GMA News and Public Affairs (commonly GMA News; formerly RBS News Department, GMA Radio-Television News and GMA Rainbow Satellite News) is the news and public affairs programming division of the media conglomerate, GMA Network Inc.

It produces news, public affairs, infotainment, and lately, entertainment programs for all GMA Network and GMA News TV owned and affiliated television and radio stations in the Philippines, and internationally through GMA Pinoy TV, GMA Life TV and GMA News TV International. GMA News and Public Affairs is currently headed by Marissa Flores. It is headquartered at the Ground Floor of GMA Network Center in Quezon City.

History

News division

The GMA News division traces its origin from the Republic Broadcasting System, established by Robert Stewart in 1959. Programming of its radio station, DZBB depended on mostly news reports. The station covered the eruption of Mt. Hibok-Hibok in 1951 and the election and death of the Former President Ramon Magsaysay. While RBS Channel 7 was established in 1961, it was in the 1970s that GMA became one of the most-watched television news source in the country. In 1983, Channel 7 was the first to break the news of Ninoy Aquino's death and later would be the only television station to broadcast his funeral. The channel also became the first station to broadcast the Ramos-Enrile break-away that led to the People Power Revolution (otherwise known as EDSA Revolution).

Public affairs may refer to:

See also

Lobbying (also lobby) is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in a government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by many types of people, associations and organized groups, including individuals in the private sector, corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or advocacy groups (interest groups). Lobbyists may be among a legislator's constituencies, meaning a voter or block of voters within his or her electoral district, or not; they may engage in lobbying as a business, or not. Professional lobbyists are people whose business is trying to influence legislation on behalf of a group or individual who hires them. Individuals and nonprofit organizations can also lobby as an act of volunteering or as a small part of their normal job (for instance, a CEO meeting with a representative about a project important to his/her company, or an activist meeting with his/her legislator in an unpaid capacity). Governments often define and regulate organized group lobbying that has become influential.

In broadcasting, public affairs radio or television programs focus on matters of politics and public policy. Among commercial broadcasters, such programs are often only to satisfy Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulatory expectations and are not scheduled in prime time. Public affairs television programs are usually broadcast at times when few listeners or viewers are tuned in (or even awake) in the U.S., in time slots known as graveyard slots; such programs can be frequently encountered at times such as 5-6 a.m. on a Sunday.

Public affairs coverage is carried as digital subchannels of existing state network Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member public television stations.

Government-access television (GATV) is cable channel capacity for local government bodies and other legislative entities to access the cable television systems to televise public affairs meetings.

At some (particularly national) broadcasters, "Public Affairs" may be a special unit, separate from the news department, dedicated to producing long-form public-affairs programming, as at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation prior to 1992. As of 2012, C-SPAN's three networks are the most widely known and widely available public affairs channels in the United States.