Capping the three-day national conference on Democracy and Disinformation held via Zoom on February 26, veteran human rights lawyer and Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) chairperson, Atty. Chel Diokno shared that one of the ways in fighting disinformation and preserving democracy is to get people involved.
“If we really want to fight disinformation then we also have to get people involved in things that really matter to us. That includes getting them registered. Getting them to vote. To vote wisely,” Diokno said. He also stressed that we have to take advantage of every opportunity to speak truth to power. We must stay vigilant, document disinformation, and hold people accountable.
Diokno said the public has the power to determine the future of this country by participating in the next elections.
“We play a big role with what will happen tomorrow,” he said.
MEDIA KEEPS DEMOCRACY ALIVE
Senator Risa Hontiveros, UPV alumni Raoul Danniel Manuel and Atty. Kate Aubrey Hojilla, and DOH Director for Health and Promotion Bureau, Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho also shared the various challenges posed by disinformation in governance, health, freedom of expression, and human rights.
Serving as plenary speaker for Day 3 “Power of the People and the Press,” Hontiveros emphasized the vital role that the media plays in protecting our democracy.
“Also part of the media’s role in democracy is providing information to the public. Information that can support rational debate,” she said.
Hontiveros added that misinformation can polarize societies and accountability is impossible to achieve because there will be no baseline of facts.
HOPE FOR FUTURE OF JOURNALISM
The three-day conference, which ran on February 22, 24, and 26 featured a keynote speaker each day.
Endy Bayuni, senior editor of the Jakarta Post and lone Southeast Asian member of the Facebook Oversight Board, led the first day themed “Taking Root: Campus Journalism and Beyond,” which tackled the value and importance of campus journalism in our fight against disinformation.
“There is a challenge for the profession, for the future of journalism, and I would say that the future journalists are in the hands of the young, including those coming from campus journalism,” Bayuni stressed.
Bayuni was also joined by former journalists and professors – Dr. Ma. Diosa Labiste and Prof. Yvonne Chua of the Department of Journalism in UP Diliman; John Nery, columnist for the Philippine Daily Inquirer; and UPV Chancellor Dr. Clement C. Camposano.
BUILD COMMUNITIES OF ACTION TO PROTECT FACTS
Rappler CEO Maria Ressa served as plenary speaker for Day 2, “Media and the Rise of Disinformation.”
Ressa called for everyone to build communities of action in order to protect the facts.
“If we don’t have facts, we can’t have a shared reality and we cannot hold the government to account, protect our rights, and protect our democracy,” she added.
Veteran journalists, Inday Espina-Varona and Nonoy Espina-Varona , NUJP chairperson, also joined the discussion together with ABS-CBN’s Israel Malasa where they talked about the challenges the media faced as news reporting shifted from the traditional to the digital, emphasizing the importance of challenging disinformation online.
“Ang disinformation is deliberate use of false and misleading information. It is always used to accompany corruption, social ills. Kapag nakaharap tayo sa disinformation, there’s no other alternative but to correct it. Speak out. Speak our truth. We speak out or this democracy dies,” Espina-Varona concluded.
The 3rd National Conference on Democracy and Disinformation, “New Normal, New Media: The Emerging Challenges of Disinformation in the Philippines,” was hosted by the University of the Philippines Visayas in partnership with the Division of Humanities, IPO, DYUP 102.7 FM, MovePH, and Daily Guardian.
This conference is part of a series of activities for a project with the Consortium on Democracy and Disinformation headed by Project Director, Dr. Zoilo S. Andrada, Jr.
A regional conference on the Visayas situationer is set on March 17, 2021 to explore the impact of disinformation in the region. This will be followed by a Fact-checking Workshop that will run for two days on March 23 and 25.
Student journalists and media practitioners are highly encouraged to join. Registration starts next week.
For updates, follow the D&D page: https://www.facebook.com/DandD2021/ (Ms. Charmie Saligumba, Division of Humanities, CAS)
