Trapo news
THE Philippine edition of the “fake news” phenomenon is the same as others in other countries. Misinformation and disinformation rides on social media, with perpetrators seeking to influence consumers and citizens one way or another. But ours is also different.
What’s gobbling our attention has all the signs it comes straight from the bowels of traditional politicians, and that they sadly regurgitate it into social media. (True, we see misinformation and disinformation about medicines and other products and services. But they are outnumbered and outgunned by those of a political variety.)
Absent differences and debates on programs and principles, Philippine necolonial political parties are mere vehicles of traditional politicians hailing from the oligarchy. They are united by a common cause of fooling the public into believing we have a choice among essentially similar candidates and parties — all beholden to Big Business, Big Landlords, and Big Foreign Interests. Personality politics is their cover.
The trapos’ “black propaganda” of the past is the “fake news” of the present.
Many hoped trapos would upgrade themselves through the wonders of social media marketing, CRM, Big Data and analytics, and influencer management. Obviously, they didn’t. Maybe they did, but they maintained their old ideologies and merely made them ride the new tools.
Perhaps the biggest proof of “trapo” authorship and ownership of this plague is the shameless partisanship by those who spread them. The situation is less about administration vs. opposition. “Fake news” is used by warring trapos against each other, with no small help from the new ward leaders and attack dogs known who could be found online.
The discredited Daang Matuwid online army was merely loyal to Aquino (and Roxas). They repeatedly ate their words about reform and accountability in a buffet of issues: Yolanda, presidential pork barrel, Mamasapano, and land reform. It was only a matter of time before a more vile online army took over.
And take over, the DDS did. Initially proclaiming themselves as champions of change against corruption, oligarchy, and the lack of empathy towards the ordinary Filipino — they have been having their own buffet too. If the Yellows worshipped Aquino, the DDS has elevated Duterte to a demigod status. Because Duterte came out as Marcos loyalist, embraces oligarchy, and enjoyed extrajudicial killings — the DDS are lording it over the social networks spreading misinformation and disinformation about each and every thing that Duterte professes to hate.
The media institutions are actually escaping this avalanche of “fake news” largely unscathed, although their uncritical reportage could also be partly blamed for the failure to nip online misinformation and disinformation in the bud. Only the most partisan (DDS) have fallen prey to “fake news.” And among the chief purveyors are also former journalists who know what attracts attention.
The more critical and independentminded media outlets (the alternative press, the campus press, underground media) have long discarded “neutral” or “objective” reportage — to the benefit of their audiences and readers.
Sadly, this has not been the case for the dominant, mainstream media which have long insisted on calling Ferdinand Marcos a “former president” and not the proper, accurate “ousted dictator.” Or on unquestioningly reporting “rising economic numbers,” sans context. Or succumbing to oligarchs PR offensives about “trickledown” and neoliberal policies. Lest we forget, oligarchs and some trapos own all of the biggest media outlets too.
Going back to the trapos, the absence of campaign finance reform and zero transparency on the movement of political money have long kept politics a secretive domain of the elite. We could only know the donors, if the beneficiaries one way or another disclose them. Also: How the money is spent.
The old way of financing politics is the same way they finance politics online. There is no disclosure about how much public and private money go to setting up and maintaining Facebook Pages, producing content and inviting “influencers” to political events. It is too dark and too black that not even the entire machinery of the Duterte government cannot help find the authors of anti-Duterte blogs and Facebook Pages the DDS wants to persecute and to shut down. The Yellows meanwhile don’t see any need to disclose funding and authorship.
I think there are two ways to attack “fake news” in the Philippines.
First, we must support criticalminded, thoughtful, analytical, fair, and empathetic journalists. We must demand such type of coverage and reportage from media outlets. We must question the vague interpretations of “neutrality” and “objectivity,” and their role in propagating “kababawan,” the lack of appreciation for history, the absence of context.
We should also support the alternative press, the campus press, the underground press and the independent blogs and Facebook Pages that rise above petty partisanship. These represent parts of the future. How I wish to see them grow their online following, through better writing, robust UI/UX, attractive visuals, and the wonders of data.
And if the “fake news” problem is a trapo problem, then we must attack the source. We cannot focus on Mocha Uson and her ilk. They just opportunistically derive prestige and power from their patron Duterte. We must take aim at the infrastructure of lies put up by the transient Malacanang occupant, be it purveyed by the Mahal na Harry or by putative senatorial candidate Uson.
The worst thing we could do is to blame the victims here — the public. This is not what they voted for, or what they expect from politicians.
Yes, folks. This means we must reset and upgrade our politics.