Helping the viewers seek the truth

Author: Maridol Rañoa-Bismark

I know, I know. The testimonies in the ZTE-NBN Senate hearings are already coming out of our ears. The man on the street for whom all these issues overload is supposedly for, is getting tired of it all. He wants to know where this is leading to, or when the end will finally be in sight.

GMA 7's Mike Enriquez and Mel Tiangco feel it too. And they aren't just sitting there, waiting for issues to blow over, for debate fatigue to set in.

Mel calls it a "barrage of information, a barrage of statements and declarations, a barrage of exposés. "

"You not only get immune to it all, you also get confused," she goes on. "You get all sorts of text messages that this and that are happening, all sorts of accusations and allegations. And then you have so many interest groups. "

That's where media comes in. Mike believes it is his job to plant the seeds of awareness and vigilance. But as in all things you plant, you have to wait.

"Every time you farm, let it grow before you can harvest. Hindi naman kaagad may nangyayari," he explains. "It doesn't necessarily mean you should turn down the government but institute basic structural change. "

Mike knows it is sensible enough to realize he can't spark a revolution with a single televised interview of a ZTE-NBN star witness. People will not storm the gates of Malacañang with just one single interview with Joey de Venecia.

But he knows he can put things in the proper perspective for them. That's why he and Mel are anchoring Koneskyon: Anatomy of a Political Scandal, a full-blown investigative special on the ZTE-NBN controversy, on GMA 7 tonight at 10:30.

Mike interviews resource persons like former NEDA director general Winnie Monsod, who talks about the good old days when she was on top of the agency. That was before the embattled Romulo Neri took over as chair.

Mike's Monsod interview hopes to enable televiewers to make heads and tails of NEDA then and now, and draw their conclusions.

"As Fox News puts it, `we report, the viewers decide. ' We will not make a stand or give a position. But we will report what is in record whether previously done or done by us," he declares.

Mel herself has some ideas about what she'd like to see as a layman the minute she tunes in to Koneskyon.

"I want to discern between fact and fiction because things are getting muddled. It's so unfair -- unfair to people who are involved, unfair to the people who have been named, unfair to the masses that all these things are not processed," she relates.

Mel hopes that the two-hour special will arm televiewers with the information they need to analyze and form opinions. She prays that Koneksyon will help them make heads or tails about the smallest things surrounding the raging controversy. After all, she adds, unlike the interest groups that have mushroomed all over, Koneksyon has no agenda except to clarify issues.

Okay, let's get to brass tacks. How, for instance, will you make Jun Lozada's words more people-friendly? What else can you ask the man who has been bombarded by all sorts of questions since Day One?

Mel has an answer: "I will focus on his feelings. What does he feel about the reactions he gathered from the many interest groups he has faced? Is he happy with the results of his exposé?"

More nagging questions Koneksyon promises to answer are: What really prompted Lozada to speak up? What in turn stopped Neri from doing the same? Who is Dante Madriaga? Why is the former COMELEC chair Benjamin Abalos involved in a negotiation for a telecommunications contract? Why did Senators Panfilo Lacson and Jamby Madrigal meet up with Lozada? Was there a real attempt to kidnap the would-be 'star witness'?

This shopping list of questions is a tall order. But it's not that forbidding, since Mike and Mel are doing the asking.

Mike's Imbestigador reputation precedes him. Former Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor, for instance, actually urged Lozada to seek Mike out and ask for an interview before he went to La Salle Greenhills for that historic presscon.

The credibility, Mike relates, is a double-edged sword.

"It opens doors but at the same time makes things more difficult," he explains. "I don't know if the right term is intimidated, to say the least. They (the interviewees) are more cautious because they have a previous impression na Imbestigador 'to, that his questions are not run-of-the-mill.

"Some people, on the other hand, look at it as an opportunity," he goes on.

Mel, on the other hand, has an edge Mike and her other male co-anchors and hosts don't have: Her femininity. This makes her a natural in asking questions about feelings, family and the like.

Only a lady broadcaster can think of asking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo questions about herself as a wife, a mother and homemaker. Others ask the highest official of the land questions of national issues and policy. Mel would rather give her -- and her interviewees -- a human face.

For sure, this touchy-feely line of questioning is unintentional. But it's as natural to Mel as the woman's touch she brings to the toughest of issues and interviews.

Mike and Mel. Yin and yang. The (professional) connection between them is as strong as the thickest cable wire. And the viewers can't seem to get enough.

Source: The Philippine Star