Mocha asks about ‘fake news’
LAST Sunday, Assistant Secretary Esther Margaux “Mocha” Uson of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) called out SunStar Cebu on Facebook over a recent column by our Public and Standards Editor Pachico A. Seares.
A question Uson asked caught my attention. She wrote: “Ang galing ninyo mag tag ng ‘peddle fake news’do you even know what is FAKE NEWS???” (You’re so good at tagging people who ‘peddle fake news.’Do you even know what fake news is?)
The column in question examines Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque’s comments on Senate Bill 1680, which proposes penalties for public officials and employees who “publish or disseminate false news or information in their personal and official capacities.” That column includes this paragraph: “True to his reputation as defender of human rights and free speech before he took the Malacañang job, Roque is defending the freedom of the likes of blogger Mocha Uson to peddle fake news while on government pay.” (I urge you to read the rest of Atty. Seares’ column here: bit.ly/2r8DQ2m)
No one in SunStar Cebu has ever claimed to be an expert on “fake news,” but it is something that many of us have read and studied and thought about, because it debases the quality of information Filipinos get. If people’s decisions do not rest on verified information, any journalist who cares about community and country should worry. As should any public official whose functions include “informing, educating, and enlightening the citizenry about matters of national importance.”
The problem with “fake news” is that it remains so inadequately defined, despite being overused. The most helpful material I’ve found on the matter, so far, is a framework by Executive Director Claire Wardle of First Draft, a nonprofit organization that fights “mis- and disinformation online.” Just to recap, for those who missed it: when one shares false information inadvertently (accidentally, wala tuyoa, hindi sinadya), that’s misinformation. But when one creates and deliberately shares information that he or she knows is false, that’s disinformation.
Wardle breaks up mis- and disinformation further into seven types. These are: (1) false connection: when the headlines, visuals or captions don’t match the story; (2) false context: when genuine content is shared with false contextual information; (3) manipulated content: when images are manipulated to deceive; (4) parody or satire; (5) misleading content; (6) impostor content: when genuine news sources are impersonated; and (7) fabricated content: “designed to deceive and do harm.”
Passing off a photo of Honduran police in a post about Filipino troops in Marawi is one example of false context; so is passing off a six-year-old photo of Boracay in a post about its current problems. Whether these are acts of mis- or disinformation, only Uson can really know.
I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. When confronted with those acts of “false context” (or her preferred term, “symbolism”) in the past, the assistant secretary has tried to dodge accountability by pointing out that she just shared someone else’s material. That won’t do. For someone with such formidable influence and resources, that’s a cop-out, and the public deserves better.
Now, Uson may argue that her Facebook page is personal space and hers to do with as she pleases. But when some of its posts are done by the PCOO and some of its videos are posted by Radio TV Malacañang, is it still just personal space?
Uson also wrote: “Hindi porke’t against sa inyo aking opinion, fake news na.” (Just because my opinion differs from yours doesn’t make it fake news.) Finally, a point we can agree on. I just wish this public official hadn’t repeatedly painted the opposition as “mga salot” (a pestilence or a plague) and described those whose political opinions differ from hers as “mga kalaban” (our enemies.) As if peddling fake news wasn’t atrocious enough.