Bloggers in Malacañang?

THE appointment of lawyer Trixie Angeles as press secretary has raised eyebrows, not least among members of media. As a consultant for the outgoing Presidential Communications Operations Office, Angeles had fought for the accreditation of bloggers and vloggers into the Palace press office. That didn't happen then, it may happen now.

I first met Trixie when I was a reporter covering the Heritage Conservation Society. After so many years we caught up again at the birthday of blogger Sass Rogando Sasot. She tells me the exclusion of other members of media from an interview with BBM was not deliberate: lawyer Vic Rodriguez was simply obliging standing requests from SMNI, Net 25 and GMA News for a sit-down with the president-elect. Trixie also said that there was a strong possibility that the previous social media policy of PRRD which was not implemented by current PCCO Secretary Martin Andanar will finally be executed. This means, she intends to accredit vloggers, or what they call non-MSM (mainstream media) and give them access to Malacañang coverage. Not unexpectedly, news people are not thrilled. They do not see vloggers in the same league; they see vloggers as political partisans and purveyors of disinformation.