Framing Corruption in New Media: A Philippine Scenario

Abstract:
In the aftermath of the 1987 People Power revolution in the Philippines, the role of media has never been more urgent in the country’s fight against threats of dictatorial rule and abuse of power. In the last Impeachment Trials that ousted President Joseph Estrada in 2001 and Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona in 2012, new media performed an activist role by framing corruption in a way that opened up new interpretations and narratives of meaning and discourse. Corruption is an agenda that continues to be framed in media but lacks a critical lens from which to interrogate how it inspires activist motivations. The paper takes a closer look at three online news media organizations and how their analyses of the impeachment trials frame the issue of corruption on various levels. As prominent leaders who represent the two branches of the national government, the Executive and the Judiciary, the symbolic impact of Estrada and Corona’s fall from national grace places activism in mass media at a critical juncture if it is to become a true strategy for democratic practice and social change.

Recent research studies on media activism focused on Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street movements have inspired critical discourses on challenging hegemonic political structures. While corruption as an issue has been implicated in such research studies, scant attention is given to it as a discourse and as an agenda in media activism. Interrogating corruption as both a cultural and national problem is an area of media framing that this paper investigates. From this perspective, the paper employs a qualitative approach using Framing and Discourse analysis as theoretical frameworks in analyzing how the news media coverage of the impeachment trials frame corruption in discursive ways that incite activism in new media. Reflecting on Foucault’s argument on the relationship between discourse and power, the framing of corruption in new media independent from the probing eye of traditional and state-sponsored media institutions provides a critical lens from which endemic cultures of fatalism, idolatry and impunity in Philippine political culture can be discursively interrogated.

Framing Corruption in New Media:
A Continuing legacy of vigilance and activism

In a perception survey conducted in 2007 by the Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), the Philippines topped the list as the most corrupt country among the thirteen nations in Asia (Johnson, 2007). According to Johnson, several reactions to this survey ranged from claims of inaccuracy of data, usefulness of the information or other factors might have been overlooked. But the expatriate community especially within Asia seems to not have been surprised by the results. Although the PERC survey was conducted mostly among respondents from the business sector, it is also reflective of a popular perception among ordinary Filipinos.

Growing up in the Philippines as a young man, I have always been affected by the issue of corruption and the ways it has penetrated the psychology, culture and the everyday life of most Filipinos. One cannot secure a driver’s license or pass through the custom’s service at the airports without bribery, a popular practice that has become an accepted norm and has tainted the execution of basic social services. There is a popular myth that describes the Philippines as the ‘sick man of Asia’ not only because of its slow economic growth compared to its neighboring countries but also because of this mythologized view of corruption as a widespread national disease.

In 2012, there was a rise in the level of optimism in regards to the changing tone of the Philippines’ corruption status. This is attributed to a series of indictments, resignations and convictions of high profile public officials identified with corruption and electoral fraud that became national news and well-celebrated media events (Rood, 2012). The current administration of President Benigno Aquino Jr. may claim credit for such success in putting convicted public officials in jail or rooting them out of public office. But this does not in anyway preclude that the culture of impunity is still prevalent in Philippine justice system despite the growing records of conviction (Brooten, 2011). But without the probing eye of media especially in the age of digital media, the issue of corruption would not have created a wider perspective in terms of interrogating the concept of governance and the cultural-political practices that continue to stifle national development and economic growth.

It is within this idea of a wider perspective that this research paper asserts its main argument in the way corruption has become a strong organizing theme around which mass media continues to assert its vigilance and activist role as watchdogs of public interest. I argue that in the last two high profile Impeachment Trials in Philippine politics that ousted President Joseph Estrada in 2001 and Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona in 2012, new media performed an activist role by framing corruption in a way that opens up new interpretations and narratives of meaning and discourse.

The paper takes a closer look at three online news media organizations, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Philippine Star and how their analyses of Estrada and Corona’s impeachment trials frame the issue of corruption on various levels. The paper asserts that as two prominent national leaders who represent the two branches of the national government, the Executive and the Judiciary, the symbolic impact of their fall from national grace places activism in mass media as a crucial function in national politics and social change. It is a form of media activism that not only necessitates a referential look at the democratic legacies learned from history. It also reflects a growing potential in the interrogation of corruption as a discursive practice in media journalism and as a framing perspective from which a fragile democracy like the Philippines can begin to confront the depth in which the culture of fatalism, idolatry and impunity takes root.

