The problems surrounding TV5 has also spread to the news department.
In Part I, FTT discussed the various dilemmas that surrounded News5 in recent months. These problems range from questionable personnel decisions and content criticisms to programming issues.
Now on Part II, we discuss what steps are needed to resuscitate News5 from its doldrums. These solutions may be risky for the division, but in the long term, it should help them regain their former glory.
With that, here are the following ways to fix News5:
Hire and Promote Younger Reporters
News5 really needs some young blood to shore things up. With that in mind, an aggressive recruiting plan is needed to acquire younger journalists (preferably fresh graduates from mass communications and journalism courses) who could help them in the long term.
Of course, it would be best to avoid the so-called ‘entertainers masquerading as journalists’ (EMAJ) at all costs. If so, demote them to reporting showbiz news.
In addition to that, they may need to promote some of their long-time reporters to anchor the ‘Aksyon’ newscasts on a regular or a temporary basis. Reporters like Maricel Halili, Renz Ongkiko, Maeanne Los Baños, France Noguera, Carla Lim and Trish Roque could get some airtime as anchors in the near future.
However, that will only be possible if News5 does something drastic to ‘Aksyon’. Which leads to this much-needed solution.
Reformat ‘Aksyon’ (save for ‘Aksyon Tonite’)
For the most part, ‘Aksyon sa Umaga’, ‘Aksyon sa Tanghali’ and ‘Aksyon Prime’ are similar to the newscasts of ABS-CBN and GMA: mostly sensationalized in nature. This is contrast to ‘Aksyon Tonite’, whose content is more on hard news.
Getting rid of the sensationalized reports and focusing more on hard news should be a priority for News5 in restructuring the ‘Aksyon’ brand. Of course, a personnel shuffle is needed as well; after all, no one wants to be the next Raffy Tulfo, who turned ‘Aksyon sa Tanghali’ into a ‘Wanted sa Radyo’ in newscast form.
Find someone equal to ‘Aksyon Tonite”s Ed Lingao and Cheryl Cosim, and a more reenergized ‘Aksyon’ newscasts are ready to go. But if TV5 wants to make their news available 24/7, they need to go to this route.
Establish an All-News Channel on Cignal
AksyonTV’s glory days are long gone. The former 24-hour all-Filipino news channel is now airing more sporting events than ever, and TV5 may need to give its sister channel a much-needed rebrand (preferably renaming it as the Sports5 Network or AKTV).
A news channel is still a necessity though. But instead of airing it on free TV like before, what TV5 needed now is a Cignal exclusive news channel, complete with the simulcasts of all Radyo5 programs, ‘Aksyon’ newscasts and public affairs shows from TV5 (don’t confuse it with Bloomberg TV Philippines, as it is strictly a business news channel).
In order to do that, however, more shows on Radyo5 and TV5 are needed. Which leads to:
Create More Shows on Radyo5 and TV5
Radyo5 92.3 News FM may be the only news-oriented FM station in the country, but its programming is still a far cry from that of AM radio counterparts DZBB and DZMM. With that in mind, the station needs to add more programs in addition to hiring new hosts.
The same can be said to TV5, whose only active public affairs shows are ‘Alagang Kapatid’ and ‘ReAksyon’. Adding new shows could take a while, however, since the network is busy managing the coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
These solutions should help News5 regain its former glory. But rebuilding is not easy, however, so all it needs is patience, perseverance and faith to get the job done.
News5 has a potential to be a great news organization. However, with all the problems they countered, it’s easy to see why they’re still lagging behind the others.
Hopefully they do this right as soon as possible. The fate of News5 is on the management’s hands.
From the Tube 
Totally agree with all of your suggestions. (isama mo rin ang management revamp).
With Martin already out of the picture, a new right-hand man for LCV is in order. Ed Lingao could be that guy, but it’s up to TV5 to make that decision.
Well for me, I want someone like Roby Alampay and Chi Bocobo(to replace Raffy on Aksyon sa Tanghali or to be on any of the Aksyon newscasts) or Maricel Halili(for Aksyon Tonite) to either be on the newscasts. And have a weekend edition with Mon Gualvez and Carla Lim.
