In Magandang Gabi Bayan, Estelle Marie Ladrido reveals how news workers are vulnerable to flows of internal and external power relations in their quest to provide relevant news to audiences. Ladrido does this through: content analysis of news programs; newsroom observations; accompanying beat and general assignment reporters during coverage; and formal and informal interviews with executives, news gathering, and production staff.

In their response to power, government and commercial news workers develop varying meanings and practices to journalism values such as public service and autonomy as they work to maintain their authority to be, through their stories, the public’s access point to the nation. Ladrido presents the behind-the-scenes, push-and-pull of power within the exclusive world of broadcast news production, which ultimately determines what we see on the news.