Literature Review

In the harrowing days of the peoples’ revolution in the Philippines in 1987 against then President Ferdinand Marcos, the only form of mass media that was not subjected to censorship was the old, antiquated radio station owned by the Catholic Church, Radio Veritas (Turth Radio). Although the radio station was not popular before the people’s revolution, its appeal as an independent media institution that espouses ideas about justice, freedom, truth and unity reverberated in the minds of millions of Filipinos (Templo, 2011). As a communication system operating amidst an oppressive situation, radio was crucial in providing the public citizens of their rights and responsibilities in advocating for peace and democratic participation in changing the political system now challenged by people power. In El Salvador, a community radio owned by peasants and ordinary folks became the voice of resistance during the years of state oppression in the 1970s (Darling, 2014). In the aftermath of Marcos’ downfall, the rise of political dynasties worsened and traditional journalism became hostage to the dictates of the market-driven imperatives of mainstream media owned by the national oligarchy (Clarke, 2013; Coronel, 2006).

The legacy of the 1987 people’s revolution facilitated by radio continues to create some resonance in the current political life of the country especially in the ways digital media has found a new voice in political activism and asserted its role as a watchdog against government’s abuse of power. The Internet has become a critical site from which news media organizations continue to perform its probing and framing functions independent of the dictates of market-driven imperatives around which the business of news media production operate. The use of new media technologies such as text messaging and mobile phones have inspired new expressions of dissent twenty seven years after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship. During the week of the people’s revolt against Estrada in 2001, 70 million texts were sent, 200 anti-Estrada websites were created and 100 email groups were formed allowing the gathering of over a million Filipinos at the very site where the 1987 rebellion took place (Shirky, 2011; Coronel, 2002. 61).

According to Shirky, on the night of the first day of the four-day anti-Estrada rebellion, a text message that says ‘Go 2 EDSA. Wear blk’ was sent to millions of mobile phones (17). The reference to EDSA (short for Epifanio de los Santos Avenue), the main thoroughfare of the 1987 people’s revolution suggests a historical memory whose cumulative meaning continues to inspire pride in most Filipinos and continues to be appropriated and reframed as a source of activist strength for media. Using history in framing narratives can be an interpretive mechanism for journalists especially if connecting the past to the present is crucial in inspiring new thoughts of vigilance (Lugo-Ocando, Guedes & Canizalez, 2011). Its symbolic content and repetitive articulation provides a framing context within which to analyze meanings for the present (Azpiroz, 2013).

Inspiring vigilance and activism through media journalism finds similar scenarios in the way new media technologies were used in the Arab Spring movements. The framing of the Arab revolutions from a human interest perspective allowed social media’s wide appeal in times of political crisis (Hamdy & Gomaa, 2012). Facebook, Twitter and YouTube helped develop a more unified Arab political space which created a greater diffusion of ideas invoking histories of oppression and contributed to the adoption of a common language and protest methods among activists in the present. Combining ‘web-based organizing and social movements, in which members participate both online and in the real world’ became an effective method of sharing opinions and strategies that downplayed risks of public activism (Dewey, Taylor, Kaden, Marks, Matsushima & Zhu, 2012). Such converging of shared opinions and activist ideals creates a sense of collective consciousness and national solidarity borne out of new media’s potential in providing a space for free speech and political networking as seen in the recent Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions (Alexander & Aouragh, 2014; Khamis & Vaughn, 2013).

Free speech as a right is conditional according to the political system in which such right exists. Access to right of free speech is fundamental to any framing mechanism in mass media. As media journalism performs its function as a watchdog of public interest, the ideologies that govern media’s framing mechanism becomes a crucial consideration even within a democracy (Trappel & Maniglio, 2009; Stromback, 2005). This is especially true in the way the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protest movement was framed by mainstream media and social media which brought two opposing narratives of the same struggle driven by who is doing the framing (DeLuca, Lawson & Sun, 2012).

According to DeLuca, et al, traditional media framed OWS as frivolous and disparaging of the core issues OWS was raising such as income inequality and corporate greed and underplayed corruption as a key issue in American politics. In social media, OWS was framed as vibrant and revealing of multiple discourses that analyzed both its positive and negative representations providing multiple grounds where activism through social media can take hold (500). The underplaying of corruption within the narratives discussed in OWS finds a similar pattern in the way the grievance against the corrupt practices of the Mubarak government was subsumed within the larger agenda of resistance to authoritarianism (Lim, 2012).

