PIA encourages Caraga mayors to join fight against disinformation
BUTUAN CITY (PIA) —The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Caraga shared the government’s Maging Mapanuri Campaign to the mayors from the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Sur and Dinagat Islands, all in Caraga region during the training on Transformative Leadership for Elevated Governance: Refresher course for Re-elected Local Officials in Butuan City, held on September 2–3.
“Social media is today’s barangay plaza. However, there are groups and individuals who exploit social media by creating information pollution with the aid of digital technology such as artificial intelligence. This has brought confusion, panic and division among the Filipinos,” said PIA Caraga Assistant Regional Head Renelle L. Escuadro, as resource speaker.
“As the closest government leader to the people, our constituents have high expectations that local chief executives or the mayors do not tolerate this exploitation and they anticipate that mayors will take necessary steps to address this pressing concern,” she added. “The Maging Mapanuri Campaign will help you [mayors] protect the communities and promote information literacy to ensure a safer, more informed and connected society.”
Information pollution
She encouraged the participants to be vigilant and start understanding 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 encouraged the participating mayors to be mindful of and verify the source, purpose, owner and the timeliness of the information to ensure accuracy and relevance prior to dissemination. “Due to trust and confidence, people consider the mayors as the source of correct information. They go to their mayors or visit the social media accounts of the mayors to get news and correct information.”
Also, she called on the leaders in attendance to help the country solve and address information pollution, especially those affecting the programs and projects of the government.
‘Fake News’ is wrong
The resource speaker also tackled the popular use of ‘fake news’ not only in social media, but also in daily conversation as an inappropriate phrase. “News is always accurate and true, thus, it cannot be fake.”
“Under information literacy, fake news is a misnomer or a wrong name or designation. It is also an oxymoron or a figure of speech that pairs two words together that are opposing or contradictory,” she explained. “Instead of using fake news, we just say, it is fake. Or better, under the Maging Mapanuri Campaign, we properly label it as either misinformation, disinformation or mal-information.”
As the development communication arm of the government, PIA Caraga motivated the incumbent mayors of the region to help bring the Maging Mapanuri Campaign to the grassroots communities, ensuring that the fight against disinformation is a shared responsibility.
Meanwhile, the convergence, spearheaded by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Caraga, also gave an opportunity for PIA Caraga to share insightful discussions on leadership branding, social media communication and public speaking. (RLE, PIA Caraga)