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Boy oh boy... first of all, as a (...dare I say it? I'm almost ashamed to say it...) as a Filipino... (whoa! Peace, brothers!!) I would like to apologize in behalf of the OTHER HALF of our countrymen (the other half who are smart enough not to believe everything they hear or read) to Art Bell and his family and all of his fans out there for that totally ridiculous article. When I glanced at just the headline, " US Talk radio host insults filipinos..", I instantly realized what that was all about without even reading the article. And I said to myself, "Uh..oh... this Leah Salterio's going to be in a whole load of trouble... the crap's surely gonna hit the fan now!"
You see, I received that same email THREE YEARS AGO. Even back then, I didn't take it hook,line and sinker and did a little research on the internet. Sure enough, I found out it was a hoax. This reminds me of another, more pervasive hoax I also got several times during those times... that "story" that Procter & Gamble's CEO appeared on the Phil Donahue show announcing he and his company were Satan Worshippers. That email then urged the reader not to patronize all P&G products and to forward the message to as many people they can. I also researched on that one and found out it was a hoax as well (obviously) and more interestingly, it was said to have originated decades ago, way back before email, in the form of good old fashioned letters and flyers. It was alleged to have been perpertuated by some distributors of a big-time multi-level-marketing company (who shall remain nameless) in order to get P&G consumers to buy their products instead.
Anyway, I can go on and on about examples of Urban Legends and Other Hoaxes, but we all get the picture. Back then, I tried to do my part by replying to those emails with proofs and links and encouraged them to do a "reverse-email" thing. But for some strange reason, these types of positive emails never seem to spread around. It's just the negative ones that do.
Going back to this Hate-mail article, I totally agree with everyone here about it being incredibly bad, bad, journalism. Three years ago, it took me a couple of minutes maybe to research the facts using Altavista and a slow PC/internet connection. Today, it took me all of 5 SECONDS using Google and a faster PC. (I just typed "Art Bell Filipinos") So I guess I beat that forum writer who researched it in 30 seconds by 25 seconds! Proving that us Filipinos can be better at some things after all... kidding, just kidding guys! ;-)
Anyway, I was all set to fire up an email for the good Ms. Leah Salterio today (the day after the Article was published) and and lo and behold, I saw in Art Bell's site that he ALREADY has a response. And so do so many of his fans. (Now, THAT was FAST!) It is unfortunate that a lot of gullible readers have bombarded Mr. Bell with their own hate-mail. If it's any consolation, I'm sure they'd feel pretty stupid too when (I say when, and not if, because I know the paper's reputation) the paper publishes their apology.
As for those comments about Ms. Salterio... I don't think she'll merely be "feeling pretty stupid" by now. If I were her, I'll be afraid. VERY afraid... for my job. She'll be lucky to get out of this one unscathed. She should just be glad that she's not in the US where Art Bell will be able to sue her pants off. It is so mind-boggingly inconceivable that she'll just print this obviously inflammatory remarks without even bothering to cross-check them. A good reporter ALWAYS checks his/her sources. But this can easily be explained in two ways: 1) She doesn't know how to surf and search the internet.. [ 5 SECONDS USING GOOGLE LEAH!!! 2 Minutes tops, using other inferior search engines!! ] 2) She's not really a true journalist. For all you out there who don't know the details, she's an Entertainment writer. That story was the front page of the Sunday Entertainment Section. She has a regular column "Showbiz Tidbits" (not where the article was written under). She's not even a good enterta
inment writer, for that matter.
You know if you think about it, she has a great job. Why, all she has to do to fill up her column quota is to just cut and paste somebody's email, put in a few introductory remarks, and voila.. she's done and she collects her paycheck. (She really should split that paycheck with that friend who sent the email to her) Heck, I can do this sort of "journalism" with my eyes closed. So with all these in mind, I have to disagree with that forum writer who thinks Ms. Salterio is a "spoiled rich girl", who "hates westerners".. etc. If anything, given that she's an Entertainment writer, I'm sure that every time a Western Artist/Actor shows up here in Manila to perform or promote a film and she attends the press conference and maybe even get to personally interview them, she'll be going ga-ga and gushing like any other star-struck fan. (I'm talking about 98 degrees, Backstreet Boys, even some 2nd rate actor like Rob Schneider here, for Chrissake!) So in her "defense", as well as most other Filipinos, I don't think she's a racist...on the contrary, most Filipinos still have "Colonial Mentality" - thanks to Hollywood and MTV. If Ms. Salterio has any faults, it's for being pretty. Pretty stupid, that is. ) If anybody out there has a bridge in Brooklyn you want to sell cheap, you know who to contact...