When Gamson defines framing in public discourse as suggestive of the way certain individuals and groups advance ways of constructing social reality that is different from others, he places media as an actor in political communication in a critical position (Baran & Davis, 2007). What news media organizations choose to frame and how they choose to frame it strikes at the heart of my main argument in choosing corruption as a frame that new media has come to prefer as both an agenda and a discourse.

The body of literature I have gathered in new media activism has been mostly focused on celebrating and interrogating the role of new media in changing political structures especially those that focused on the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street and even in People’s revolt in the Philippines. To some degree, very little attention is given to corruption as a frame upon which one can unearth other discourses of political and cultural value. Within this gap is where I assert the significance of my paper and from where I formulate my research questions.

Research Questions
The paper addresses the following questions:

RQ 1 How is corruption framed in online media journalism and what discursive practices does it inspire?

RQ 2 To what extent is such journalistic practice reflective of a growing culture of media vigilance and activism?

Methodology

The research study employs a qualitative approach in providing possible answers to the research questions articulated. As the project is concerned with how corruption as an overarching narrative is discussed, interpreted and interrogated, textual analysis is adopted as a critical lens utilizing Framing and Discourse theories as guideposts for the analysis and discussion of the texts selected from the three online news media sources.

Entman (2007) defines framing as process of creating narratives that help in the interpretation of social realities. He contextualizes this definition within political communication where media is placed in a contentious position as it asserts its potential to favor a perspective of one political player over another. Entman emphasizes that as a communication system that has both an agenda-setting and framing capabilities, media becomes a critical tool in the distribution of power especially in political communication (165). But as a political actor itself, media by the very nature of its communicative function is endowed with asserting its own perspective through framing that may or not reflect the influence of media’s ownership or the ideologies of news editors or analysts.

In advancing the ways of constructing social reality, framing functions as a critical lens in the shaping of public discourse placing the ideological positions of news media organizations in a critical spot (Baran & Davis, 2009). A mechanism that guides how framing is performed is proposed by Entman in terms of four categories: problem definition, causal analysis, moral judgment and remedy promotion (Azpiroz, 2013; Entman, 2007). Given the limitation of this project, the research study employed ‘problem definition’ as a framing category to see how news analyses and opinion columns gathered for the study interpret corruption from an activist standpoint. Problem definition as a function is the most relevant because it predetermines the other framing functions as proposed by Entman (Azpiroz, 2013).

Entman also brings up the idea of bias or slant within the framing functions of media especially in news journalism. According to Entman, the use of Slant characterizes news and editorials where framing is favorable to one perspective and not on the other (165). Slant is a crucial framing function because if it persists over time in media messaging, it has the potential to impact power distribution within competing groups or individuals in the communication process. As a category of measurement, the research project uses problem definition and slant as key determinants of the framing of corruption in online news journalism.

Text for Analysis:

The body of text for analysis is focused on the online media coverage of two high-profile Impeachment Trials in Philippine politics. One is the impeachment trial of then President Joseph Estrada covered from December, 2000 to January, 2001. Second is the impeachment trial of Philippine Chief Justice of Supreme Court Renato Corona covered from February to May, 2012.

The rationale for choosing these two cases are based on the following justifications; that it involved two prominent national leaders who represent two branches of the national government, which in the process of the trials, were also interrogated as institutions of power and democratic practice, and that both trials became well-celebrated media events seen on national television and discussed on social media in various formats.

Sources of Data:

Text for analyses are limited to news analyses articles and opinion columns that discussed the two impeachment trials by three leading news media organizations in Philippine journalism.

Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ)

PCIJ is an independent, non-profit media agency that specializes in investigative reporting. The agency was founded in 1989 by Filipino journalists who realized from their years on the beat and at the news desk, the need for newspapers and broadcast agencies to go beyond day–to–day reportage. The PCIJ believes that the media play a crucial role in scrutinizing and strengthening democratic institutions, defending and asserting press freedom, freedom of information, and freedom of expression. The media could – and should – be a catalyst for social debate and consensus that would redound to the promotion of public welfare. To do so, the media must provide citizens with the bases for arriving at informed opinions and decisions (Source: http://www.pcij.org)

Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI)

PDI is the Philippines’ most credible and influential newspaper with over 2.7 million nationwide readers daily. It enjoys a market share of over 50% and tops the readership surveys. Its goal of making a difference in the everyday life of Filipinos continues to be the driving force behind its journalistic and corporate initiatives. As the country’s leading newspaper, the paper remain steadfast in its commitment to bring “Balanced news, fearless views” to readers when and where it matters. It was founded in 1985 and is privately owned (Source: http://www.inquirer.net; http://www.businessweek.com)