As for Radyo5, have the Aksyon newscasts be simulcasted on the radio.
That’s just my suggestions.
We’ll see how their budget goes with these suggestions.
I don’t want to jump into conclusions but if Cheryl’s leaving(I hope not, she and LCV are the only veteran newscasters left), then there is bound to have some promotions going to happen very soon for some of their reporters like Carla,Maricel,Maeanne Los Banos or Roices Naguit.
Actually, Cheryl’s only leaving Aksyon Tonite according to Trish Roque. She’ll stay with TV5 on another capacity. But they seriously need to promote their younger reporters to do the anchoring ASAP.
It is time for NEWS5’s revamp. It is better to hire more journalists who are non-partisans and very serious on news gathering and delivery towards the viewers.
Exactly. Even a lesser emphasis on crime stories and more on national issues is a must as well. That’s what I want to see from this struggling news outfit.
Here’s the enabling step from MNP, but I am not happy with Tulfo anchoring an edition of Aksyon.
http://www.medianewser.com/2016/07/first-on-mnp-tv5-to-switch-to-single.html
Though with this move, it just simplifies what TV5 has been doing for the past three or four months which is COST-CUTTING.It kinda sucks though, I liked the present Aksyon Sa Umaga especially Atty.Mel’s segments(but I do hope they should keep Atty.Mel on the future revamp of the network’s news broadcasts).
The first seven months for TV5 has been dreadful with bone-headed moves that reaped no rewards. Overpaying for the Olympics and the PBA and the bumpy partnership with VIVA. I just hope that everybody from TV5 have learned their lessons from all of this especially MVP.Though in the end, I just want to see some improvement maybe by the last quarter of the year or by 2017.
I’m not happy with their decision to retain Raffy on Aksyon sa Tanghali. Obviously TV5 is not smart, considering how that newscast is treated more or less like Raffy’s radio show Wanted sa Radyo. Honestly, he and brother Erwin are better off doing their radio shows than anchoring their respective newscasts, much like their other brother Ben is right now.
Also, if they’ll retain Cheryl as a solo anchor on Aksyon sa Umaga, they could just start airing the show at 6:00 a.m. and run for an hour. 90 minutes is too much for her to be honest.
Overall, by using a one-anchor setup but retaining some of the not-so favorable anchors, News5 simply made things worse rather than improving on their mistakes.
Reblogged this on Driven To Distraction.
Finally all those reruns of former News5 shows have stopped.Tulong Ko Pasa Mo by Vic and Avelynn Garcia will premiere tonight at 11pm. I’m really hoping for new seasons for other News5 shows like History,Kaya and Insider though.
It’s the second Radyo5 show to cross over to TV5 after Healing Galing (this does not include Bitag and Wanted sa Radyo, both of which are property of Ben and Raffy Tulfo respectively). Unfortunately, with the budget so meager News5 could not afford to revive the old KBO block and other public affairs shows.
Sayang, because those programs are award-winning and promising at the same time. Pity LCV for putting herself in this mess.
They just unveiled a new set of logo, music scoring and OBB for all of the Aksyon newscasts. I wonder what’s next sana sa radyo naman.
More than just radyo, their overall news department. Not even this minor tweak (I’m saying this since the new look did nothing to mask their issues) can help them.
TV5 must look at their numbers in the ratings in order for its shows to survive. Instead of comparing it to other networks, maybe they should see their own numbers to get their target audience. Take a look at CBS THIS MORNING, after 50+ weeks, they have enjoyed a increase of 40% in the ratings making it the fastest-growing morning show in the U.S. although they’re in 3rd spot and Good Morning America and TODAY are competing for top spot. This is a example that TV5 should look at it.
But where will they look? Both Kantar and AGB Nielsen are posting figures that are essentially between GMA and ABS only and nothing else. At this point TV5 doesn’t care about ratings anymore. It’s about surviving with a niche audience, but with all the questionable decisions they make that doesn’t bode well with said audience, collapse is inevitable.