Population Media Center holds forum discussion

The Population Media Center (PMC) was founded by its present president Bill Ryerson, who is in Manila for a five-day visit along with PMC vice president, Ms. Kriss Barker. Last Tuesday, we had the pleasure of participating in their Press Forum on the creative use of Soap Opera for expounding the cause of sustainable development in relation to the political problem of problems – the population explosion. When we talk about the world population, what we are actually referring to is humanity.

We have never classified humanity according to race, religion or nationality. As far as we are concerned, there are only two types: those who do their utmost to develop their natural talents and those who are completely satisfied with themselves as they are. The worst are the persons who misuse their God-given talents. But every individual carries within himself the entire condition of humanity. Or as Mohandas K. Gandhi phrased it, humanity is "one undivided and indivisible family."

Going into the topic of population explosion, the facts are took it took 18 centuries after the birth of Christ for the world to have its first billion inhabitants. Then, it took just 123 years to have its second billion and only 33 years to get its third billion.

The world is annually adding about 78 million more people. If fertility continues at present levels, there will be 296 billion in just a century and a half. Only 17 percent of the world’s population reside in industrialized countries. The rest are in the Third World. Twenty percent of affluent humanity consumes 86 percent of all goods and services. The poorest fifth only get 1.3 percent. There are approximately 80 million Filipinos and we have the highest fertility rate of the large countries in Southeast Asia. That is one reason why we have the problem of street children. People either have children they don’t want or cannot maintain.

The main topic discussed during the PMC forum was media’s role in the population explosion problem. Sad to say, media’s present role in the country is to glamorize sex and violence. Media could be the greatest exponent of sustainable development. They could be expounding on solutions to our national problems. Instead, more often than not, they are propagating the wrong values.

Television is generally called the idiot box. It is because, with rare exception, most programs and almost all the ads are truly idiotic. But there is no question that of the three – press, radio and TV – television is potentially, the most powerful. In the press, you read the person; in radio, you hear him; in television you actually see and hear the person, right in your living or bed room. One of the things discussed in the PMC forum was on the use of soap opera to promote peace and progress. Effectively done, it would change the image of television from "the idiot box" to "the vision box" or "mission box."