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There has been a lot of tension between pro-Duterte bloggers and main stream media in the Philippines. Main stream media has been very vocal and aggressive with their attack against pro-Duterte bloggers claiming them to be paid trolls who are part of the Duterte administration’s propaganda machine. Pro-Duterte bloggers on the other hand are vocal and aggressive with their attack against main stream media for being biased and part of a Liberal party lead destabilization plot against the government. This tension is not showing any signs of stopping any time soon, in fact all signs point to it escalating even further.
At the hear of this tension is the allegation coming from both sides that the other side is spreading fake news and deliberately misinforming the public. The most recent battle between the two is the viral post coming from OkD2 claiming that the CBCP leadership condemned the death of Hapilon and Maute.
The mainstream media was quick to jump on this post that went viral condemning it as fake news and laying the blame on pro-Duterte supporters. Just look at this article from Rappler.
See how they linked the OkD2 post to the Duterte administration and claims it is part of the government’s effort to spread propaganda on social media. They did this by first misattributing the post to “Rodrigo Duterte Supporters” instead of OkD2 which allows them to then make a superficial connection between the post and the Duterte administration. The article does not even attempt to prove a link exists between OkD2, Rodrigo Duterte Supporters Facebook page and the Duterte administration yet Rappler makes this link effortlessly. On the other hand, when pro-Duterte bloggers uncovered a link between anti-Duterte anonymous blogs, spreading fake news, and the Liberal party the main stream media did not even bother to report on it. (see Their Silence on #CocoyGate is deafening.)
Why did Rappler not attribute the post to OkD2? The only reason I can think of is because even OkD2 is sometimes critical of Duterte so the narrative they are selling will not fit if they attribute the post appropriately to OkD2. See some of the posts in OkD2 about Duterte.
Notice also one very important detail that the main stream media conveniently left out about the viral post; the fact that the OkD2 post was clearly labeled as “Humor & Satire”. It never claimed to be news or factual it was clearly labeled as humor & satire yet the main stream media still went after it as fake news. Why? There are two possible reasons. First, they are just as dumb as everyone else who did not read the post appropriately. Second, they saw an opportunity to feed into their narrative that the Duterte administration is spreading fake news to misinform the public. I personally believe the real reason is a combination of both. The only alternative reason is that to the main stream media Satire is fake news. If this is so then our free speech is dead and we can also kiss good bye to our critical thinking skills.
Now let us look at these two articles coming from main stream media about Duterte’s most recent trip to Camp Bagong Diwa and his comments about the quality of the facility.
The articles was clearly trying to discredit Duterte’s statement by showing pictures that contradict his statement. The initial thought from the reader will be: “wait, what did he say? how can he say the facility is ok when the picture clearly says otherwise”. This is a very clever strategy to discredit someones statement by juxtaposing proof that contradicts their statement in the same article. Any reasonable person will look at the headline, then the picture and say “there goes Duterte again lying through his teeth. how can he say the jail in Camp Bagong Diwa is ok when the picture clearly shows extreme over crowding.” This is a reasonable reaction because our expectation is for a journalist to use photos from the same event they are reporting on. There is one big problem with these two articles – the photos are file photos of a different facility taken during a different time. The pictures used to report on Duterte’s visit of Camp Bagong Diwa, where he said the facilities looked ok, were taken from a different prison during a different time that Duterte never mentioned. It is the same tactic they used when they reported the initial stages of the Marawi siege and they used a photo of another insurgency that took place a long time ago. Is this fake news? According to main stream media it is not. They have a term for it – erratum. In simple terms it is a mistake and we should forgive them for it.
Journalists claim to be the absolute and immaculate source of information that is beneficial to the public in a democratic society calling bloggers and everyone else who tries to educate the public as trolls and spreading fake news. They talk themselves up so much saying the reason they should be trusted more is the fact that they have ethics, standards and editors who impose the highest standard to be accurate and balanced. But we see these so called erratum’s very frequently recently, are we supposed to just keep forgiving them? I don’t think so.
In fact, I don’t think these erratums are honest mistakes at all. Do you expect me to believe that journalists do not understand the meaning of satire? Do you expect me to believe that journalists mistakenly used the wrong photo for the wrong event they reported on? Do you expect me to believe that journalists forgot the meaning of research and providing proof of any allegations? Do you expect me to believe that journalists do not know the difference between reporting on the fact and editorializing?
The clear difference between OkD2 and the Philippine media is the fact that OkD2 never claimed to be reporting on facts when it posted the CBCP post. When Rappler published a news report about the viral post, then goes to attribute the post to a pro-Duterte Facebook page who merely shared it, in order to support their unproven allegation that the Duterte administration is using social media to propagandize – I don’t call that reporting, that is a hallmark of propaganda. When ANC and Philippine Star use an old photo of another jail facility taken during a different time as the banner photo for their reporting on Duterte’s statement about the facilities in another jail facility – I don’t call that reporting, that is a hallmark of propaganda.
Yes pro-Duterte bloggers are very passionate about their opinion of Duterte and his critics but the important distinction is the fact that they never claim to be news. They are openly sharing their opinion out in the open not hiding behind an anonymous page like some anti-Duterte bloggers do. On the other hand, main stream media is clearly against Duterte and they publish propaganda dressed as news. Then they go around with their massive platforms to discredit pro-Duterte bloggers as trolls and for spreading fake news, while continuing to post “erratums” and protecting and defending anonymous anti-Duterte bloggers who spread lies and fake news.
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