Fighting back
We said goodbye yesterday to ABS-CBN’s regional television and radio stations as the network scaled down its operations after Congress denied it a renewed franchise.
We can’t dispute Congress’ power under the law to grant or deny franchise applications. To recall, last March I wrote about the "scarcity of broadcast spectrum" doctrine wherein the government must, because of such scarcity, exercise the power to grant or deny broadcast frequencies to applicants – based on the primary criteria of sufficient capital and audience reach.
Now Congress cannot begrudge us for exposing the obvious reason why it denied ABS-CBN a renewed franchise; to silence this independent and critical voice by getting it off the air when a legal (not moral) cover to the repression presented itself.
There are of course other broadcast media outlets, probably critical and independent too. As a media consumer I make this choice every day; which media outlet to read or tune in based on its capability – and credibility – to report the news and take on particular issues. That choice has been narrowed down to a few (or one).
My most trusted morning program had its final run yesterday in Teleradyo Cebu, ABS-CBN’s interim online platform since it signed off the airwaves last May. Arangkada, anchored by my fellow The FREEMAN columnist Leo Lastimosa, signed off after 25 years on air and, since last May, online. That’s the sad part.
The good news is that the same team that composed Teleradyo Cebu have decided to continue to be seen and heard by their followers starting September 1 under Sibya TV on Facebook. This is a development to watch because of its potential to access a big audience for a relatively small capital – although the cast and crew of the upcoming Sibya TV also brings with them the invaluable trust and social capital built from years of professional practice under ABS-CBN.
This now relates to the topic of my column article last Tuesday on the role of online social networks in ushering in a post-truth era. Clickbaits daubed in words like “hidden truths,” “untold stories,” and other conspiracy-sounding and bizarre themes reach many netizens and influence the information ecosystem despite the logical and factual inconsistencies in their texts.
The interesting development to observe with such initiatives like Sibya TV, with its tagline “Kamatuoran. Masabtan.”, is if mainstream media values of non-partisan coverage of news and giving fact-based, substantive commentaries will find a good place in online social networks. If they succeed, they could act as a push back against historical revisionism and other disinformation campaigns prevalent in online social networks.
This push back is important because some scholars who study content in online social networks from a psychoanalytic framework have identified a direct link between these texts and authoritarianism. “While all of the texts use bafflingly false claims, one can argue that all authoritarianism must pass through the logic of perversion, which attempts to twist reality itself,” wrote Victor Felipe Bautista in “The Pervert’s Guide to Historical Revisionism: Traversing the Marcos Fantasy” published in 2018 by the Ateneo de Manila University journal “Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints”.
It is not yet too late to fight back against the erosion of democratic values. In fact, our experience with COVID-19 helped us in that regard by exposing the incompetence and superfluity of authoritarian posturing all over the world. But we must learn our lesson from the electoral events of 2016. Historical revisionism played a great role in the Philippine campaign which employed networks of digital workers. These digital mercenaries worked 24/7 on shaping the discourse on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
The initial salvo of posts and memes later gained traction as it tapped into public frustration over the continued economic inequality in the country. This enabled the Duterte campaign to sideline the liberal memory of the 1986 People Power Revolt and “weaponize social media against both his political opponents and critical public voices,” wrote Deirdre McKay, senior lecturer in Social Geography and Environmental Politics at Keele University.
For us media consumers, best-selling author Yuval Noah Harari has two simple rules of thumb to distinguish reality from fiction. “First, if you want reliable information – pay good money for it.” Support your local channels and newspapers. Second, that “if some issue seems exceptionally important to you, make the effort to read the relevant scientific literature.” Read peer-reviewed articles and books from reputable academic publishers. And teach your children to make it a habit to read.