, printing 5,000 copies for its first edition that will be available for free, according to Andanar.
He said that the topics tackled in the tabloid will not be all serious, adding that it will even come with a Showbiz section.
When the government TV network People’s Television Network (PTV) uploaded that section on their official Facebook page, it contained blind items about celebrities allegedly involved with drugs.
But the section earned the ire of the netizens.
Some were not happy about how their taxes were spent.
Others commented on how it seemed unprofessional.
There are also those who said that the government tabloid seemed cheap.
Some commenters also denounced how this tabloid was used heavily as propaganda material, comparing it to the way the Nazi regime and North Korea used their government tabloid.
But there are also netizens who defended the tabloid’s inclusion of this entertainment section, saying that it was the government’s way of reaching out to more Filipinos.
Calling Andanar’s attention, netizens urged him to do better than what the Showbiz section can offer to the readers.
Sources: (gmanetwork.com, facebook.com)
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