By Mortz C. Ortigoza
When I dropped by at the major newsstand in the
city, its owner told me that he was a newspaper boy before he ventured into
selling dailies.
When our conversation went to the number of
newspapers, tabloids, and community papers he sold, he deplored the lethargic
sale.
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| Photo is Comedian Jim Carey in his famous movie's Dumb and Dumber. Many Filipino mayors are either "dumb" or "dumber". |
“Iyong ibang provincial newspapers wala na ngang
bumili,” he quipped.
He said that he could only sell ten copies of the
major community newspaper in a week and the number of copies of Philippine
Daily Inquirer, Philippine Star, and Manila Bulletin declined tremendously in
weekly basis compared to what he told me months ago.
He cited early this year that he could only sell only
15 copies a day of major broadsheet Philippine Daily Inquirer while its rivals Philippine Star and Manila
Bulletin averagely sell eight and four copies a day, respectively.
He said that the number one community news in
the city sells only 20 copies in a week in his stand.
I told him that newspaper business is dying what
with the digital gadgets like cellphones where anybody can read and watch
news from the intellectual dailies like New York Times to the prurient content
and ordinary Joe’s serving Filipino headline screaming tabloids.
I read years ago that in Australia and European
countries newspapers are passé’ because people browsed the de rigueur
and convenient mobile phones and laptops.
“Yap, because
mobile phones are cheap. One could buy those Filipino made with touch screens
like Cherry Mobile and My Phone and their cheap Chinese counterparts for a song.
Cellular phones are obviously much cheaper than laptops,” my son Jigger
told me once.
If hard copies newspapers are
bound to extinction while online news are gaining prominence in the digital
war, here’s a member of Congress.
When I
showed to Pangasinan Congressman Pol Bataoil, whom I had breakfast at the Army
Golf Club in Taguig City, the immediate and positive comments of readers of my
news “Bataoil watches closely P1B highway project for Lingayen”
at P’NAN News, a major blog with tens of thousands readers, as seen on my
mobile phone, the solon told me that it was good as it saved the cutting of
paper trees.
***
Before the 2016 local election I
supported the advocacy of this battle-scarred mayor. On that poll, the mayor
lost to a young tenderfoot mayor.
Tenderfoot, to those plumbers of Malabanan Poso Negro and embalmers of Pasay Funeral Parlor who read this column or blog, means " a newcomer in a comparatively rough or newly settled region; especially :one not hardened to frontier or outdoor life".
During the victory parade I and some media men waved our hands as congratulatory gesture to the victor who was on the lead truck standing at the haul bed while tens of hundreds of his supporters snaked with their vehicles at his back.
He did not reciprocate my action even I did not criticize his poor performance when he was in public office as a lower level official.
Lately, somebody told me that when I visited his office to get his side of an issue on an overpriced project and promises to voters he failed to give them, he told his assistant that he avoided talking to me.
That’s fine.
So what would happen now?
I’ll comment negatively on what ills your town because of your patent incompetence because you would not want to talk to me on your half cooked competence?
Tenderfoot, to those plumbers of Malabanan Poso Negro and embalmers of Pasay Funeral Parlor who read this column or blog, means " a newcomer in a comparatively rough or newly settled region; especially :one not hardened to frontier or outdoor life".
During the victory parade I and some media men waved our hands as congratulatory gesture to the victor who was on the lead truck standing at the haul bed while tens of hundreds of his supporters snaked with their vehicles at his back.
He did not reciprocate my action even I did not criticize his poor performance when he was in public office as a lower level official.
Lately, somebody told me that when I visited his office to get his side of an issue on an overpriced project and promises to voters he failed to give them, he told his assistant that he avoided talking to me.
That’s fine.
So what would happen now?
I’ll comment negatively on what ills your town because of your patent incompetence because you would not want to talk to me on your half cooked competence?
I remembered an allegedly corrupt
public official when we crossed path, the honcho smarted I negatively wrote
about her.
“You
did not want to talk to me when I visited your office to get your side,” I told her because of her propensity
to hide from media men.
“Para ano pa, hinde na kelangan!” she arrogantly told me.
That’s what made an official
ugly. You ain’t want the media to get your side, then people read or hear your
bad side.
(You can read my selected intriguing but
thought-provoking columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com.
You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)
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