The Political Economy of ABS-CBN’s Online Coverage of the Mamasapano Clash
Abstract
Bas, D.M.C (2017) The Political Economy of ABS-CBN’s Coverage of the Mamasapano Clash, Unpublished undergraduate thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication
In the coverage of conflicts in Mindanao, the media plays a significant role in disseminating information to the public. However, the Muslims involvedin these conflicts have not been given equal representation leading to the continuing propagation of the “Us vs. Them” narrative in the media and the negative connotations regarding Islam.
This study focused on ABS-CBN’s coverage of the Mamasapano Clashthat occurred on the 25 th of January 2015 and examined news articles publishedits online arm. This study heavily discusses media ownership and control as it tried to determine the causal link between ABS-CBN’s ownership and the coverage of the Mamasapano Clash.
Using textual analysis, data analysis, and institutional analysis, this research tried to determine the political economic factors that may have affectedthe way ABS-CBN reported on the Mamasapano Clash which coincidentallyhappened when the bill on the Bangsamoro Basic Law was being discussed in Congress.
The researcher made use of the political economic concepts of structuration and spatialization as part of the theoretical framework and gatheredarticles pertaining to the Mamasapano Clash from ABS-CBN’s online sites andanalyzed documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in order to ascertain who the controllers of ABS-CBN are and to determine what else they are invested in other than media.
The researcher found that although the combatants of the MamasapanoClash (namely the MILF and PNP) were given equal prominence in terms of the number of articles published on them, the manner of representation was not, withthe tragedy of the deaths of the SAF44 being more highlighted initially.
Throughout the research, the researcher also found that the controllers of ABS-CBN have indeed heavily invested in numerous business ventures inMindanao and speculates that this affected the way that the issue was framed intheir coverage.
Keywords: Representation, Muslims, Moros, Maguindanao, ABS-CBN, News, Political Economy