Gov’t not encouraging fake news – Roque
After being in the center of controversy, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque clarified that the Duterte Administration is not encouraging the spread of fake news.
Roque was criticized for his remark in a press conference over the weekend that real news will not be determined without the existence of fake news.
“Kung walang fake news, hindi natin malalaman kung ano iyong true news. Hindi natin malalaman kung ano’ng kasinungalingan, hindi rin natin malalaman kung ano’ng katotohanan (Without fake news, we will not know what’s real news. We will not know the lies from the truth). So, let there be a free marketplace of ideas,” Roque said in that press conference.
In a statement Wednesday morning, Roque clarified that it is not the government’s policy to encourage or spread fake news.
“What I said earlier that without fake news we would not know what is true news should not be taken as governmental encouragement of fake news. Far from it,” he said.
“For sure and to be clear, fake news as is known today, should find no place as a matter of governmental policy,” he added.
According to the Palace official, people are smart enough to determine the real from fake news.
“Enlightened citizens should be able to pick out chaff from grain and appreciate what good journalism is about,” Roque said.
He added that protection of freedom of speech guarantees against government censorship, even when it comes to false information.
“Even US journalism has a sordid history in the so-called ‘penny press’ of promoting quackery and all sorts that today would not be considered respectable journalism; yet US jurisprudence on free speech developed a conviction that the solution is never governmental censorship, but better journalism,” Roque said.
Roque also cited New York Times vs Sullivan in 1964 wherein the US Supreme Court allowed that even mistakes in reportage on public figures are excusable because otherwise the free and unimpeded discussion of public issues would be hindered.
“Free and open debate about the conduct of public officials, the Court reasoned, was more important than occasional, honest factual errors that might hurt or damage officials’ reputations,” Roque said.
“’Even a false statement may be deemed to make a valuable contribution to public debate, since it brings about ‘the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error,’ the US Supreme Court said, quoting John Stuart Mill,” he cited.
Roque earlier said that lies are part of the free marketplace of ideas, adding that people are fortunate to be blessed with a mind that allows them to tell real from fake.