Bart Guingona, ABS-CBN regional news closure was driven by profit motive

Bobo talaga itong si Bart Guingona.

Nagmura kahapon dahil sa paghinto ng ABS-CBN regional news operations. Apparently, his hatred was directed at President Duterte and Congress. But he was barking at the wrong tree.

Mr. Guingona, the closure of these stations was a management decision to make sure the bottom line — PROFIT — remains high for the network.

In case you didn’t notice, pinagpatuloy ng ABS-CBN ang mga teleserye on the digital platform. Puwede naman ito para sa regional news operations, di ba? Bakit viable para sa entertainment pero hindi ginawa para sa public affairs?

Of course, the revenues from teleseryes pour by the thousands of gallons per second. Ito ang dahilan kung bakit maka-afford ang ABS-CBN na bayaran ang mga artista ng napakalaking pera! Sa kabilang panig, maliit lang ang kita mula sa balita.

Kaya the regional news stations were sacrificed at the altar of greed. It’s not because of the denial of the franchise application. The network continues to operate on the digital platform even without a franchise.

It’s always been the practice that media organizations strike a balance between news and entertainment. The latter provides the revenues to support the news gathering and reporting activities. Yan po ang naging formula noon pa.

ABS-CBN merely used the lack of franchise as an excuse to chop public affairs from its corporate playbook. Ayaw ng mga Lopez na gumastos pa sila para sa balita kung ito ay ibabawas pa sa kanilang profits.

It’s that simple, bobo.