This thesis examines how Filipino audiences perceive the credibility and legitimacy of entertainment news when it is delivered by celebrities rather than traditional journalists, focusing on television segments such as ABS-CBN’s Star Patrol and similar programs on GMA and TV5. Grounded in Source Credibility, Cultivation, and Social Judgement theories, the study surveys 200 Filipino viewers aged 18–60 on their exposure, trust, and attitudes toward celebrity news presenters. Findings show that while celebrities increase engagement and are viewed as dynamic and charismatic, audiences remain ambivalent about their expertise and the accuracy of celebrity-delivered entertainment news, meaning fame does not automatically translate to journalistic credibility. Consequently, celebrity-led segments can boost viewership but do not fully restore or secure respect for entertainment journalism as “real” news unless paired with clear standards of competence, responsibility, and ethical reporting.

Desiring to relate the Catholic Church to the modern world, the Second Vatican Council marked an era of upheaval in Christendom. It challenged churches to be involved in contemporary society, even by utilizing broadcast media. Given the importance of this universal call, this study sought to explore Catholic media productions made in the Philippine Church by analyzing the music videos produced by Jesuit Communication Foundation as representations of Philippine Jesuit spirituality. With an understanding that spirituality is an ideological force that informs the multimodal elements employed in faith-based productions, textual analysis was used to deduce what existing representations of Philippine Jesuit spirituality are in the music videos. As a result, four kinds of representations were drawn: a spirituality that is joyful, tangible, missionary, and just. Despite these differences, though, all these themes point to a depiction of the spirituality as one that is incarnational — viewing the human person, their narratives, experiences and very being, as a medium of divine action. As such, compared to other local Catholic media productions, which are often liturgical in nature, this ideological core causes these music videos to be unique in its humanistic and world-affirming portrayals of spirituality.

when you’re gone tomorrow dad, i’ll bring you sunflowers from home is an autoethnographic experimental documentary that revolves around the impending death of the filmmaker’s father and frames it as an allegory for migration, articulating loss as inherent to movement. Grounded in critical autoethnography as written by Jones (2018), and supported by Russell’s (1999) autoethnographic film theory as well as theories of diaspora and belonging (Hall, 1990; Ahmed, 1999), this thesis treats filmmaking as a reflexive, process-based inquiry in which the personal and political are inseparable.


Drawing from personal journals, family archives, photographs, scanned objects, and embodied movement across Baguio, Manila, Besao, and Bontoc, the film also reflects on the filmmaker’s mobility and identity alongside the migration histories of their parents. These materials function as memory triggers through which identity is examined as relational, generational, and continually negotiated. Formally, the film adopts a fragmented and cyclical structure that mirrors the instability of migration and identity formation. Through its process, the film proposes acceptance as a means of negotiating uncertainty, suggesting that retrospection and vulnerability operate not as resolutions, but as methods for understanding identity amid change.

This study examines how Philippine and South Korean news outlets construct narratives around the Rising Sun flag and its contested associations with Japanese imperialism. Employing Ruth Sanz Sabido’s (2019) Postcolonial Critical Discourse Analysis (PCDA) framework alongside Zhongdang Pan and Gerald M. Kosicki’s (1993) framing analysis model, the research interrogates the discursive struggles over meaning embedded in media representations of this imperial symbol. Findings reveal divergent national framings shaped by colonial histories, cultural memory, and geopolitical contexts. Philippine coverage demonstrates ambivalence, reflecting both the limited historical memory of Japanese occupation and the influence of transnational discourses such as the #CancelKorea controversy. In contrast, South Korean news media consistently frame the flag as a potent reminder of wartime atrocities, foregrounding its role as a symbol of trauma and resistance. By situating these discursive patterns within broader debates on media, historical memory, and postcolonial identity, the study highlights how journalism reproduces, negotiates, and challenges collective memory across national contexts. Ultimately, the research underscores the significance of media framing in shaping public understandings of contested symbols, revealing how imperial legacies continue to resonate unevenly across societies and how postcolonial discourse mediates the politics of remembrance and identity formation.

Gender representation in media has historically been biased against women, reflecting broader societal perceptions that marginalize their visibility and authority. Despite ongoing efforts to resist these biases, women remain under- and misrepresented across media spaces. This study examines how a female media personality performs and negotiates gender identity in non-fiction formats, using Gretchen Ho, host of Woman In Action (WIA), as a case study. Anchored in Goffman’s framework of self-presentation and impression management and informed by Hall’s theory of representation, the study employs a qualitative approach combining content analysis of selected WIA episodes with a semi-structured interview with Ho. The content analysis identifies observable strategies of self-presentation, while the interview provides contextual insight into Ho’s reflections on authenticity, credibility, and empowerment. Findings indicate that Ho negotiates her gender identity through a selective approach to self-presentation. Professional credibility, authenticity, and inclusive engagement guide her on-screen performance, while gender is foregrounded only when socially or narratively relevant; otherwise, it functions as a contextual rather than defining element of her hosting practice. The impression management strategies identified on-screen are reinforced through patterns emerging from the interview. By performing gender on her own terms and often non-foregrounding it, Ho contributes to the normalization of women’s presence and authority in male-dominated media spaces. The study demonstrates how gendered identity in media performance can operate subtly through professional practice, producing representational effects without constant or explicit justification.