Yesterday on twitter I was alerted to the supposed receipt of GMA’s New York dinner. The graphic looked familiar and true enough I’d seen it on another blog and knew the breakdown was THEORETICAL, the purpose behind this exercise being to illustrate how X amount of people having dinner in a restaurant with a menu at X prices could’ve racked up $20,000.
The purpose of the THEORETICAL exercise was to see whether it was possible for 27-30 people to consume such an amount in one sitting. And true enough, at the prices food and wine were selling at Le Cirque, it was possible.
Yesterday and today news articles came out in the Inquirer, the Star and even ABS-CBN news taking the THEORETICAL break-down as factual. I am now wondering whether these journalists were alerted to the receipt in the same manner as I was – through social networking media. And in their rush to publish news in real time, they neglected to do something which makes them professionals – fact check their report.
I understand that the terrain of journalism is changing and perhaps many journalists are pressured to deliver news at a faster pace. I do not know whether this is because traditional media organizations feel they are competing against the internet and the ease with which people online, networked through sites like Facebook, Plurk and Twitter, may share information. Blogs are blogs. In Filipino Voices we do commentary. For news – we still rely on journalists – pros. So please, Mainstream Media – do not succumb to lazy journalism.
And to denizens of the internets, please do some critical thinking and a little fact-checking on your own. Follow the url links, verify the sources of forwarded information before you forward said info yourself.
Come on people. Let’s not be lazy shall we?
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looking at the receipt,one can conclude that these 27-30 pinoys are alcoholic.. almost 10K was paid for the wine and champagne. I am assuming that all the 30 people are not role models. they all drink alcohol. the food itself is actually reasonable in price, considering it is New York.
To reiterate – this is not a real receipt. What is confirmed, according to the original New York Post article is that they “ordered several bottles of very expensive wine.”
@leytenian,
this is a mock-up receipt. The purpose of this article is to remind everyone, and get everyone’s attention, that was is being circulated by Mainstream Media is not the real receipt.
“ordered several bottles of very expensive wine.”
it doesn’t matter if this is only a mock-up receipt.
Several bottles will suffice. LOL
There’s a website for le cirgue restaurant. A la carte can be 30% more expensive than the dinner summer special plus the VIP room maybe. i find this restuarant actually cheap. 20K is too much for food of 30 people. Therefore, it’s the alcohol.
spark,
twitter the alcohol and role model thingy. am sure you will get more responses. LOL…
spark,
lastly, 20K is reasonable for 30 people but that is not the case because the people can demand to see the invitation for the dinner plates. it should have been publicly disclose to avoid scrutiny. i wonder what they talked about under the influenced of alcohol? this is not a normal dinner to discuss public interest when the receipt confirmed excessive spending of alcohol…
am so over this Malacanang BS..
as long as it ain’t taxpayers money… :)
the adage is… if you have proof it is taxpayers money… sue
otherwise para kayong mga kamag-anak na nakikialam sa buhay ng may buhay, people who stick their noses into other people’s business for lack of a life.
geezh
Bong,
After they serve their terms in office, they can do whatever the hell they want with their money. As private citizens, nobody would give a damn.
But sheesh, these are public officials.
Sparks,
Thanks for your piece.
There should be a reliable “fact checker” site which shows the general public how claims by media — or through media — actually compare to the facts on hand. Misrepresentation is rampant.
Unfortunately, I’ve noticed (and noted) how many don’t WANT to know the facts; they prefer dealing with/through emotions and biases…especially if the facts start ruining whatever “story” is being presented. This is why we keep seeing highly sensationized stories flame up…and then flame out. Sooner or later, the facts (or lack thereof) deflate the original claims and the whole thing fizzles out.
Funny part is — the remnants of the original not-so-factual story are later referred to AS FACTS!!!
It’s too late — the media has been lazy for a long time now…and the opinion-givers like it just like that, thank you very much. Op-Ed types have a lot more freedom when many — including the readers –are being loose and free with the facts.
Journalism with a poetic license is the result. The examples you cited are spot on. Hence my little advocacy — Stop and Take a Reality Check; don’t buy the stories too readily…from ANY camp. In fact, DEMAND facts!
Well, what has been established as fact is the sensational amount of $20,000 spent on this supposed one-hour dinner of twenty-something people, as Cerge Remonde has admitted.
But hey, his “facts” are changing by the hour, so the story isn’t over yet :-)
Kopyahan kasi ng kopyahan, Lazy. lazy lazy
To these reporters verification apparently means reading newspapers.
Sorry, I just got back here, so maybe I missed it, but was the $20K figure even established as fact? Is there a receipt?
Anyway, it’s a petty story with no meaning.
But, above and beyond this story, your point is valid: Facts keep changing by the hour. We need to be more vigilant about what is being told to us…by ANY camp and by ANY media.
