MVP on journalism, AI and the brave new world

In today’s newsrooms, says tycoon Manuel V. “MVP” Pangilinan, the title of “editor” is perhaps the most inaccurate.

Why so? MVP argues:

Publishers publish, reporters report and journalists work on journals. One would think that all editors do is edit.

“But your jobs – as you know – are far more important, and much more intensive than marking up your writers’ drafts. You have perhaps the most crucial job of all – which is choosing what to focus on, and deciding what the news is,” he says.

Brave new world

This is particularly important, MVP says, as he recognized the existence of artificial intelligence and its curatorial influence on information via algorithms.

But this doesn’t mean the job of the editor has become obsolete, he says.

“In fact, you are all more valuable than ever before. In cyberspace where answers are available everywhere, you determine which questions are worth asking,” says the tycoon during a recent gathering of news editors organized by the MVP Group.

Perhaps MVP, the chairman and CEO of the many companies he leads, is also well aware that consumption has changed drastically.

The same is true in the news. The way people consume news today and the way news affects the world, have significantly changed.

As MVP says, it’s a time when what confronts us is something in the mold of English author Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel, Brave New World where, the tycoon notes, “people are flooded with so much information that it’s impossible to distinguish what’s important from what’s not.”

The greatest weapons against such a threat are news editors, MVP says.

It’s one of those times when MVP, whose sprawling business empire includes stakes – big or small – in media organizations, puts the spotlight on the people who sift through the dizzying avalanche of stories every single day and decide which ones would have the biggest impact on the lives of Filipinos.

KathNiel

Times indeed are changing. Who would have thought for instance that KathNiel fans would have a collective breakdown after Filipino celebrity couple Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla announced their split after 11 years of being young lovers on-screen and off-screen?

At least one local newspaper put it on the front page, perhaps to acknowledge this heartbreak of millions of Filipinos. Television news programs interrupted their regular hard news to announce the break-up. The Singapore Straits Times carried a story about it.

Were newspapers correct in giving so much prominence to the KathNiel breakup?

At best, it was a recognition that a great big part of the Filipino population were in tears.

Perhaps, sometimes, sifting through news isn’t always about looking for stories that would make people less hungry or more hungry. It’s also about recognizing stories that affect – momentarily or otherwise – the Filipino people’s soul, something AI can’t figure out just yet.

Perhaps, it’s no coincidence that MVP reminded us about Huxley’s Brave New World, which warned against a society devoid of deep connections that make us truly human and alive.

More imported meat from Brazil

Speaking of hard news and gut issues, some recent news from Brazil caught my attention.

Brazil, the world’s top chicken exporter and home to giant meatpackers, announced in early November that it was extending an avian flu-related national health emergency for another 180 days due to more detections of the virus.

The South American country has confirmed avian flu cases in wild birds as early as May 2023 and declared a health emergency a week later.

Just last Nov. 7, Brazil announced that it was extending the national health emergency, Reuters has reported.

Japan had imposed a temporary ban on Brazilian chicken products coming from Espirito Santo state in late June and from Santa Catarina, Brazil’s second largest producer and exporter of chicken, in mid-July.

Although Brazil said the highly infectious virus has not yet reached commercial flocks, it has 139 confirmed outbreaks of the disease, including in wild birds, subsistence poultry and mammals, the Reuters report also said.

Against this backdrop, I’m curious why the Philippines wants to pave the way for more meat imports from Brazil.

The South American country is seeking system-wide accreditation that will allow its establishments to export animals, meat and meat products to the Philippines.

Thus, in a special order last month, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said he is sending an inspection mission to Brazil for the accreditation of Brazilian foreign meat establishments.

Normally, this is just a standard procedure. When countries want to export meat and meat products to the Philippines, they need to apply for systemwide accreditation which would entail actual inspection of their animal health and safety standards.

But there are many factors at play here. Why do we want to bring in more meat imports at this time and from a country with confirmed cases of avian flu?

Brazil’s meat products such as beef, pork or chicken parts could directly compete with Filipino farmers who are already struggling.

As it is now, mechanically deboned meat or those used to make products such as sausage, nuggets, luncheon meat, etc. already enjoy a two-year, five percent tariff rate which exporters are currently enjoying. The Marcos administration has extended the lower tariffs to end-2024.

Imports help ensure the continued supply of food products in the country at affordable prices but as I’ve said before, we must also make sure that our local industries get enough support.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen (Iris Gonzales) on Facebook.