Four years later and I am still mourning the loss of quality programming for young people in this country. ANd I mean on a wide scale. It's frustrating how networks and advertisers only think of human beings between the ages of ten and sixteen as nothing but angsty, materialistic, self-centered, and consumed with thoughts of the opposite sex.

So far the only saving grace is the Kabataan News Network on channel 5 (Saturdays, 3pm). Contrary to popular belief, there are also people in this age group in the other regions of the Philippines. And they have more to say than "like, totally". Like, they're totally different from the faces and voices that bombard us on local primetime tv. And they do so much more than just "act" and sing off-key.

These people--the KNN reporters-- belong to bureaus spread all over the country. They actually conceptualize stories based on issues affecting them. They're not made-up cliches from some clueless scriptwriter who think human beings between the ages of ten and sixteen as nothing but angsty, materialistic, self-centered, and consumed with thoughts of the opposite sex. They think up the stories, write them, shoot them with their own cameras, and interview. INTERVIEW! On their own. Then they send in their tapes, scripts, and edit guides for execution in the editing offices in Manila.

That office is the Probe Media Foundation, that oversees that these young broadcast journalists from different bureaus submit on time, maintain the quality of the production, do minor script clean-ups and critiques. But that's it. The stories come straight from the reporters, and one can rightly say it done for kids, by kids. And it's no wonder the effort is supported by UNICEF. And rightly so.

It's too bad it's the only show of its kind on Philippine TV. And here all these individuals and organizations keep going on about how kids need a voice, how they're working on bringing quality tv for kids to uplift the youth bla bla bla. *SIGH* I just wish they actually DO something about it, rather than just sit around and talk about it. The KNN reporters actually beat them to it. Like, totally.