Social media levels playing field in polls

Use social media to harmonize, not weaponize.

This was the message of senior members of Cebu’s media and other panelists during the “Reaching Out to Future Journalists” forum organized by SunStar Cebu and Aboitiz Equity Ventures yesterday.

The forum, held at the Marcelo B. Fernan Cebu Press Center, tackled the role of journalists in covering politics and elections in the age of social media.

Candido “Bong” Wenceslao, SunStar Cebu’s opinion editor, said that although social media have given poor candidates a platform to launch their campaigns, it is also used to fuel anger and promote disunity among various sectors.

“Social media may have democratized, but it is also weaponized by other candidates, even in governance issues,” Wenceslao said.

Lawyer Frank Malilong, a columnist for SunStar Cebu, shared Wenceslao’s opinion that social media have “leveled the playing field” for poor candidates to launch their own political campaigns.

He cited the successful campaigns of President Rodrigo Duterte, United States President Donald Trump and former US president Barack Obama, who used social media extensively in their campaigns.

The use of social media has also changed the country’s use of traditional media during elections, said lawyer Ferdinand Gujilde, Cebu Provincial election assistant.

But while candidates are allowed to use social media during campaigns, the Comelec strictly monitors if each campaign followed certain requirements.

While many complained about the use of foul language by some candidates in social media, Gujilde said it is not within their jurisdiction to stop them.

“We can’t compel candidates to take down below-the-belt posts. The local courts can always do that,” Gujilde said.

For Titus Borromeo, a former broadcast journalist now working for the office of Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino, fake news has always been there even before social media became popular.

He cited the use of “chain snail mails” and “fake letters” as examples of early fake news.

But Borromeo urged the public to not treat them as legitimate news by verifying and counterchecking the reports.

The four panelists agreed that while fake news is prevalent, there are measures that can counter it, such as the application of laws like the Anti-Cybercrime Law that disciplines netizens. /