PIA Caraga calls on public servants, media to help fight disinformation
By Renelle L. Escuadro
BUTUAN CITY (PIA) – The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Caraga cascaded the Maging Mapanuri Campaign to almost 130 participants of The War on Truth: Anti-Fake News Consultative Forum, held on July 22 in Butuan City.
Spearheaded by the Philippine National Police (PNP) Caraga, it gathered the different directors and chiefs of regional government offices, select personnel and officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Caraga and media practitioners who are members of the PNP Caraga Press Corps.
According to PIA Regional Head Renelle L. Escuadro, as resource speaker, the Maging Mapanuri is the government’s program in the fight against disinformation, one of the most pressing concerns of the country that creates confusion and division among the Filipinos.
“The Maging Mapanuri campaign calls for an effective collaboration between the different government agencies to promote information literacy and ensure a safer, more informed and connected society,” she said. “Our media practitioners also serve as our strong partners to effectively bring this campaign to the grassroots communities and reach the vulnerable sectors.”
Information pollution
“In information literacy, we are more effective if we are specific in spotting the nature of the information and we refrain from using general terms,” she added.
She encouraged the participants to be vigilant and start appreciating the three types of information pollution: Misinformation is the unintentional spread of false or inaccurate information. It often arises from mistakes, misunderstandings, or misrepresentations and can occur in various forms, such as rumors.
Disinformation, on the other hand, involves the intentional spread of false information with the intent to deceive or manipulate. Tactics may include the creation of false stories, doctored images, and misleading narratives.
Mal-information consists of the dissemination of true information but with malicious intent, such as sharing private or confidential data without consent. It can lead to harm, invasion of privacy, or reputational damage.
She emphasized, “As advocates of truth and responsible journalism, let us not tolerate the people who want to divide the country through information pollution.”
She encouraged the participants to be mindful of and verify the source, purpose, ownership and the time of the information to ensure accuracy, relevance and timeliness prior to dissemination.
Also, the resource speaker introduced the pivotal role of fact-checking to help address the rampant cases of disinformation in social media that affect the country. “Fact-checking is a significant task where one has to proactively verify the accuracy of an information – a statement, photo or image and video and correct them if they fall as information pollution.”
She shared some online sites and tools for fact-checking that are helpful in verifying statements, images or photos, videos, among others.
Call to action
The engagement served as an opportunity for the indispensable participants to objectively assess the ecosystem and gravity of the information pollution in the region, especially in the different social media platforms.
They suggested coming up with proactive measures to prevent its prevalence, including the creation of a task force for tighter law enforcement, and empowering vloggers, social media influencers and more media partners as force multipliers in the fight against disinformation.
For PNP Deputy-Regional Director for Operations, PCol. Restituto P. Lacano Jr., the activity served as a platform for learning, collaboration and commitment to truth and in responsible and ethical communication. “This is a call for collective action because the fight against disinformation requires a whole-of-nation approach.”
For PIA Caraga, as the development communication arm of the government, it has consistently demonstrated commitment to disseminate accurate, relevant and timely information to the public. As duty bearer, PIA Caraga is mindful to expand the reach of the Maging Mapanuri campaign and make it inclusive for all. (RLE, PIA Caraga)