But others should share the blame as well. The Entertainment Editor for one! Hmmmm.. wait, let me check the paper. Ok, its a MR. LOUIE C. CAMINO. Isn't it your job sir, to make sure that all stories are credible and reliable? ESPECIALLY with a headline banner like that one? What about the Online Editor? His print counterpart was responsible for publishing that article for the whole country to see. But the Online Editor Ok'd it for the WHOLE WORLD to see. And then of course, let's not forget that person who sent the email to Ms. Salterio in the first place... MS. JENNIFER ALEJANDRO, who Ms. Salterio was so kind enough to give credit to.
Now, normally, we can just attribute it to plain bad luck that she sent that email to a writer. Not her fault that her simple forwarding of email was going to be used, right? Did she know it was going to be used as her writer-friend's article? Was she asked for her permission? Is it ok to mention her name? Well, not only did her good friend Ms. Salterio mention her name, she was even considerate enough to give out her (Ms. Alejandro's) brief resume for the whole world to see. So now we know that Ms. Alejandro was an ABS-CBN (the biggest network in the Philippines) NEWS ANCHOR (!) and FIELD REPORTER (!) and now works for CHANNEL NEWS ASIA (!!!!!!). So the info was passed on by a bonafide JOURNALIST!! With Ms. Salterio's case, I'm saying "Well, she's just an entertainment writer... what do you expect, a Pulitzer?", but as a former NEWS ANCHOR and FIELD REPORTER, and a CHANNEL NEWS ASIA employee?? Yes, I know I just repeated myself... but again, it's hard to imagine that a true-blue JOURNALIST would not check out something like this. Ms. Salterio made her sound like some big-shot. Couldn't she ask some of her staff to check this story out? Who knows, if its really true, it would make a good story? Didn't she sniff out a piece for a human-interest angle here? If I was a Filipino journalist right now, I'd feel pretty ashamed. That
said, I would also like to point out that those responsible for this debacle aren't representatives of the whole Journalsism community, nor the whole Filipino community for that matter. As in any other place in the world, there are some good ones, and there are some not-so good ones. And then of course, there are the Joseph Estradas and the [insert your favorite US politician here.] I just hope Mr. Bell and his legions of fans won't take this bad experience against the entire Filipino race. But from what I gather so far, he's not that type of person. Not being familiar with Mr. Bell's work, I can only wonder how he compares with the only other US Radio Host I have heard of... the infamous Howard Stern. How does he compare with him? (I hope no one is offended by this question... the answer I'm looking for might be they're as different as night and day...)
Anyway, I've already rambled on for far too long here. I truly sympathize with Mr. Bell for being wrongfully accused and being inconvenienced, to put it mildly, with hate mails and death threats. I can only say that these threats are most likely empty ones, made by more ignorant people. I've just re-read Mr. Bell's open letter now, and realized the gravity of the situation. Not being able to go to work for a week is a pretty big deal. Once again, I find it mind-boggling that a simple and easy 5 to 30 seconds conscentious research can make a WHOLE LOT of differnce. Let this be a lesson to all writers out there. This unfortunate situation of Mr. Bell's notwithstanding, I'm actually kind of enjoying myself. Somebody made a big booboo here, and we all just find the fallout to be fascinating, right? I'm waiting with gleeful anticipation the Inquirer's response to this brouhaha. (I'll be emailing them a copy of this letter as well). Let's make them squirm, people! Now isn't this Human Natu
re at work? Sort of like watching a car wreck... Or forwarding an inflammatory email to as many people as we can.
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P.S. That last line I just wrote reminded me of a very ironic twist. In the same paper, same section, about 6 pages away from that article, there's this brief article titled "Believing text messages on free reloads not smart" Some excerpts on that article:
"SMART Communications (a cellphone company) warned the public against text messages offering free text message reloads purpotedly as rewards for for forwarding these messages to other Smart GSM subscribers...... several versions of the misleading text messages have been circulated by still-unknown parties in recent months. The latest version reads 'Smart 20th anniversary offer: Send this to 10 Smart Users an get free 500 pesos reload..'"
For those who are not familiar, text-messaging is SMS, an email feature of GSM cellphones that's much, much more widespread here than emails. Lets just thank God that the "Hate Mail" email is too lengthy to fit in a text message or SMS. Otherwise, you'll really have a problem in your hands.
Peace,
zeps@charmed.ph
Manila, Philippines
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