Females dominate in PDI front page

Survey revealed that female reporters dominate the front page  articles of the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) from March 19 to 23.

Out of the 28 articles of the front page of the PDI, 17 articles or 84% were authored by females while only five articles or 9%  were authored by males specifically there were five out of seven written by females on March 19, two out of three on March 21, and three out of six on March 23.

Female writer Nikko Dizon wrote four of the five banner stories while the banner story on March 20 was authored by a mixture of males and females.

Co-authorship is practiced by the PDI on some of its front page articles. 

Diverse articles were seen on the front page of PDI. All news reporters were assigned to different beats ranging from political news, agriculture, entertainment, lifestyle, economics, opinion and internet news.

Political news stories were the prevailing news articles followed by articles on social issues and show business. Articles from Inquirer.net were also featured on the front page. 

It was observed that the male news reporters’ beats were  limited to four types namely agriculture, local, news, and opinion. Articles written by males and females were focused on entertainment, lifestyle, local and news stories. 

It was noted that only one male reporter wrote an article on labor and risk reduction. 

The findings of the survey show that a female reporters are assigned to more important beats such as the Malacañang beat over the males. 

It was also observed that articles on the front page are the current issues and stories relevant to the Filipinos. 

News stories such as the involvement of President Benigno Aquino III in Mamasapano incident is an article that will make the front page because it is an issue clearly being monitored by the Filipinos as seen in the three out of five banner stories written by Nikko Dizon alone.

Stories on the Bangsamoro Basic Law, senate proceedings and reports of the Board on Inquiry is also followed due to its close relationship with the Mamasapano incident.

A section of the front page last  March 20 was devoted to the arrival of the four out of five members of British boy band One Direction the following day for their two day concert last March 21 and 22.

No general conclusion can be made about the dominance of the female writers in the front pages of the PDI because the news stories published on the front page may by only circumstantial to the day's main articles. 

A conclusion on the preference of female writers over male in the PDI can not be made because the front page articles were the only ones surveyed. A thorough study on all articles  in an issue of the PDI must be made as well as a study on its work ethic in its office for a proper conclusion to be made. 

Impeachment always the solution of Filipinos

Professors and students of the University of Santo Tomas confer that the Filipino people do not have enough power and drive to call for the impeachment of President Benigno Aquino III.

Faculty of Arts and Letters (AB) political science professor Attorney Bong Lopez discusses that the people calling for resignation are not even seen and heard to ignite a movement of resignation. “It is not evident that the people will call for the impeachment of the president. There is no pulse from them,” Lopez said in Filipino.

Moreover, Lopez exclaims that there are no visible signs of protest from the people because you do not even feel their clamor for impeachment inside the university.

“You do not feel that the people want the impeachment to happen in our university. I do not know how many people are for the impeachment of the president because I do not even see it. We only hear those who voice out their opinions. The question is not who want him to resign, but rather who will want to join in clamoring for the president to step down,” Lopez exclaimed in Filipino.

Lopez added that the people indeed have a reason to complain, but he wanders if the people even have enough momentum and drive to argue their case against the president.

The Editor-In-Chief of the Varsitarian Gracelyn Simon pointed out that the Filipinos always use the impeachment of the president as their solution to the problems.

“The people always call for the resignation of the president. That is their (the Filipinos) solution to the problem. Once that they do not like the president anymore they immediately call for an impeachment,” Simon pointed out in Filipino.

She added that it the problem of the Filipinos is that they keep on talking and criticizing without even thinking about the consequences.

“What’s difficult about the Filipinos is that they do not thing about the consequences of what they are fighting for.  . . They keep on criticizing the actions of the president without even understanding the whole system,” Simon added in Filipino.

Both Simon and Lopez admitted that the death of the Fallen 44 in the Mamasapano incident was a mistake on President Aquino’s part.

Lopez expressed his opinion on President Aquino’s actions in regards to the Mamasapano incident by admitting that it was the president’s only mistake.

“The president only made a mistake now, but does that mean that every time he makes a mistake impeachment or resignation is the answer?” Lopez asked in Filipino.

Simon admitted that it was President Aquino’s biggest failure.

“P-Noy has had plenty of mistakes, but this was his biggest mistake. He should have just admitted his mistake,” Simon added in Filipino.

Furthermore, Lopez adds that it is actually of the congress to file for impeachment.

“The congress is the only one who can actually impeach the president, but our congressmen aren’t even doing anything,” Lopez said in Filipino. (30)