Philippine Star (PS)

PS is a leading publisher of newspapers, magazines and online news journalism in the Philippines owned by the STAR Group of Publications. PS is one of the leading English broadsheets in the country. Its other publications include; a tabloid style newspaper published in the national language; an English language newspaper and tabloid published in local dialect in Cebu; and People Asia Magazine, which profiles personalities in the Philippines and the region. It was founded in 2000 and has grown in content and reach over the years. Its goal is to keep Filipinos, wherever in the world they may be – in tune with the events taking place in the Philippines and in synch with the needs and trends of the times and in touch with the rest of the world (Source: http://www.philstar.com)

The research study selected five news articles and opinion columns from each of the three online news media organization for a total of fifteen articles as data for analysis.

 

Findings

The analyses of the fifteen articles from the three online news media organizations reveal commonalities in the way corruption was framed as a social problem. In the course of the analysis, several phrases, keywords, use of metaphors, historical and cultural reference were consistently present and repeated by news analysts and opinion column writers of the three news media organizations selected for the study. Using the category of Problem Definition, it was found out that the three news media organizations framed corruption in common terms and phrases.

Common Perspectives: Betrayal of public trust, Transparency and accountability, Unexplained/ill-gotten Wealth, Faith in governance, 1987 People’s revolution against Marcos dictatorship, Good governance versus economic stability, Cronyism and Democracy.

Differing Perspectives:

The findings also reveal divergent perspectives and themes. A more in-depth analysis of the articles reveal particular framings related to Entman’s idea of Slant. From here, differing opinions and ideas re-frame corruption expressed in themes or phrases that reflect ideological differences between the three news media organizations as expressed by their respective news analysts and opinion column writers.

Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).
From five articles written by five journalists: Walden Bello, Sheila Coronel, Karol Ilagan, Malou Mangahas, and Joselito San Jose.

Slant: Role of citizens’ vigilance

For PCIJ, it was found out that the tone of the articles reveal an obvious clamor for the role of citizen’s vigilance and activism in the way corruption as a social problem was framed by the five journalists. The framing also opened up new discourses on the value of constitutional processes and the importance of changing public policy as key to a continued re-awakening of getting people into the streets as a symbol of protest and agitation (Bello, 2001; Coronel, 2000). The discussion of the impeachment proceedings framed corruption as a threat to democracy implicating the role of militarism as a destabilizing force in the pursuit of engaging more active citizenship.

For PCIJ the slant is tilted toward a moral judgment creating agitation as a counter-frame against the hopelessness that corruption brings as seen in the impeachment trials. The slant seems to suggest that many years after the 1987 revolution, Philippine democracy is still very fragile. Several themes that support this framing slant reveals:

Themes: Constitutional processes not guarantee of change, Critical mass on the streets, Need for agitation, Restoring faith in critical journalism, Military implications of impeachment results, Democracy is fragile.

Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI)
From five articles written by Randy David, Amando Doronila, Artemio Panganiban (2) and Rigoberto Tiglao.

Slant: Constitutionality versus Morality

While there seems to be more cohesion of individual opinions among the writers at PCIJ, the writers at PDI reveal oppositional views on the impeachment trials. The oppositional views though are united by a slant that interrogates the issue of constitutionality, of challenging the co-equal powers between the Executive branch and the Judiciary. Doronila and Tiglao express concern about placing the Judiciary on a vulnerable position and the ensuing setback for impeaching the Chief Justice. They both asserted the danger of questioning the independence of the Judiciary by placing the Chief Justice at the forefront of the controversy. This act, from their perspective, is a sign of constitutional crisis.

On the contrary, David and Panganiban celebrate the constitutional debate as proof that Philippine democracy is getting mature and vibrant (Panganiban, 2011), quite different from PCIJ’s position. They both assert that the prevailing autonomy of government institutions is suggestive of a growing pattern where the authority of moral systems induced by dominant religious culture is now being questioned in the context of politics and the justice system (David, 2012). Several themes that support PDI’s framing slant reveals:

Themes: Democracy is getting mature, Constitutional crisis in terms of co-equal powers, Law versus morality, ‘Debt of Gratitude’ culture no longer works, The public getting education about constitutional processes

Philippine Star (PS)
Five articles written by Teodoro Benigno (2), Alejandro Roces and Editorials (2).

Slant: Class warfare and theatrics of the trials.

