Cancellation of Kape at Balita on GMA News TV

GMA News TV’s ‘Kape at Balita’ aired its final episode on August 16, 2013, finishing its 10-month run.

From August 19 onwards, many viewers of GMA News TV noticed a change in the early morning timeslot. Instead of the early morning newscast ‘Kape at Balita‘, the said network have been airing repeats of documentaries such as ‘Hamon ng Kalikasan’ and ‘Misteryo‘. No explanation was given regarding the cancellation.

The second incarnation of ‘Kape at Balita’ started to air on October 22, 2012 as an alternative program to the big networks’ morning shows such as ‘Umagang Kay Ganda‘, ‘Good Morning Club‘, and ‘Unang Hirit‘. The program’s basic fare featured mostly current news events, spiced up with commentaries and interviews from various sources. In short, ‘Kape at Balita’ was more akin to the morning news and commentary shows on radio such as ‘Kabayan: Kapangyarihan ng Mamamayan, Balita at Talakayan’ and ‘Saksi sa Dobol B‘.

This was GMA News TV’s second attempt at a morning show. Previous to that they aired a simulcast of DZBB‘s ‘Saksi sa Dobol B’, before giving way to ‘Kape at Balita’. Morning shows on television were usually the most difficult and expensive to produce, and with the domination of the morning shows on the big networks, the others struggled to keep pace. One example is Studio 23‘s defunct morning show ‘Breakfast’, which struggled with viewership because the format is more akin to middle and upper class viewers.

These days both ABS-CBN and TV5 simulcast their morning shows on their sister news networks. ‘Umagang Kay Ganda’ is also seen on the all-English cable network ABS-CBN News Channel, while ‘Good Morning Club’ is simulcast on the UHF AksyonTV. GMA would have loved to do the same thing with ‘Unang Hirit’, but since their sister network GMA News TV is also a VHF channel, it is very unlikely.

At the moment it is unclear whether or not GMA News TV will produce another morning show. For now, they revert back to airing past documentaries, something the network will never want to do after all my criticisms against the network.

Napoles Surrenders, and Media Takes Notice

If you were watching late night news yesterday, you were informed about this very important news that Janet Napoles, the Pork Barrel whistleblower, has voluntarily surrendered to the authorities. Leading up to the surrender, all of Napoles’ accounts were frozen to the point she cannot afford any food and gas for herself, her passports were cancelled, and then President Noynoy Aquino offered a P10M reward for her arrest. But instead of getting captured, Napoles decided to submit herself.

As early as 11:00 p.m., GMA’s ‘Saksi‘ and ABS-CBN’s ‘Bandila‘ officially reported the news of the surrender, while TV5’s ‘Pilipinas News‘ followed suit. The coverage continued into early Thursday morning, with all of the morning shows on television and radio providing additional coverage of the Napoles surrender. Elsewhere, social media netizens who remain awake before midnight gave their own views and opinions of the surrender, with several terms related to Napoles and Pork Barrel trending on Twitter.

Print and online media were also active during the late hours of August 28. Front pages of today’s editions of The Philippine Star, Philippine Daily Inquirer, and the Manila Bulletin focused on Napoles’s surrender, while online news sites such as Rappler, InterAksyon, ABS-CBN News Online and GMA News Online also emphasized on the said news.

Many who criticize the Pork Barrel saw this news as a partial victory. But stay tuned for more news regarding the surrender and other related events, through all media outlets.