Reporting on a culture other than one’s own presents tremendous challenges to a mass media practitioner, even to a recognized veteran in the profession. The task becomes even more daunting when the mass media practitioner is reporting on the day-to-day events of a long drawn-out conflict between majority and minority cultural communities. A mass media practitioner’s ethnic biases tend to surface, despite carefully chosen words and politically correct terms.

The death of Joy Guevarra after she and her friends played make-believe contestants of “Ano Ka Hilo?” on ABS-CBN 2’s “Magandang Tanghali Bayan,” focused national attention on the power of television upon the lives of men, women, and children. Concerned citizens were complaining that noontime shows, including “Sige, Ano Kaya Mo?” on GMA 7’s “Eat Bulaga,” were putting people’s lives in danger with the kind of contests they were promoting.