| Jan. 04 2010 - 09:24 pm View comments (21) |   | |
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(This entry is dedicated to Amiel Cabanlig, Brian Gorrel, the Get Real Squad and my kumpare, www.betterphilippines.com.)
Let me tell you the story of how Pinoy Buzz came to be and how it is going to end.
For the past year, Pinoy Buzz (www.pinoybiz.blogspot.com) has gone from absolute obscurity to some level of regional recognition.
For a long while, I was at the bottom of the blog heap. My blog was dormant and my stats were absolutely nothing compared to the stats I have today. In December of 2008, I resolved to make www.pinoybiz.blogspot.com one of the more better known blogs in the Philippines.
I blogged persistently, like a mad man. I actually started spending more time on my blog than on my work.
I didn't have a mission when I first hatched the idea of being the number one blogger in the Philippines, a goal which I think I will never reach. All I wanted to do, really, was to write about the things that, it seems, only I can see in the things that were happening all around me.
I was among the first to say that Bambee dela Paz was a fraud right in her own blog and that earned me a lot of scathing comments - including a blogger profile that insinuates that I am gay. (I laugh everytime somebody mentions it.)
Like most bloggers in the Philippines, I enlisted my blog in almost all of the blogstorms that erupted over one thing or another. There was the Terry Hatcher blogstorm, the kidnapping of 3 ICRC workers, Hayden Kho, Maui Taylor, Ondoy, etcetera. The baseline of my stats rose from a hundred pageviews a day to around 500 to 700 pageviews a day - this is the reward of joining bandwagons, you get popular.
My wife, of course, hated the fact that I spend hours upon hours a day tending to my free hosted blog. In order to appease her and show her that my efforts were actually making the money that we needed to raise our only child, I kept on updating her on my Google Adsense earnings - which I am not too proud to admit, had totaled to all of $70.00 which is more than I've actually spend on pre-paid broadband load. Of course, she snorted at the $70.00 and told me to spend more time on my real job, which at that time was to write press releases for Senator Richard Gordon.
I ignored her and passed her comment off as another one of those silly woman things that women tend to blurt out.
In my head I growled, "Ug! Ug! Me man! Me write blog and make millions of pesos through google adsense! Me show you! Ug! Ug! Silly woman! Make me coffee!"
The millions of pesos never materialized. I got reprimanded several times at work for not turning in the press releases I was supposed to write. But my blog, being freehosted as it was, finally started getting the stats I had only dreamt about when I decided to revive my dormant blog.
Then, out of the blue, Asian Correspondent contacted me and offered to hitch me up to their website in exchange for a certain amount of dollars a month. I didn't know the lingo back then, but apparently, I was being syndicated or rather my blog's traffic was being bought. I was even among a few renowned Filipino bloggers who were being invited to participate in Asian Correspondent.
I can't tell you enough of how this bit of news elated me. Suddenly, blogging glory - much better than winning the Philippine Blog Awards - was at hand.
Of course, in transferring my blog from blogger to Asian Correspondent, I lost quite a bit of traffic from my previous posts. Thankfully, with a lot of work from the people of Asian Correspondent and a lot of blogging work from me, my stats started to come back.
I actually started blogging on Asian Correspondent by writing a lot of safe pieces which were restrained by the usual journalist ethics which most Filipino reporters IGNORE. But, after weeks of doing blog entries that really didn't get a rise out of me or any of my friends. I realized that I wasn't being true to myself.
To be sure, there are certain top bloggers who claim to be following ethical journalism standards and some who claim to espouse noble causes. None of them really lived up to their claims because they are all paid hacks - one way or the other.
Who was I kidding?
I learned about ethical journalism not by being a journalist but by being the one who had to write rejoinders to the breach of ethics of some Filipino journalists. (If there is one worthy blog entry I will try to write, it is about the ABSOLUTE HYPOCRISY OF CERTAIN FILIPINO JOURNALISTS. Just recently, Ampatuan got mauled by journalists who were campaigning to stop violence against journalists. WHAT THE F**K WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?)
Certain commenters point out that I am not an ethical journalist. To that, I say PAKSHET. What are you talking about? Ethical Filipino journalists are a rare breed, they are not the dominant specie in the Filipino media jungle and they are not very well known either.
As Bubby Dacer once said, "Everybody has a price." And he actually mentioned a couple of names which, oddly, corresponded with the names mentioned by other PR guys.
No. I am not a Filipino Dyornalist.
I am a blogger. I make no claim to living up to standards of any sort. I am one man with a laptop, internet access, and a blog. I write as I please about the topics that interest me. Even after accepting the deal to be part of Asian Correspondent, I still insist on the idea that I am accountable to no one but myself.
For the past few weeks, I went on a rampage against Noynoy Aquino and his minions. This was not because of some misguided and rabid hatred for a political figure. This was because I lived through the years the fabled Cory Aquino administration and while we can credit her for the rise of Press Freedom, we cannot credit her for nation building.
The Cory Aquino legacy is the road paved with good intentions but led us to perdition. That legacy ought not to be repeated by anyone, much less Noynoy Aquino.
If I wasn't clear about it in my previous entries on this blog, let me say it again:
Manny Villar, despite the C-5 scandal, is the lesser evil. Dick Gordon, despite being unpopular, is the best choice over Gibo Teodoro who is a close second. JC delos Reyes is better off as a councilor in Olongapo, Brother Eddie Villanueva is better off tending to his ministry, and Nicanor Perlas is not worth the trouble.
I didn't expect to be popular for one reason or another. In fact, given the sentiments of most people, I expected to be less popular - even hated.
It was not easy being on the receiving end of some of the stupidest comments on Earth - really, come on guys, do some thinking before you comment.
My behavior on the internet has been lambasted by a lot of people, my motives have been questioned, and my credibility has been thoroughly assailed. If the internet were the UFC, I think I would be a bloody pulp by now - mostly blood, very little pulp with a lot of guts thrown in.
I may be notorious to some (especially among the pro-Noynoy legions out there) and I may be somewhat celebrated - albeit, in certain very small cliques who will disavow any association with me as soon as I post their real names. But, that hardly matters to me.
What matters is that I see that Noynoy Aquino is unfit for the Philippine Presidency and what matters is that I can blog about it.
So, how is it going it end? My stay with Asian Correspondent has hit a rough spot... a very rough spot.
Apparently, there was a deluge of complaints about my blog and Asian Correspondent has to take care of it reputation - which is understandable. I've made mistakes with previous entries and in light of the barrage of complaints from Noynoy cultists and others, I think the officers of Asian Correspondent has to make a decision that will be favorable to accomplishing their vision for their website.
I've asked them to reconsider their decision but I'm not really hoping for a change of mind. I am, after all, pretty risky. Then again, it's usually the biggest risk that pays off the most.
So, yellow trolls, I guess you guys win... For now.
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