WE NEED TO GET DISSENT ON THE RADIO. Here's why:

A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to an AM radio show's hosts had posed the question: Which political tandem would you want to win in 2022? They asked their listeners to send in their answers and they'd read them on-air (1/)

(2/) The hosts then read the same pairing over and over again. Duterte-Marcos. It was all Duterte-Marcos, save for one Moreno-Sotto.

I hated it.

Then, one of the hosts mentioned that other, different answers were coming in, and they DIDN'T. READ. THEM. ALOUD.

(3/) What I had heard at the time was normal; broadcasters will always have their biases. It's fine.

But you switch the station, and other hosts share that same bias.

Suddenly, you start feeling like you're the odd one out for *not* wanting Duterte or Marcos to win.

(4/) Now, considering that radio is still the most accessible source of information in this country, what do you end up with?

People telling Pulse Asia and the like that Duterte is doing a good job, because that's what the radio says he's doing.

Propaganda works.

(5/) Now I dunno about y'all, but I haven't heard a single AM radio host dissenting against Duterte ever since he announced he was running in 2016. Odds are, most of us here are ignoring radio--especially AM radio.

We need to fix that. Radio needs space for more dissent.

(6/6) Like, it's cool that we're being vocal here on Twitter and Facebook and whatever, but we have to understand that these are not the biggest platforms we could be tapping.

Get dissent on the radio, & we can at least say we're trying to fight against propaganda efficiently.

*an AM radio show and it's hosts

Goddamn how did I miss TWO words