Reality Check,
Well, Rep. Romualdez has had days to deny or confirm the $20,000 bill. Now he says its his brother who paid for it. But they haven’t denied the amount.
Maybe they’re afraid someone at the restaurant might divulge the info. So they’re keeping mum ’til they know for sure there’s no chance they’ll get ‘buking.’
Maybe tomorrow they’ll trumpet – “It wasn’t $20k!”
bottom line – hindi pera ng taumbayan.
Mantra is :
Who needs facts when
.Iwe already know the truth?Public trust.
You lose it, you live under the spotlight like Ms. Arroyo;
if you are her spokespeople and work slippery,
you thereby undermine trust further.
Joe
Joe.
That’s the original sin of Arroyo.
Everything else that follows is, de Quiros quotes, a derivative of that sin.
Cousins, these two sentences.
: Everything else that follows is a derivative of that sin.
— – deQuiros
: Facts? Hah, who cares about facts when I already know the truth.
when I first saw that “theoretical receipt”, I knew it was just plain…theoretical. I cannot imagine how traditional media thought (“sensationalized”) it as the actual receipt. *rolls eyes*
The receipt shows 72 people. {or 66 with six BIG-EATERS)
25 : fix-price
25 : fix-price
10 : “main ” 2 had steak, 2 chose halibut, etc
6 : FOR-TWO : 3 roasted fish, 3 roasted chicken
That’s what I exactly said, the price of the food isn’t “ostentatious” at all. Booze is another matter – you can be in Shangrila EDSA and rack up the same amount in just one evening.
It happens every night – yun lang, those who are not “in” have no idea that $20000 is loose change as far as said crowd is concerned.
what really is the point in all these regurgitation of a routine event? so the presidential couple celebrated their wedding anniversary in a new york restaurant (where they happened to be at the time on official business); so they had 30 people or so celebrating with them; so the tab came to $20,000. what’s the big, earth-shaking deal? can’t a president (who has her own fortune before entering politics) and her husband, who is wealthy in his own right even before they got married, celebrate a privately momentous occasion in style befitting her position and their station in private life?
even noveau riche filipino businessmen and politicians commonly spend millions of pesos on debuts, birthdays, wedding anniversaries, or what-have-you. it’s not unusual even for relatively “poor” families in the barrios, small towns, barangays, to spend everything they got, plus what they can borrow, to celebrate fiesta, as “bongga” as they can get.
those who have reasonable suspicion that public money was spent for the la cirque dinner should examine the records of coa. afterall, they were resourceful enough to obtain the menu.
btw, it looks like this is the 4th or fifth FV article, of the same tenor, on this subject in a matter of few days (this one ostensibly seeks to correct the “fact” about the bill). good, old pinoy sense of proportion. when does one stop milking a dried-up cow?
eh, this article is a clarification for mainstream media, the meat of the article isn’t really even about the le cirque dinner at all.
The 4th or 5th article, well I guess we’re just compensating for the number of excuses that has been given by Arroyo’s camp.
it’s the lechong manok phenomenon all over.
op-ed presented as “fact” – one after another… susginoo… so it has come down to this…
one guy launches a successful lechon manok – ala na, bawat kanto merong lechong manok. akala ko naiiba ang FV, FV is no different… LOL
ala bang situkil dyan :)
the losers want everyone else to be as miserable as themselves. susmaryosep, its not like people made the same choices that the losers did – they made their choices, own up to the misery of their personal choices that led to their personal success or failure.. pati ba naman dyan sasalihin pa ang personal expenses.. well, these bozos aren’t called losers for nothing.
Oh heto, to put more perspective – http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/joe-curl/2009/jun/01/cost-nyc-weekend/
$20,000 personal expense – 30 people at least (excluding guests)
versus $250,000 one weekend – 4 people; on government expense
ang jolog journalism nga naman.. :)
NY Post posts:
…even the one who scooped the “fact” carried the “fiction.”
:)
A lie repeated many times…..
The New York Post isn’t lying, merely citing facts put out by the Inquirer and Ellen Tordesillas.
that’s just it UP n grad, this is a failure of MSM, which Sparks has been trying to point out. The debate for this current article has been framed, the laziness of MSM in this specific story has contributed and is contributing to the confusion.
Le Cirque*
—–
*with you-know-who as ringmaster and Le Cerge as you-know-what
Circus Le Soliel…good acrobats…like Monseiur Remonde is
doing now!
It is really very sad, that we have leaders who were gorging like PIGS in a New York Manhattan Restaurant. While our people are trying to find foods in the GARBAGE DUMPS. This is the leaders that we have. Do we deserve these treatment from these people?
