Tag Archives: fake news

komentaryo

Name the enemy: #FakeNews

Many things to discuss about the Senate Inquiry on fake news, including how it had the worst “resource persons,” which also ultimately revealed how unprepared our Senators were (save for Nancy Binay and Bam Aquino) for what it is that should be, needs to be, discussed at this point in time.

For one thing, as I said here, the goal should first be to define our terms because, as was apparent during the inquiry, and even more so in the aftermath, we are not on the same page about just the term “Fake News” — what it is, who spreads it, how it is spread.

The curveball was media personalities refusing to use the term fake news. In the next breath though, articles are published that say Asec Mocha Uson spreads fake news.

We are wrong on both counts.  (more…)

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Sotto VS #SilentNoMore, fake news VS opinion, anonymity and double standard

It’s been fascinating watching things unfold: the “outing” of Cocoy Dayao (in quotes, because was he even hiding at all?), the expected united front of Duterte’s lead supporters on social media, the old(er) hands in the blogging and online community standing with Cocoy, the Senate doing an inquiry on fake news, Duterte’s supporters attacking anonymity, and the critical (anonymous) websites pushing back, insisting that it is within their rights to be speaking the way they do, especially at a time when Duterte supporters do exactly the same thing and get away with it.

Angela and I, she with 10 years of blogging and I with nine — real blogging, like writing long-form analyses on our own websites, not long statuses on Facebook pages, thank you very much — have watched things unravel knowing full well that this is nothing more than distraction, but also hoping against hope that this might actually mean talking better about the state of discourse online and how we might address the dissemination of falsity and lies.  (more…)

komentaryo

Two Mochas too many

Here’s the thing with having someone like Mocha Uson as Asec of the Presidential Communications Operations Office: she has no business being there.

I ignored her for much of the time she was spewing hate and vitriol during the campaign of 2016, but the moment she became a government official, there became no reason to ignore her, because public funds pay for her salary, for her trips, for whatever it is she’s doing on social media which is necessarily on behalf of and in connection to the PCOO and government.

And here is where Senator Nancy Binay was correct: there is no clear or real or tenable divide between Mocha on her FB account and Mocha the Assistant Secretary. Communications Secretary Martin Andanar of course insists otherwise, saying that Mocha’s disclaimer on her page is enough for us all to acknowledge this separation between the two Mochas. He also brings in an illusory debate: (more…)

komentaryo

Mocha and the end of troll discourse

If there’s anything the past week has revealed it’s the slow death of troll discourse. It’s entirely possible the social media armies aren’t being paid enough, but it’s also possible that we just have ceased to be afraid of being bullied online. The latter is my more optimistic perspective, because it’s been a year after all, and now more than ever, this government’s strategies of silencing and skewing discourse have been exposed to be nothing more than bad communications and terrible damage control.

The only reason it requires mention at this point in fact, is the existence of one Mocha Uson, whose behavior has not evolved from being rabid Duterte supporter during the campaign to being a government employee whose salary is being paid for by public funds. The latter behooves us all to critique her and her actions — as we should all government officials, especially when they continue to be a source not just of falsity and hate, but also — and more importantly — the most terrible kind of propaganda that justifies the killings of thousands.  (more…)

komentaryo

Truth, fake news, propaganda

It was only a matter of time: after Malacañang watched its followers discredit media on the basis of the superficially discussed notion of “bias,” it then allowed for the proliferation of fake news.

Of course when we speak of that now, a year into Duterte’s government, it has become clear that it also means government officials who have so benefited from the manner in which media has been put into question, that they don’t even feel the need to retract their statements anymore. From Andanar insinuating Senate media were paid to cover Lascañas, to Ubial insisting she didn’t say there were 59 Marawi evacuees who have died, and every other questionable statement from the President to the Justice Secretary in between, we have watched government officials utter shameless denials, instead of the more honorable admission of having committed mistakes, having spread false information, and issuing retractions of previous statements.

This is no surprise when one considers that this appeals to government supporters on social media. And when your basis for public opinion is social media (see last column), why would you care about right and wrong, fake and real, news? (more…)