Professional journalists can help curb proliferation of fake news, say practitioners
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 8 May) – Several media practitioners highlight the importance of professional journalists amid historical revisionism, proliferation of fake news on social media, and rise of populist leaderships.
During a media forum on “How We Cover News” at the Holy Cross of Davao College on Saturday, ABS-CBN senior reporter Adrian Ayalin said they remain hopeful three years after the country’s major television network had been shut down that it would one day regain its legislative franchise to operate on free TV.
Although reaching its audience through various online platforms, Ayalin believed that there remains a big segment of the population who do not have access to the internet, particularly those in the provinces.
“We cannot reach our full potential as media practitioners if there are limitations like lack of broadcast legislative franchise. Personally, I am still hoping that three years will be enough, and then the fourth year will be happy one for us again,” he said.
He said the network has 40 reporters in its roster at present from 70 before it was shut down in 2020 with the non-renewal of its 25-year franchise during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“We still manage to carry on. We have to continue the fight and we have to cover the news because again we are ‘professional Marites.’ We can offer you accurate stories and we are also, at the same time, accountable to our stories,” he said.
As journalists, Ayalin said the stories that they produce go through a tedious editing process to meet with certain editorial “standards” before they are put out on the TV, radio, print, and online websites.
Ariel Sebellino, executive director of the Philippine Press Institute, said the role of journalists is not just about being “truth bearers or truth tellers but, at the same time, we talk about the underreported.”
“The life of a journalist is only as good as the public supports it,” he said.
Antonio S. Peralta, executive director of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines-Southern Mindanao, said that press freedom is a fundamental right enshrined in almost all international instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and UN Conventions on Civil and Political Rights.
Peralta, interim chair of the Davao City Media Citizen’s Council, said that as the world celebrates “free press as one of the assets of democratic courtiers like the Philippines, it is incumbent on us to tackle issues surrounding and come up with workable solutions.”
“While media is an effective tool for communicating and sharing useful information to the public, promoting good governance and influencing public opinion, it can also be a destructive machinery that can divide the country instead of uniting it,” he said.
He added that if media “is not properly utilized then, it’s a like a double-edged sword.”
“In this golden digital era, we witnessed how a single disinformation can create a buzz in all social media platforms, the ails of this modern time such as misinformation and disinformation and the spread of fake news, are widely prevalent in all levels and ages of society challenging and destabilizing of status quo,” he added.
He said Mindanao, for instance, has not been spared from the negative effects of “distorted inaccurate and out of touch, and unrealistic stories about the safety and security situation in the island region. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
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