Media practitioner Noel Ferrer calls for transparency, questions editorial choices and content removal.
Author and media practitioner Noel Ferrer said ABS-CBN broadcaster Bernadette Sembrano has reached out to him privately following his criticism of her now-deleted vlog featuring Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste.
But Ferrer maintained that the issue goes beyond private communication, stressing that her audience still deserves a clear explanation.
“The public deserves an answer,” Ferrer, also an educator, writer, and talent manager, told radar Entertainment on Monday morning, reiterating his call for transparency as questions continue to swirl around the vlog.
In a lengthy Facebook post, Ferrer said his criticism stems from his long-standing respect for Sembrano as a journalist, which, he noted, comes with higher expectations—especially when interviewing a public official facing national scrutiny.
Ferrer took issue with what he described as the vlog’s “sanitized” approach, pointing to the absence of hard follow-up questions and framing that, to him, felt more like a public relations feature than a journalistic interview.
He also raised concerns over the vlog’s removal from Sembrano’s “Side B” channel following backlash, while remaining accessible on Leviste’s own platform.
“If you stand by the interview as fair and editorial, why delete it after criticism?” Ferrer wrote, adding that the move has only fueled questions about content ownership and intent.
In his post, Ferrer outlined several issues he believes both Sembrano and ABS-CBN News must address. These include the “firewall” between journalism and lifestyle content, the editorial decision to feature a sitting congressman under scrutiny, and whether the vlog involved any form of paid placement or sponsorship.
He also questioned network policies, asking whether active news anchors are allowed to produce political lifestyle content on personal platforms without clear disclosures.
Ferrer warned of broader implications, saying the blurring of journalism and lifestyle content could allow politicians to rebrand without facing tough questions.
“This is not anti-vlog. Vlogs are valid. Lifestyle is valid. But when journalism lends its credibility to lifestyle, and lifestyle lends its softness to power, the public loses,” he said.
He added that Sembrano’s decades-long credibility is precisely why the situation demands accountability.
“And when you take down the video after being called out but leave it up on the politician’s page, you only make people ask if this was PR from the start,” Ferrer said.
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