Story by Enrico Berdos
Media professionals discussed how fake news destabilizes countries and how it complicates war coverage, during the Asian Journalism Research Conference (AJRC) held yesterday at University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman Film Studio.
Dr. Edson Tandoc Jr., an academic researcher from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and an alumnus of the UP College of Mass Communication, defined fake news as false information which intends to “deceive people by trying to look like real news”.
For him, “fake news is not that harmless” because it is being used in different countries for information warfare.
“A lot of these fake stories, especially during elections, try to make people feel demoralized or lose trust to institutions; and that has an effect on destabilizing a country,” he said.
“It is cheaper to destabilize a country (by) distributing false information rather than employing military weapons,” he added.
According to Dr. Tandoc Jr.’s survey, 70% of his respondents ignore fake news because it is irrelevant, unworthy of arguments, and bothersome to correct.
“When we don’t correct false information, we are complicit in its spread,” he warned.
The academic researcher further suggested that social media should incentivize corrections and that people should go back into reading newspapers or watching television newscasts to stop fake news from spreading.
Meanwhile, ABS-CBN broadcast journalist and 2018 Marshall McLuhan Fellow Jeff Canoy shared the same sentiments as he talked about how the media had to deal with disinformation during the 2017 Marawi siege.
One of the challenges for Canoy and his crew was to avoid stereotyping the Marawi siege as a conflict between Muslims and Christians. He explained that the war was caused by the Maute family, who wanted to build an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) stronghold in Mindanao.
The veteran journalist witnessed how Muslims helped Christians memorize prayers in case ISIS soldiers raided their houses, and how Christians let Muslims into their communities.
Canoy also attested how the Battle of Marawi was a time when “unverified information” was shared online.
“Posts on Facebook and Twitter said that everyone was dead in Marawi, ISIS are attacking Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City, maraming bangkay nagkalat (several bodies were everywhere),” he narrated.
He believed that there was a need for journalists like him to report verified information on the ground, because people are affected by the war no matter where they were.
“Kung may kamag-anak ka doon at ‘yun ‘yung nababasa mong balita, matatakot ka (If you had relatives in Marawi and that’s the type of news that you read, you’d be scared), he argued.
Given the rise of fake news during peace and war, Dr. Tandoc Jr. urged journalists to anticipate what’s waiting for them in the real world.
“Journalism is very stressful and more difficult this time, but it’s more exciting this time around,” he mused.
Meanwhile, Canoy hoped that journalism students aren’t discouraged by the proliferation of fake news and the dangers of war coverage.
“Our profession is under attack, and we need more people on the front lines. I hope I can see you in these front lines, whether on war or against disinformation,” he said.
Comments