A video came out claiming that GMA Network lost almost P30 million in potential revenue after more than ten advertisers supposedly pulled out their placements when former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. chose not to participate in The Jessica Soho Presidential Interviews. This is false.
The erroneous social media post bore the headline: “JUST IN: Matapos I-DECLINE ni BBM ANG INTERVIEW| JESICA (sic) SOHO KINARMA| P28.7 MILLION-ADS NAGBACK-OUT (After BBM declines the interview| Jessica Soho hit by karma| ads worth P28.7 million pulled out)!!”
Its upload date was on Jan. 22, the same day the network aired the interview of broadcast journalist Jessica Soho with four presidential aspirants.
The allegation is “definitely not true,” said GMA Network in a response to VERA Files Fact Check.
In support of the falsehood, the YouTube channel erroneously claimed in its video that mainstream media reported the backing out of advertisers. No media entity has printed, published, or aired such a report.
The inaccurate video also showed a sourceless graphic with the text: “BREAKING NEWS: higit sa sampung advertisers o katumbas ng 28.7M, binawi o umatras sa Jessica interview slots (BREAKING NEWS: More than ten advertisers, equivalent to P28.7 million, backed out of the Jessica interview slots).” It also featured a Facebook (FB) comment from a netizen which the YouTube channel claimed to be a network “insider.” However, the YouTube channel did not disclose the identity of this netizen. Neither was the comment reflected in any legitimate reports.
In a statement, the Marcos camp said the former senator declined to join the interview because Soho was “biased against the Marcoses” and would only focus on “negativity” directed toward him.
GMA News, in its response, said they “take exception” to the Marcos camp’s claim and said Soho is one of the most credible journalists in the country. The network further said the interview will have “tough” questions “because the job of the presidency is tough.”
Showbiz Fanaticz’s video has more than 343,000 views and over 2,700 FB interactions, according to social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle.
The video was likewise uploaded on Jan. 22 and 23 by FB pages Bong bong Marcos tayo sa 2022 (created Oct. 24, 2021) and A,B Showbiz Ngayon (created Jan. 21, 2022). Their posts have been collectively viewed more than 2.9 million times and garnered more than 157,000 reactions, 29,300 comments, and 35,200 shares.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)