No news is good news

I did not understand what my college English teacher in news writing, the late Dionisio Soronio, meant when he said that “No news is good news”. Pride prevented me from learning from my teacher any intelligent explanation. I was ashamed to ask what he meant. If only we had internet in 1969, I would have found out that this proverbial phrase was attributed to King James I of England who said that “no news is better than evil news”. As it has evolved, this quote is equal to “Having no information means that bad developments are unlikely”.

 Last Wednesday, I watched Balitang Bisdak of GMA, as part of my afternoon itinerary. Towards the end of the news program, however, I seemed to notice that there apparently was no news item coming from Cebu City. Most, if not all, stories were sourced from the cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Talisay. Invariably, mayors Jonas Cortes, Junard “Ahong” Chan, and Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas, were alternately featured. I could not help but smile as Mr. Soronio came back to my mind. No news came from Cebu City which, according to my teacher, means that everything was good in the city or that bad developments were unlikely.

According to 2015 records, the combined population of Lapu-Lapu City (410,000), Mandaue City (370,000) and Talisay City (230,000) is statistically the same as that of Cebu City at 930,000. It is, for me, incredible that there was no incident in Cebu City worth reporting while the whole 30-minute news program featured many news stories from the other three neighboring cities. I could not help but be curious that GMA has not assigned any reporter to Cebu City. It was unthinkable that the network imposed a news blackout on our city.

To satisfy my curiosity, I wanted to observe closely the Balitang Bisdak the following day, Thursday. I was a little late though because I opened my TV at 5:04 p.m. From the moment I watched the news, the following twelve items were reported: 1.) Talisay City Mayor Samsam Gullas leaving Vice Mayor Bucao as acting mayor; 2.) Lapu-Lapu City on vaccination at Pajo, with Mayor Chan video; 3.) Mandaue City fire; 4.) Police report on paddling incident which I presumed to be a Cebu City incident; 5.) Autopsy on the Dumaguete killing nine months ago; 6.) A singer from Lapu-Lapu City to compete in the World Championship of Performing Arts; 7.) Mandaue City vaccination priorities, featuring Barangay Captain Ernie Manatad; 8.) Chinese New Year; 9.) Murder, in Lanao, Pilar Camotes; 10.) Stabbing alarm in Talisay; 11.) Valentine’s Day feature, and 12.) Weather bulletin.

There was practically no news sourced from Cebu City, last Thursday. Perhaps, no incident like the stabbing in Talisay City or the murder that took place in Camotes involving completely ordinary mortals happened here in our city. Maybe, the turnover of the mayorship in Talisay by a COVID-19 positive Mayor Gullas to his vice mayor was more worthy of reporting than the ear infection of our own mayor to explain the total absence of any health news on Mayor Labella. To repeat, Balitang Bisdak reported no news on Cebu City and we Cebu City residents should be happy because no news is good news. Or is it?