Timow's Turf

The Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS), a longtime Philippine cinema authority, recently decided to branch out. After decades of handing out golden statuettes, someone within the committee thought, " Podcasts and midday TV are booming—let's create a spin-off!" Perhaps due to the outdated, strict criteria of PMPC and KBP coping with the lingering crisis of 2020, this indeed occurred. Enter the 1st FAMAS Broadcast Arts Awards. It was billed as a grand evening at the Manila Hotel celebrating the best in TV, radio, and digital media. But when a legacy film institution enters the chaotic realm of broadcasting and internet culture, chaos ensues. To gauge how well the academy’s refined tastes match reality, a poll was conducted among everyday listeners and viewers, who predicted winners in 28 categories (two were excluded due to open-ended questions). The results? The statistics expose a huge, absurd gap between public favorites and the FAMAS judges’ choices. He...

We're now on Week 2 of Vice President Sara Duterte’s historic impeachment trial. When the Senate gavel fell last week to open such reckoning, it was an intense trial by fire. For the Philippine media, such a trial is the ultimate broadcasting showdown that  requires stamina, strong legal literacy, a solid team of anchors, and expert mastery of live production. The 2026 media landscape is vastly more fragmented than during Renato Corona’s 2012 trial or Joseph Estrada's 2000-01. Legacy networks are leaner, digital challengers are bolder, and state-backed channels are asserting unprecedented independence for the moment (while they still report the incumbent President's policies and POV). The coverage highlights a stark contrast between veteran composure, rookie ambitions, structural failures, and surprising comebacks across all media outlets. The Legacy Giants: Veterans vs. Missing Infrastructure ANC (ABS-CBN News Channel) The seasoned veterans are back, exhibiting the unwaver...