"Watch out for these red flags."
"Watch out for these red flags."
In this age of fake news, fact-checking is one of the methods of overturning the falsehoods that are spread to mislead the public.
The methods were discussed at this year’s Philippines Communication Society annual conference and general assembly held March 18 at the Philippine Information Agency auditorium. The theme was ‘Misinformation and Media Manipulation.’
First tackled was the topic of media manipulation.
Keynote speaker John Nery, Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist, spoke of the power of speech, of information, to move to action, whether for good or for bad. He gave as an example the New Zealand mosque massacre, describing it as a “made-for-media spectacle,” its video disseminated by the perpetrator on Internet sites including Facebook, 8chan, Youtube, and Reddit.
“The violence,” said Nery, “was meant to have consequential effects upon the feelings, thoughts, or actions of a specific audience scattered across the world.” It was designed to persuade and move white supremacists to action. “Perlocutionary terrorism,” he called it, a “statement crafted to be shared and retold.”
The shooter’s spreading of his video and manifesto across social media was also an act of media-baiting, and resulted in mainstream media’s amplifying the shooter’s message by carrying it. This is an example of media manipulation.
But ‘fake news’ is an oxymoron. There are specific terms we can use, said Nery, that more accurately describe the phenomena. He cited the research by Dr. Claire Wardle and Hossein Derakhshan in the 2017 Council of Europe report on Information Disorder:
“Mis-information: Information that is false, but not created with the intention of causing harm.
“Dis-information: Information that is false and deliberately created to harm a person, social group, organization or country.
“Mal-information: Information that is based on reality, used to inflict harm on a person, organization or country.”
These, say Wardle and Derakhshan, are types of information disorder, which is currently “influencing democracies.” A case in point are the 95 pages and 39 accounts—mostly pro-Duterte—recently taken down by Facebook for violating authenticity policies. These are alleged to have been part of the presidential campaign tactics and used to attack critics of the present administration. Duterte won the election on the back of strong social media support.
Nery said we need look no further than this administration’s so-called ‘narcolists’ for homegrown instances of media manipulation. “It is clear,” he said, “that the narcolists have a symbolic role—they are a statement, designed to reinforce the administration’s overarching narrative about the so-called war on drugs.”
Nery pointed out that “much of the insidious power of media manipulation lies in the graphic images or suggestive text that are designed precisely to circulate. In the case of the narcolists, the mere naming of the alleged accused or the posterizing of their images already creates real harm.”
He called upon everyone to be vigilant in their use and consumption of media. “It is the responsibility of the media,” he said, “and of the citizens who also now perform their own gatekeeping role, to guard the gates zealously, to remind each other about the harmful shaping that media manipulation makes possible, and to always be on the lookout for anything that might assume the shape of harm.”
Following Nery’s talk, Yvonne Chua of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication Department of Journalism discussed various methods of fact-checking.
“Fact-checking matters,” she said. “It helps reduce the incidence and volume of disinformation.”
She cited the American Press Institute’s description of fact-checking journalism as a “relatively new form of accountability reporting in politics where news organizations produce content that is branded under a special title and rates or judges the accuracy of claims by politicians or government officials.”
Chua also discussed ‘debunking,’ exposing the falseness of fake news and viral hoaxes, and ‘verification,’ seeking primary evidence to establish the truth, accuracy, or validity of something.
She also showed how to screen an online piece through the following red flags: headlines are all capitals, use excessive punctuation, claim conspiracy; bad grammar, sloppy copy; no author, no byline; no attribution; no, low-quality, or dead links; no or low-quality references and citations; outdated text; triggers fierce emotions and strains credulity.
Dr. Lourdes Portus, PCS past president, said in her remarks opening the conference that “we need to be more discerning about what we are told,” and that trolls and the creators of disinformation must be resisted.
This advice is particularly timely in this era of widespread disinformation, and our active participation in the communication cycle is essential to prevent our manipulation by forces with the evil intent to pursue their own selfish agenda.
Dr. Ortuoste has a PhD in Communication, and no, Mr. Troll, you cannot call her ‘sweetie.’ /FB and Twitter: @DrJennyO
