lifeunderthecylindricalbox

I’m reposting a letter (not only because I don’t have anything good to write about) to ABS-CBN News by a friend regarding a poorly written article. I actually have read the article yesterday and noticed the errors, but what she pointed out in her letter was more than just the typo. Read on.

Dear ABS-CBN News,

Good day. I chanced upon the ABS-CBN News article, “State Funeral for Cory? No Pomp for Democracy Icon”, and was subsequently horrified at how such a badly edited article rife with errors could make its way to Yahoo.com, a major online platform for world news and information on current events. Not only did the article have glaring grammatical mistakes — it also bore factual errors that only slipshod editing could be responsible for.

In that same article, President Arroyo had suddenly switched places with the deceased Ms. Aquino, resulting in a couple of paragraphs whose ultimate message completely defied belief:

When Mrs. Arroyo’s passing was announced at dawn on Saturday, the whole world paused. Condolences to the family of Mrs. Aquino poured from all over the world–both through official statements sent through embassies, made on TV, or posted online. A staggering number of people have been paying their tributes to Mrs. Aquino online, inundating social networking and blog sites. For a good number of those posting online, it is their first time to witness the passing of a president.

Major English and non-English media companies all over the world gave a prominent coverage of Mrs. Arroyo and her international image as a democracy icon. They highlighted how Mrs. Arroyo was able to restore democracy in the Philippines through a bloodless street revolution that soon became the template to boot out corrupt governments in Europe and Latin America.

Not only did your staff let this error slide past once; the same mistake was committed at least two more times within the article, as demonstrated by the above paragraphs. Worse still is the travesty you make of Ms. Aquino’s demise: how can anyone in his sane mind refer to Mrs. Arroyo as a “democracy icon”? It’s appalling to see sentence after sentence lauding Mrs. Arroyo for achievements that were not hers and will never be hers, given the depravity exemplified by her administration and her utter disregard for the foundational tenets of democracy.

Interchanging the names of two women with such polarized motivations — one towards the freedom and empowerment of the Philippines, the other towards personal gain and the curbing of liberties so rightly ours as a people — is nothing short of stupid. To label it as careless would be kind of me, and your article, I’m afraid, does not inspire kindness in any way.

Please make the necessary corrections to this piece as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Peachy A. Paderna

I’d rather have “dead” than “democracy icon” any day.