Anyway, Champaigne wishes and Caviar dreams…May all of you have
indigestions…
Oui, Oui, Monsieur Cerge Remonde…Merci Bucko, Merci…Merci…
Par le vouz, Pilipino?
Will you be comfortable if journalist Ellen Tordesillas and the rest of Manila Times, Inquirer, Malaya, others) work just as hard for May-2010 elections fact-finding as they have demonstrated with Le Cirque?
I agree. The amount of “investigative journalism” focused on these idiotic topics is nothing short of laughable.
I noticed in Bandila this morning how the issue of Arroyo’s wealth and other moronic politicking made up almost half of the program, while a disaster that was affecting hundreds — possibly thousands — of Filipino lives got all of 2 to 3 minutes of air time.
Classy, aren’t we?
How Arroyo’s wealth increased by 2000 percent since her incumbency as Senator isn’t news to you?
Gosh, ano nga yung malaking brouhaha over some car dealership ni Prime Minister Rudd diyan? Mga ungas din pala ang mga Aussie “investigative journalists.”
In fairness, pinatulan talaga ni PM Rudd. Kitams ambababaw ng mga ka-nayon mo Benigs, konting kibot lang, napakasensitive. Ayan tuloy lumabas pa si PM Rudd kay Karl Rove. Hahahahaha.
Ratchet down the adrenaline and something may become evident to others (as it has to me).
Le Cirque is a distraction — an important distraction. The importance of Le Cirque is the noise-level. GMA signing on an expense form she is not allowed to is, of course, wrong (but Pinas should have accountants and auditors just for that problem). GMA having an excellent dinner while Pinoys formed this long line during cory’s wake — you decide how important this is.
Something did come out of Le Cirque — Pinas reporters ain’t that good sometimes. This makes for good jokes but it won’t be funny if Pinas reporters and Op-ed folks can not get to facts about the 2010-presidentiables.
Even more important (to me, it may not be to others) The truth has been drowned out, and the truth is 1987 Constitution, which says (i) GMA leaves Malacanang June-2010 and (ii) from among the presidentiables will be a post-GMA president.
And watch the presidentiables and the money-source. Right now, the noise-factor is so loud that they hunker down even more. Romualdez got himself into the news : he does not like the spotlight.
Also notice that some minors have moved up in importance, e.g. NoyNoy now waiting for a sign. The movers-and-shakers still know that the next major-event (even bigger than Christmas!!!) is 2010-elections, for which this war-tactic precept is important:
2010-elections … what are your thoughts? Of course people should stay on GMA’s case. Yes, people should encourage deQuiros and EllenT to continue on (even given their brand of journalism).
But 2010-elections will be here even faster than people forgotting about the Sulpicio sinking. The earlier Pinas seeks out the strengths of (and the dirty-rotten-secrets about) Mar Roxas, Fernando, Villar, Panlilio or Jamby (and if folks communicate with the class C-D-E) one’s preferred candidate may still lose, but hopefully the worst-of-the-candidates (the one who will continue (or change) GMA economics, her pro-USA, pro-China, anti-Sex-ed anti-condom) does not get elected either.
Lazy (or jologs) Journalism + Lazy Reading = “Sorry idiots, you look too dumb to be able to put me out of power, and you’re discrediting yourselves, hahaha!” – GMA >:/
Seems some people have overlooked the 2nd part of the title — “Lazy Reading”.
There are still readers who are having a problem seperating fact from fiction…(never mind those readers who have conciously chosen to embrace the factless fiction)…which is perhaps even more shameful than the lazy writers.
champagne is really expensive because champagne is always regarded as a symbol of luxurious living, for a well celebrated life style…and I guess, Im just guessing… GMA and her entourage surely made a toast of celebration…for GMA made it to Obama or Cory made it to heaven…Filipinos all over the globe, have seen GMA’s message on TV about Cory’s death…and we being a Filipino, knows when to celebrate…sana, sinabi na lang ni Cerge na nag celebrate sila dahil tagumpay ang paguusap ni GMA with Obama…di na lang sana siya gumawa ng storya…kunsabagay idol niya yata si Carlo Caparas, baka pwede din siyang maging National Artist in the near future :)
depends on the champagne..
you can do an online search here – http://shop.abcfws.com/Search.aspx?k=champagne
Andre is only $6.99 a bottle
Asti by Martini and Rossi is only $15 a bottle..
Dom Perignon fetches $350
Roederer crystal rose fetches $450
i do like Asti- light bubbly fruity and inexpensive.
harm was done. luto na ang isipan ng mga masang makaerap at galit ki gloria na dahil sa kainan sa new york lumalabas tuloy na matakaw at masiba yon ale je je je. hirap tlaga sa mga gma bashers khit ano na lang. paglilinaw lang di me poodle ni pandak ha? sinasabi ko lang yon totoo.