As if it weren’t funny enough. Early today, media watchdog blog Spin Busters broke news of an appalling lapse in editorial rigour by top Philippine broadsheet Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI). Spotted on the front page of the 20th April 2013 edition of the PDI was an image depicting what seems to be the front cover of TIME Magazine featuring a photo of Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III on the occasion of being named among the “100 Most Influential People in the World”.
The image is actually a photoshopped meme posted on the Facebook page of social media political commentary powerhouse Showbiz Government. An image of the front page of the day’s PDI is made available online at the Inquirer.net, in this case at Page one, April 20, 2013 where, as of this writing, it remains available for viewing and download (see also below). It is also now in hard copy circulation all over the country.
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What is really astounding, however, is how the Inquirer staff could be so clueless about the hilarity in this seminal photo of President BS Aquino flashing his signature nganga (gaping mouth) as to actually think that TIME would use it on one of their front covers. The photo was originally featured on the November 2012 Get Real Post article Is there hope in reforming the lazy presidency of President Noynoy Aquino? and is credited to the Associated Press. It was apparently taken during the Asia Pacific Economic Forum conference held in Vladivostok in 2012. It has since been used in various other memes published on Showbiz Government and other digital political commentary outlets all over the Web.
Much of the traditional media complex of the country is already under the control of oligarchs who owe much to the Aquino-Cojuangco dynasty. Even long before the 2009-2010 presidential campaign of President BS Aquino, the foundation for the awesome propaganda infrastructure of the Aquino-Cojuangco clan had already been lain. When the dust cleared in the aftermath of the 1986 “People Power” Edsa “Revolution”, the embryos of what are now two of the largest media outlets in the country — the monolithic ABS-CBN Network and the Aquino family newsletter, the Philippine Daily Inquirer — stood tall as “heroes” and went on to become the biggest beneficiaries of this “revolution”. Its owners continue laughing all the way to the bank — not a bad deal in exchange for the small utang-ng-loob (debt of gratitude) they owe to the Aquino-Cojuangco feudal clan.
The only greenfield left for the propaganda machine of the Yellow Mob to take control of was social media. Interestingly enough, as the battle for the ouster of then Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona loomed in the horizon in late 2011 and early 2012, Rappler.com popped up out of nowhere pitching itself as a “social news network”, a concept that even Rappler “thought leaders” fail to convincingly define clearly to this day.
The Inquirer.net has since tweeted an upbeat apology for the oversight…
Kudos to eagle-eyed tweeps who called our attention to the fake Time Mag cover. It was an oversight on our part. Thanks for the feedback!
I’m quite sure the fine men and women at Spin Busters and Showbiz Government would come up and take a bow if they weren’t already busy working on their next projects.
Indeed, haste makes waste. In this case, the haste to milk returns on, shall we say, “investments” in good relations with the editors of TIME have turned what was warm bread fresh from the oven into cold hard stone.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
How funny and unprofessional!
the Time cover of p-noy in his best fly-catching pose, and subtitled “the face of the country”. The yellow face of the press caught red faced.
no chance of making the most eligible batchelor’s list – not even in Gay Times.
Reminds me of the Bocca della Verità (the Mouth of Truth) from the movie “Roman Holiday.” Anybody want to stick your hand down there?
HAR HAR HAR! 😀
Love that photo. Really shows BS Aquino’s character. Just wish they didn’t juxtapose it with more serious news, namely the hunt for the Boston Bombing suspects. Incidentally, the surviving bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was apprehended around 9am Philippine time.
Take note of the sub-features visible on the original image published by Showbiz Government here.
– “Beauty tips” (photo of Noynoy on the firing range)
– “Working dead” (photo of Noynoy snoozing)
– “Blame game” (photo of Noynoy with Malaysian flag in background)
And he is not holding a gun, he’s holding a hair dryer hahaha
the spoof Time photo deserves a spoof write up
President Aquino of the flippin where.
The stuttering president, whose lack of a love-life occupies more of his mind than the affairs of state. Hot he is not, and his reproductive chances are mission impossible.
After 3 years of late night karaoke, work avoidance measures, and ribbon cutting, ‘noynoying’ entered the local vocabularly to describe his lack of a work ethic.
As Uncle Sam’s lapdog in south east asia he barks at the chinese, who could have him served up as a dish anytime they wish.
He is a clown, the long term consequences of his circus act still unknown, but the tent is showing signs of disrepair.
