Manipulative Media
The advancement of
digital technology has revolutionalize the use of information in various ways
that does necessarily serve truth and the common good. Compared to traditional print media which
were oftentimes regarded to as gospel truth of the day, the onslaught of social
media has created its own monster in what is now commonly referred to as FAKE
NEWS. In the past, news was news. Once it is published by a newspaper, people
will normally believe it to be credible since it has already passed the rigors
and discipline of editing and journalistic discipline. There was hardly any distinction at that time
whether such NEWS is genuine or a fake
With the evolution
of social media where news can be accessed by an individual 24/7, news is no
longer the exclusive domain of reputable news agencies and professional
journalists. Practically anybody who can
write and who has access to social media can create his own news with hardly
any control, censorship or accountability.
Because of this limitless access media, news and information can also be
manipulated to condition the minds of people to serve various agenda, be it
political, commercial or financial.
For example, the
recent news story of Mindanews entitled: “Bong Go now number 3 in alleged
“SWS survey;” SWS says it’s not theirs” is a perfect example of how media can be used to condition the minds of
voters that a certain candidate is now No.3 in the survey and is already a sure
win in the election. Mindanews reported
that, “According to a press release issued by Go’s camp, the survey,
allegedly conducted February 25-28, 2019, “showed Go receiving the approval of
47 percent of the respondents to claim solo third place” and that “this
reflects a continuous improvement from his 5th to 6th place ranking with 41
percent conducted by the same survey firm (on) January 23-26, 2019 and coming
from a 15th-16th ranking back in December 2018.”
It appears that the goal of this fake reportage is to create a bandwagon
effect among the voters who are gullible to vote those who are popular and
winnable.
Mindanews, however, reported that the alleged survey is a fake one and no
less that the Social Weather Station already made a disclaimer that there is no
SWS survey which catapulted Bong Go to No. 3 in the senate slate. It even stated that any right-thinking and
responsible journalist can simply visit the SWS website to verify if there was
truly a survey to that effect.
The problem with this press release is that even established news media
outfits run a story about it by simply relying and parroting the contents of
the press release. If they are cautious
enough like Mindanews, they could have verified the so-called SWS survey from
the Social Weather Station and easily they can find out that there was no
survey to that effect. The question is
why did these news agencies did not do their due diligence of verifying the
source of the information? Why did they
simply assume the press release to be the gospel trutha? Somebody blink so as not to see the big white
elephant of this journalistic brouhaha.
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