about bandila

Bandila is a new current events news program of ABS-CBN which is aired during weeknights. It is anchored by Korina Sanchez, Ces Oreña Drillon, and Henry Omaga Diaz.
The name of the program is quite different because it is not the 'usual' type of name that news programs have. It does not sound like a news program unlike TV Patrol, 24 Oras and Saksi. It sound more like a leftist group or a group of army people threatening the government for a coup. Although the name suggest a more nationalistic point of view, it is a fresh way of giving the audience an initial reaction to the news program.
Speaking of fresh news, Bandila has a 'theme song' which is played at the beginning, every before and after commercials, and at the end of the news program. It serves as the sound bed of the program; a sound bed with lyrics which was sung by the band Rivermaya (we all know that rock bands are the latest trend in the music scene). It is a new way of presenting the news program.
The news content is the same to the traditional news program, with only the absence of a showbiz and foreign news. I thought that the absence of an entertainment/showbiz news from the program has something to do with the program title-Bandila. When we talk about the Philippine flag or any type of flag, there is a certain amount of seriousness that goes with the topic. I don't mean that the entertainment industry should not be taken seriously, but it has its right place to be broadcasted. You possibly would not expect a showbiz news being aired in a program with 'Bandila' as a title. International news which has a connection with the country are aired. This is what I have observed. I have not watch any international news with only the foreign country involved, Philippines must be included in the topic. I thought that naming a program with something which is connected with your country means making news which are relevant to the country. Of course, you are talking about the Philippine flag here, unless, they are talking about a different flag.
The news program runs for about 30 minutes unlike the usual late night news program. I guess this has something to do with the serious news format. The attention span of the viewers are often at stake when you got nothing 'exciting' to offer, something like an ice breaker, like entertainment news for this matter. Of course this is a relative thing, depending on the type of viewers you have during the late night. But the 30 minute time frame of the program compensated for the lack of entertainment news, obviously, it is shorter than the usual time duration of a news program.
Bandila can be considered as a new trend in news programs. Whatever new and innovative things this program has, as long as it does not change the way information is presented to the public, it still serves a good purpose for the media.