That’s what happens when they do the pwede na iyan mentality.
Inquirer admits they wanted Noynoy on cover of Time. Coming across as biased and cheerleaders not journalists in search of the truth. As if it excuses their blunder. You can’t love someone unconditionally and endlessly and still cover them objectively. Why trust these guys as a news source. You are better off with J. Jonah Jameson.
Guys, get a life please.
Haters go to hell.
Let’s just do our shares for the betterment of the Philippines.
if you had a life majestic, you wouldn’t spend one second of it reading a blog that you fundamentally disagree with and then reacting to it. Oh yeah, you are a plant.
-_- there are some people that i literally want to smack common sense into.
— majestic, you have a right to speak. but make sure that what comes out of your mouth can be proven by your actions.
people have a right to criticize, especially when they see something fundamentally wrong where most people are blind to it
Us pointing out this lie, i mean “error”, is one of the ways we are participating for the betterment of the Philippines.
Just imagine if this was allowed to roam freely and the people started believing.
I guess with your comment, you don’t mind being lied to eh?
It’s time to wake up the sheep from its stupor before it’s too late.
You’re right majestic! Stop pointing fingers at others guys. If each and every one of us will just do our shares – even how small it may seem – we will succeed as a nation. Blame game will not bear any good. Peace guys! Go Pinoys!
There was an outbreak from the greenhouse? Because there sure are a lot of plants here. Noynoy Aquino is the undisputed master of the blame game.
proud pinoy, talking to yourself again?
Lol, the troll is talking to himself. How low can the idiots at malacanang get? That is so pathetic, making up another account to reply to his own post. What a loser.
Let’s just be proud that others (non Filipinos) are noticing improvements in the Philippines beacause of the reforms being implemented by our President Pnoy. If you’re one of the non believers, just keep quiet and do your share to improve the Philippines as per your criteria.
“If you’re one of the non-believers, just keep quiet”
Says it all!
– malleable airheads who sound and think like quasi-religious cult members and whose only desire is to stop debate – because it is beyond them -, stop freedom of expression – because the truth exposes the reality -, and avoid individual responsibility – because thinking is too much like hard work.
Only someone that is insane would be happy with the current MEDIOCRE standard that we have here.
“proud pinoy” just shot himself in the foot with his statement that we should just keep quiet and let mediocrity spread in our country.
And what kind of improvements are that? I’ll tell you the fact that those improvements are farce since they were done by other people and PNoy is taking all the credit.
Yes, I am a non-believer. You just want to believe what the biased media says. And you have my pity because you’re UTO-UTO.
“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” – Thomas Jefferson
@proud pinoy/majestic, pakibasa at intindihin mabuti ang quote sa taas ok?
What an incompetent fool that writer is.
Drahma Bull. Pikon perhaps? Any idiot can call anybody else an idiot. I don’t see any support to your claim. Perhaps there is none. Like I said outbreak from the greenhouse.
Hey jabroni, if there is an incompetent fool, it was nothing but the president himself.
You really have no idea how how powerful the BIASED media can fool everyone. Including YOU, my good sir.
Photo captions – aquino ‘time magazine cover’
P-noy back channeling.
‘Now that’s what i call a wash and brush up’
‘A hot dog, and an ice cream!’
‘Do these new glasses make me look intelligent?’
‘Uncle sam, be careful where you put your hand – more to the right’
“Hey, look! Its Homer Simpson’s Filipino cousin!”.
Wow. This is hilarious.
I don’t know what’s more laughable, the Philippine government or the Philippine news media.
No wonder we’re the laughing stock of Asian nations.
Well done, PDI. The dubiousness of your work is evidently manifested in this issue.
For the trolls who don’t understand this article, this reminds me of this song:
Omg!
Pride injection failed.
Two years later and what the majority of anti aquinos here have said about Aquino became truth.
In just 2 years after this blog post, aquino has definitely become a failed president.
Propaganda can never hide that fact.
Proud Pinoy’s eating his words now because after Duterte took over, Aquino was made out to be incompetent because Duterte did everything Aquino wasn’t able to during his failed regime
Aquino is a narcissist. Inquirer Magazine is Aquino’s Propaganda Tool. They think that people, only read the Inquirer Magazine.
They put false news, as propaganda; at the request of Aquino. This idiot never accomplished anything in his life. Now, he fantasizes: he is one of the most influential people of the world. I would like to have that Time Magazine copy; so that I can complain to Time Magazine, and demand my money back !