The framing of corruption for Philippine Star is tilted on class warfare highlighting Estrada’s celebrity personality as an actor-turned politician and Corona’s close association with ex-President Gloria Arroyo, who herself fell from grace because of alleged corruption. Benigno confronts the rich versus poor narrative dismissing the ‘pro-poor fiction’ adopted by typical personalities coming from the film industry, who are now holding key positions in national politics. PS’s slant frames corruption as reflective of the fatalist mentality typically shown in Philippine telenovelas that breed a culture of dependency among the underprivileged. Being hostage to a celebrity-driven political culture frames the poor as unenlightened whose vote of confidence on their idols in the movie screen keeps them ignorant of their own power to change their lives (Benigno, 2001).

PS’s emphasis even on the theatrics of the trials themselves in the way prayers and religion are always invoked by politicians tilts the framing of corruption that blurs the line between real politics and fictional drama, This is can be a valid argument that sums up PS’s position that democracy in the Philippines is an ‘illusion.’ Several themes that support PS’s framing slant reveals:

Themes: Pro-poor fiction in governance breeds ignorant masses, Corruption is the ‘telenovela’ of our times, Celebrity driven politics – Imelda Marcos to Estrada, Being hostage to political patronage and idolatry, Encouraging activism from the youth, Democracy is an ‘illusion’.

Discussion and Conclusion

Discourse, as defined by Foucault, are statements or narratives that are produced within institutions operating in historical contexts that shape how people think and communicate according to certain rules of inclusion or exclusion (Mangion, 2011). From this perspective, the process of inclusion or exclusion gives power to discourse and the level of prominence that it gains within the communicative process influences public consciousness and meaning making. From the findings, the use of slant as a framing mechanism allows the three news media organization to advance its own way of constructing a narrative of the impeachment trials that frames corruption on many discursive levels.

An analysis of PCIJ, PDI and PS’ framing slants reveal certain political ideologies that may not be reflective of the news media organization’s political bias but definitely indicates the ideological standpoints of the news media writers and editors. The level of activism that PCIJ represents reveals more urgency and is more assertive in tone than PDI and PS. This level of difference may be reflective of the organizational and media philosophies where each organization comes from. But their framing slants reveal a position of vigilance that shows a certain audacity in unearthing political, economic, cultural, historical and psychological roots of corruption. I believe such audacity represents a core value that supports a growing commitment to activism in new media. Such activism becomes necessary if we wish to continue developing new media as a site of a discursive practice from which new discourses can be interrogated. It is within this scenario and condition that the framing function of new media becomes crucial and one that can be explored for future research.

Fourie (2004) explains that to understand the meaning of any statement one must take into account the conditions upon which such statement is expressed and how its expression inspire other forms of communication (165). Identifying the conditions where meaning is created produces discursive practices from which interrogation of power relations can evolve. The conditions where corruption resides in Philippine politics comes from a long history of abuse of power and impunity and without the vigilance and audacity of mass media, activism can easily be lost.

The discursive potential the new media provides allows independence of critical voice on the part of media journalists. The persistence of slant patterns in media messaging and framing over time can influence the distribution of power between actors in the political communication process (Entman, 2007). If framing corruption in new media can inspire new discourses that can incite new forms of educating the ‘ignorant poor’ and liberate them from being hostage to the fiction of pro-poor political campaigns (Benigno, 2001), then maybe new forms of activism and agitation can evolve as well as a result of this. Such evolution can also expand the wider appeal of new media even further especially in times of constitutional, cultural and political crisis (Hamdy & Gomaa, 2012).

It is also of interest to note, that despite their differing slants in framing corruption, the three online news media organizations are united in interrogating democracy as a concept that refers back to the lessons learned from the 1987 people’s revolution and how it functions in Philippine society. That Philippine democracy is fragile, maturing, vibrant and an ‘illusion’ suggest a plurality of perspectives in media framing (DeLuca, Lawson & Sun). It is also indicative of a continuing interrogation of critical issues in the political life of the country and its people within which corruption will always be framed as part of the national dialogue. This is a condition that inspires discursive practices reflective of Foucault’s argument on discourse and Entman’s distribution of power in framing media content (Mangion, 2011; Entman, 2007).

In conclusion, I argue that the media coverage of the two high profile Impeachment Trials frames corruption in various ways that; opens up critical discourses on constitutional policy and class identity; appropriates lessons from histories of struggle to restore democracy and to resist signs of abuse of power; provides a discursive practice in media activism that attempt to break cultural barriers of fatalism, idolatry and impunity in Philippine politics; and serves as a forum to educate the public about constitutional processes and responsible governance.