PIA Caraga engages DSWD livelihood program workforce in drive vs disinformation
By Renelle L. Escuadro
BUTUAN CITY (PIA) — The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Caraga earlier in November cascaded the government’s ‘Maging Mapanuri’ campaign drive to the workforce of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).
Held on Nov. 13 in Butuan City, the engagement provided the participants with practical insights on responsible information-sharing and safeguarding communities against information pollution.
“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,” said PIA Caraga Assistant Regional Head Renelle L. Escuadro, as resource speaker.
“Unfortunately, there are rampant and reported cases of false information on the programs of the government that are circulating online, and are quickly disseminated through word of mouth in the communities,” she added. “This has brought confusion, panic and division among the Filipinos.”
“The Maging Mapanuri Campaign will help you, program field implementers and technical staff, protect the communities and promote information literacy on the implementation of the SLP to ensure a safer, more informed and connected society,” Escuadro emphasized.
Combatting 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 motivated the participants to be mindful of and verify the source, purpose, owner and the timeliness of the information to ensure accuracy and relevance prior to dissemination. “With high trust and confidence in the agency, people consider the DSWD as the source of correct information through the personnel on the ground. They go to you [staff] or visit the social media accounts of DSWD and the SLP to get news and correct information.”
‘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.”
Also, the resource speaker introduced the pivotal role of fact-checking to help address the overwhelming 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
Regional Director Mari-Flor Dollaga of DSWD Caraga challenged the participants to be champions of responsible communication. “I challenge each one of you to be champions on responsible communication, digital ethics and in program excellence.”
The collaboration between DSWD and PIA strengthened the ability of duty bearers to safeguard program integrity, promote responsible communication, and reinforces public trust to agencies of the government in the implementation of programs and services to the grassroots communities. (RLE, PIA Dinagat Islands)