Death Match: ABS-CBN versus GMA

Anyone aggressively claiming to be ‘Number One’ automatically invites some amount of heckling. Well, I am poised to be a natural heckler here, so sit back, relax and enjoy it, as I try to annoy the heck out of the two constant competitors in the nightly news department of the country’s top TV stations.

I shall cover practically anything that comes to mind, but my critical spirit naturally gravitates first to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s “news readers” – the top anchors.

Mel Tiangco’s (Ch. 7) motherly appeal is no match to the fresh-faced Korina Sanchez (Ch. 2) in a society that values youth and face value in women, especially onscreen. I think Korina’s delivery likewise has the edge in terms of voice quality and clarity. But Mel easily upstages these advantages with her trademark schoolmarmy appeal, giving her the greater voice of authority, although it’s one blunted by her calm and gentle bearing. With Korina being replaced recently by an even younger Karen Davila, I think Ch. 2 played the youth card even harder. Mel faces an even harder competition as Karen radiates with the same strong-woman bearing as hers.

On the other hand, Julius Babao and Henry Omaga-Diaz (Ch. 2), though years younger than Mike Enriquez (Ch. 7), are no match to the latter’s overwhelming strongman presence on the screen, in a society that puts greater premium on the authoritativeness of age when it comes to men. Call it double standard if you want but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Mike’s delivery, though, sometimes borders on the hysterical and cantankerous and may even sound harassing to the nervy and already-frazzled. This style is either deliberate or an unconscious carryover from his work as a radioman. This, in the face of relative sobriety of the competition, particularly Henry’s ice-cold voice and generally relaxed mien.

ABS-CBN basks in the luxury of rounding up a phalanx of reporters dispatched to where the action is, even to exotic locales around the world, a la CNN. This is even more apparent in its renaming the show TV Patrol World. GMA 7 seems to make do with the comparatively little that it has, but it’s constantly catching up. I personally can’t see any difference between the two stables of workhorses as to the style of delivery (generally tabloid-ish but admittedly engaging) and output (competent enough, save for the occasional lapses and blunders). I have come to a point where I can pinpoint who among the talents used to work for one station but are now working on the other side of the fence. A pretty disorienting picture, I tell you. You can sense both stations to be equally gloating, too - complete with flashing fonts - every time an exclusive report or interview is snagged. The thing is, there’s almost too much similarity when you happen to stumble on your TV straight from a drinking spree.

Same thing with content: Major news headlines are often the same it’s no use furiously pressing the toggle button. Both stations are clearly devoted to the sensational and they make sure every item of horrible crime is well accounted for, the usual reporters fielded to their special beats. Heck, both channels are starkly the same in the news items they choose to ignore or fail to air!

The obvious difference in content lies in the Entertainment beat. Paradoxically, though, the two are only the same in terms of airing only news about their respective stars’ foibles and scandals and in announcing the latest twists in their resident teleseryes!

Now to the more obvious differences: GMA 7 used to have their version of Marc Logan’s unique, lighthearted funnies but Love Añover’s segment is now egregiously gone. Ch. 2 used to have a warm chicken-soup-for-the-soul stuff – equivalent to Mel’s current appeal-for-charity segment - but decided to give it up for some reason. Ch. 7 no longer has a weatherman to equal Ernie Baron’s encyclopedic antics (complete with a trivia quiz), but chooses instead to have someone double for it (often Mike himself). Ch. 7’s Pia Guanio lends a svelte, smart and saucy presence as the Entertainment mainstay, while Ch.2 altogether does away with a counterpart.

Wait, there’s more: Both have a different set of sponsors who seem to have signed exclusive contracts with the show. Ch. 2, however, irritates far more pronouncedly by making viewers wait far too longer with its advertising-addled lulls. One can park by MTV and manage to catch the latest of Usher and Eminem while waiting for the next story. The Ch. 2 news show is quite unreliable, too, in its skeds but it often starts several minutes later than the GMA show and ends just as long after Ch. 7 ends. Lastly, I cannot vouch for both stations’ broadcasting reach and clarity of reception, but I know for a fact that ABS has a radio “simulcast,” ensuring a following from radio-tuning folks around the archipelago.

We shouldn’t fail to mention that all five news anchors (six if we count Ces Oreña-Drilon who pinch-hits on Saturdays) are official endorsers of one product or another.

So, what’s the verdict? Who is No. 1? Kapamilya’s TV Patrol World and its appeal for sympathy and loyalty, and with global reach as come-on (“Tapat na serbisyo publiko…” or “Kami ang patrol ng Pilipino. Naglilingkod sa inyo saan man sa mundo)? Or Kapuso’s 24 Oras and its formidable journalistic parting shot (“Walang kinikilingan, walang pino-protektahan, pawang katotohanan lamang!” plus “Walang kasinungalingan. Serbisyong totoo lamang.”)?

I have said I press the toggle button of my remote control and it pretty much sums up my position. A better answer may lie just around the block so I did just that for weeks - walk around my neighborhood and spy on other people’s 6:30 PM TV habits. In the service of comprehensive and fair coverage, I also asked around from people in my hometown in the province.

The answer is basically the same: There seems to be an ongoing cold “war of the news networks” but ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol World lords it over in most neighborhoods. One cannot go wrong with that familiar sign-in tune as prima facie evidence. I think the popularity has something to do with all the plus points outlined above.

(A revised (improved) version of this was published in Subjective Magazine.)