Why the scarcity of local IT news?

Sinabi ni Mon Lizardo ng Inquirer.net kay Aileen Apolo na hindi talaga maraming balitang IT sa Pilipinas. Siya ay halos "nagre-reklamo tungkol sa kakulangan ng balitang internet sa Pilipinas. Marami akong binabasang lokal na tech blogs at balita, pero wala naman talagang mga bagay tungkol sa lokal na IT. Bakit?"

Bagama't karamihan sa mga tech blogger at manunulat ay magkakatungkol sa obserbasyong ito, akala ko ay may ibang anggulo ako dito. Payagan niyong bigyan kayo ng background. Nakilala ko ang isang dating kaibigan habang papunta sa gym kahapon gabi (Fitness First sa The Fort, mayroon ba?) at sinabi niya sa akin ang isang tunay na juicy scoop tungkol sa isang lokal na kumpanya ng musika na nagtatangka na pumasok sa industriya ng iTunes. Sa kabila nito, sabi niya ay hindi ko ito maiblog kahit ipinangako kong hindi ko babanggitan ang pangalan niya bilang aking pinagkukunan. Sinabi ko sa kanya na palagi akong nakakakuha ng ganitong uri ng bagay -- juicy pero hindi maiblog na lokal na kwento tungkol sa IT.

Kaya nga, ngayon ay nakikita mo na kung bakit kami kulang sa balitang IT? Ito'y dahil ang mga kwentong ito ay madalas ay hindi nakakakita ng liwanag. Laging nagtatapos sila tulad ng anumang isa sa mga sumusunod:

~~Pagsisigaw~~ Press Release o Iklan. Ang tunay na magandang balitang teknolohiya sa Pilipinas halos laging makikita sa mga pahayagan o telebisyon bilang press release ng kumpanya o bilang reklamo ng bagong produkto o serbisyo. Tignan natin ang Smart 3G, PLDT WeRoam, o Globe Visibility. Unang pagkakataon na nakarinig ang masa tungkol dito ay sa pamamagitan ng isang iklan. Ang ad ay nagpapababa sa tunay na kwento ng balita sa likod nito.
Mentalidad ng Pagkopya. Oo, tulad ng mga Tsino, tayo rin ay napakalaki ng pagmamahal sa pagkopya -- isang kopya ng Yahoo, Friendster, Facebook, Digg, iTunes. Kakulangan sa inobasyon. Walang gustong pakinggan ang kwento mo kung ikaw ay isa lang pang kopya. Kaya naman, maaari tayong tumanggap lamang ng mga kwentong tulad ng "Mga Palsipikong iPod na lumabas sa mga kalye ng Maynila" o "Kopya ng iTunes ay ipinakilala sa Pilipinas".
Konflikto ng Interes. Ang MSM ay hindi makakapagpatuloy ng (masasakit o kontrobersyal) kwento tungkol sa kanilang pinakamalaking mga bumibili ng reklamo. Iyon ang paraan kung paano gumagana ang kapitalismo.
Super Secret, Non-Disclosure o Takot na Pinagkukunan. Ito ang tinutukoy ko sa aking nakaraang pagkakataon. Maraming kwento ang natatanggap ko mula sa mga taong may kaalaman, ngunit hindi ko ito maiblog. O ang kwento ay super secret tulad ng sinabi ng isang eksekutibo ng kumpanya, o ang developer ay nag-sign ng non-disclosure agreement sa kliyenteng kumpanya, o ang empleyado ay takot na mapagpapalaya kung ang kwento ay mabubuga.

Ang karamihan sa mga kwentong ito ay hindi magandang balita ngunit relevant pa rin ang mga ito, tama ba? Maaaring ilang mga ito ay tsismis lamang, isang whitewash o ang simpla ngunit masasamang katotohanan. Baka kaya rito ang dahilan kung bakit wala tayong sariling ValleyWag o AppleInsider. Ngunit, kung naghahanap ka lamang ng "magandang" balita, pasensya na dahil talagang kulang ang mga ito sa paligid.

Kaya, mayroon bang may mga nakaka-engganyong kwento na ibabahagi?

Why is there so little independent IT news in the Philippines?

The scarcity stems from most stories being published only as press releases or advertisements, which prevents them from becoming standalone news pieces.

Which Philippine tech announcements first reached the public through ads?

Announcements such as Smart 3G, PLDT WeRoam, and Globe Visibility were initially seen by the masses via advertising.

What cultural tendency is said to hinder innovation in the local tech scene?

A clone mentality, favoring copies of platforms like Yahoo, Friendster, Facebook, Digg, and iTunes, is identified as a barrier to original innovation.

React to this article:

21 Comments

Miguel · 19 years ago

Jayvee,
re: Hackenslash: it’s obvious, it’s easy to write stories when you love the topic!

Looks like the old, old, old (yeah I was still young when it started!) .PH issue issue is alive again. With the help of Abe’s post!

Chin Wong’s story.

Karla · 19 years ago

I was in PR (with Joan Orendain) for sometime and I don’t see anything wrong with a journalist calling me up and asking for updates about a product or a company that’s among my portfolio. In fact, a lot of them do that (I won’t name that) because you do have to follow up a story. There could be more to a launch than just a new product. My respect for a journalist who calls me up does not diminish at all. That’s part of network building, and that’s how you get first dibs on stories that haven’t been written about yet. Sources–that’s how you call them.
Joan, who used to be a journalist herself, once said that there should be mutualism between PR and the media. In the same way that some journalists need PR firms for news, the latter also need them to break their stories.
There are so many stories out there to be written about! I think it’s just a matter of finding them.

Gail · 19 years ago

I’m not so sure about tech journalists being more than willing to publish stories coming from companies… Maybe I’m mistaken, but won’t that be a press release and not an article? A new product may be newsworthy to the company who made it, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that dailies will think the same. If they don’t see anything newsworthy or anything special about a new product, why report it when they can actually use the space for something they think is more newsworthy?

IMHO, I think it should be the other way around. I understand “startups” as companies “new” in the industry, so it’s really up to them to improve their marketing strategies and actually get noticed by the journalists.

I don’t know… I’m not a journalist or anything, but isn’t it a bit tacky for journalists to be the ones approaching companies/startups just to get news?

Ah, well. Maybe it’s just me.

jayvee f. · 19 years ago

actually, there is a lot of IT news around the country. i feel however that in terms of slice of the pie, not a lot of news journalists are allocated to the tech sector. tech is usually given to the magazines, IMO.

secondly, i feel that there are a lot of newsworthy items thats dying to be reported but journos do not know where to get this from. so it also works on the reverse side, where tech journos need to be educated on where they can also source information.

to sum my opinion:

1. although cyberpress exists (i am not a member), there seems to be more focus on the other sectors

2. journos need to be more well connected with tech startups. tech startups should know that tech journos are more than willing to publish their story.

i feel that the whole “company secrecy” thing may be pushed a bit far. if so, then why do niche coverages such as hackenslash (joey alarilla’s gaming industry report / advocacy) have a lot of news?

BrianB · 19 years ago

You ruin their business because of a bad report they’ll kill you.

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 19 years ago

So, that’s the real reason why! The US bloggers and tipsters aren’t afraid to cull out the super secrets and the NDAs.

Jun · 19 years ago

Parang “If I tell you I have to kill you. =) ”

Kidding aside, maybe we can start with not-so-big IT news and personalities like thisand international news that affect us like the new .asia domains.