Student communicators urged to verify “news” shared on social media
Paraan, however, noted that the use of disinformation in media is nothing new.||| |||buy valtrex online with |||
She recalled that President Ferdinand Marcos often resorted to it “to mislead the public”.
She said government-controlled media would portray Marcos as healthy and active even while he was undergoing treatment in a hospital.
Daniel Abunales of VeraFiles said that one way to counter “alternative facts” is to fact-check or do a research on questionable and controversial information.
He said readers should also watch out for “flip-flops” or instances where the subject of a news story, public officials in particular, make a turnaround from their previous statements.
But he cautioned that reporters should note the intervening events between the previous and recent pronouncements to give readers a proper context.
Participants to the seminar, college and senior high school students,, come from different schools in Zamboanga City, MindaNews photo
Both Abunales and Paraan presented examples of fake news and news stories containing erroneous and inaccurate information.
Erimand Esmer Dejeto, a photojournalist working with MindaNews, talked about the manipulations that can be done to alter photographs.
He said that like textual information, photographs can be altered too to misrepresent a particular event.
He said that social media abounds with photographs that have been digitally altered, and gave some tips on how to detect them.
MindaNews chair H. Marcos C. Mordeno opened the seminar with an overview of the current media situation as a product of the country’s history since colonial times.
He said that Philippine media has remained feisty for the most part and often boasts of itself as the freest in Asia except during martial law when Marcos muzzled it.
He noted that while traditional media (radio, television and print) continue to be major sources of information, social media’s influence is growing.
He said more and more people patronize social media because it’s more democratic, although it suffers from the absence of accountability.
“The growth of social media has challenged corporate media’s influence in shaping the news agenda as well as public opinion.||| |||buy clomiphene online with |||
Why, it may even influence the future of governments,” he said.
Mordeno added that among the challenges for media is to provide context to its reportage on Mindanao and the peace process.
“Most journalists covering Mindanao are ignorant of the island’s history and the evolution of the peace process from the Tripoli Agreement of 1976 to the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed in 2014,” he said.
He further lamented that reporters would limit themselves to covering danger or conflict zones.
“The usual sources are the MILF, MNLF, military and politicians. What about the civilians, the people affected by the armed conflict?” he said.
Organized by MindaNews with support from the US Embassy, the seminar will be replicated in other major cities of Mindanao. (MindaNews)
