Bully pulpits vs fake news

With the proliferation and the speed by which “fake news” spreads, we could only thank its purveyors and peddlers in social media for driving the people back to mainstream media.

To protect themselves from falling victim to “fake news,” the public in general has palpably gone back to reading newspapers to get the facts straight.

A January 2023 global study, commissioned by Two Sides and conducted online by the independent research company Toluna, found evidence of increased preference for reading print than online. Preference for newspapers went up to 31 percent from 26 percent in 2021, according to a press release on the survey.

Unfortunately, those in the government and in the elite society easily point to “fake news” as excuse whenever their wrongdoings and banalities get exposed, whether it comes from social media or in mainstream media.

So this is the dilemma we face in the ongoing campaign of the government supposedly to combat “fake news,” but against whom?

In fact, the 19th Congress organized three standing committees in the House of Representatives, collectively called the tri-comm, tasked to look into the dissemination of “fake news” and malicious content on social media platforms. These House committees are: on public safety and order; on information and communications technology and on public information. The tri-comm specifically invited high-profile social media personalities, including self-proclaimed “influencers” and vloggers, mostly using popular platforms like Meta’s Facebook, X of Elon Musk, TikTok, YouTube, among others.

The congressional hearings were prompted by a privilege speech last Dec.16 by Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers who accused vloggers, mostly identified from the ranks of so-called “DDS” or Duterte Diehard Supporters. As the chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, Barbers led the House quad comm that handled the congressional hearings on the alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) against  former president Rodrigo Duterte as Davao City mayor and during the all-out war against illegal drugs.

Barbers decried as alleged “fake news” and other social media bashings directed against him and fellow leaders and members of the quad comm. The rest of the quad comm consisted of the House committee on public order and safety; on human rights and on public accounts, chaired respectively by Reps. Dan Fernandez, Bienvenido Abante and Joseph “Caraps” Paduano. The quad comm is a much earlier creation of the House leadership. Common to both newly created House bodies is Laguna Congressman Fernandez, who heads the panel of chairmen of the tri-comm.

At the hearing of the tri-comm, Barbers sought to assuage the public that the inquiry on the dissemination of fake news and malicious content on social media platforms is not intended to suppress freedom of speech. “In fact, we are all aware that this is provided for in our Constitution and we’d like to respect the right of everyone to his own opinion or to his own expression. Contrary to what others may be thinking, this is not in any way a tool to suppress their expressions or opinions on certain issues, whether they may be political or economic or even other points of views,” Barbers reassured.

But no amount of such public reassurances convinced a number of known pro-Duterte social media personalities invited to participate in the tri-comm hearings. After initially snubbing twice the invitations of the tri-comm, 11 social media personalities, including former Marcos Cabinet member, Presidential Communications Office secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles, finally appeared and testified in its third public hearing last March 21. Angeles, along with fellow vloggers, were summoned to present their individual explanations on accusations of allegedly spreading misleading contents online. They testified under oath under pain of being cited for contempt.

The latest tri-comm hearing coincided with the noted deluge of online “fake news” dished out on social media platforms following the March 11 arrest and handover of former president Duterte to The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC).

Sadly, we have witnessed the tri-comm hearing aired live on TV clearly turned out to be the bully pulpit for Abante, Paduano, et.al. Abante personally took issue with the name-calling that he and fellow House leaders have been getting from their online bashers. If they felt slighted by the very low opinions on them by the more popular online vloggers, these onion-skinned lawmakers can throw the book on Cyber Law to go after their most bitter critics.

During our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last week, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero succinctly reminded their House counterparts about Article 3, Section 4 of our country’s 1987 Constitution. This states specifically: “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech and expression or of the press.”

As far as Escudero is concerned: “Ang pagbibigay ng opinyon is almost absolute.” A lawyer and veteran lawmaker, Escudero cited this constitutional provision in safeguarding one’s opinion, whether it is right or wrong. “Pwedeng mali ‘yon sa pananaw mo, pwedeng hindi ka sang-ayon, pero hindi nangangahulugang ‘fake’ ‘yon,” Escudero pointed out.

“Pero someone who is supposedly a conveyor of news, something factual that is not true. Then, doon lamang papasok yung fake news. Kaya hindi sinabing fake opinion, kaya sinabing fake news,” he stressed.

“The challenge is how to draw the line between the two. So much so that it will not constitute as a second limitation prior of restraint o magbibigay ng takot, pangamba, pagdadalawang isip, sa sinumang nais maglahad ng kanyang nasasaisip bago pa niya ito gawin dahil sa batas naipapasa,” he elaborated.

The Senate chief vowed to tread carefully on any proposal or attempt to muzzle such constitutionally enshrined freedom of expression or of the press.

May I share a deep concern echoed by Maj. Gen. Demy Zagala on his X account on his last day as commander of the AFP Civil Relations Service: “Our enemies today do not attack us directly. They do not attack us fully armed, with so much fanfare or any warning but rather, they pounce on us in the silence of the night in the guise of deception, misinformation and disinformation.”