Joselle Dela Cruz
Makati City—Among the ocean of content online, it is an active dilemma for the media outlets to suppress the spread of misinformation in order to let trustworthy journalism prevail.
Journalists were urged to look back and reassess their ways in providing the truth in their stories during the seminar on trustworthy journalism last Nov. 28 at the Privato Hotel Makati.
“Para kanino at para saan ba tayo nagsusulat? Maybe in the process, [we have] to do an introspection and rethink kung ano ba talaga ang puwede nating gawin for us to remain relevant,” Joyce Pañares, managing editor of the Manila Standard and Philippine Press Institute (PPI) Training Director, said.
Pañares said there are factors that influenced truth-telling in journalism: ownership, advertising, and engagement.
“Ownership is very crucial in truth-telling kasi aminin man natin o hindi, kung sino ang may-ari, mayroon din siyang kaibigan o kaaway, and in the process, if becomes the friends or enemies of our media outlet,” Pañares said.
The shutdown of the CNN Philippines and the loss of franchise of the ABS-CBN are some of the results of the changes in the media ownership landscape today, said Pañares.
Pañares also cited an example of how the editorial and advertising or marketing meet halfway in their outlet during the pandemic.
“[N]abawasan na kasi talaga ‘yong revenues natin, e. [Noon], very clear ang delineation saan ang editorial, saan ang advertising, at saan ang marketing, merong invisible line… That line became blurred and blurred, it became easier to cross that line,” Pañares said.
20 years ago, journalists were only concerned about their readers but with the advancement in reporting, online engagement is now a vital factor for media outlets, Pañares emphasized.
“That’s been our dilemma ever since, do we cater to what our audiences want or do we give them what they need to know or paano ba makahanap ng in between?” said Pañares.
“In the digital platforms that we operate now, that is really felt na minsan na parang sulat tayo nang sulat pero walang nangyayari, sulat tayo nang sulat pero iba ang gustong basahin, at para saan pa ba ang ating pagpapakapagod?” Pañares added.
The seminar titled “Rewarding Trustworthy Journalism” was organized by PPI in collaboration with the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI).
A pledge to trustworthy reporting was sworn at the end of the seminars by the media participants from different regions.
Online self-regulatory mechanisms for the media
Jhoanna Ballaran, Philippine Representative for JTI, said tech platforms should not be the one to decide who are the media and who are not online.
“There are competitions online between journalism contents and other types of contents, sa Facebook, ba nadi-distinguish niyo kaagad kung ano ang news at hindi?” said Ballaran.
“Hindi dapat sila. Kasi they’re tech platforms, ano ang alam nila sa journalism?” Ballaran added.
Ballaran said JTI’s goal is “to enable a market where trustworthy news content and publishers gain a more favorable competitive edge over online content.”
RSF, a Paris-based non-government organization, initiated the idea for the creation of JTI in order to define the standards for self-regulatory mechanisms of the registered media outlets.
Legal approval from the European Committee for Standardization was given to JTI in December 2019.
Currently, JTI’s signals were being used by Microsoft and LinkedIn. If a media outlet published a transparency report, their content will be prioritized in the algorithm of the said platforms.
In the Philippines, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Bulatlat, and News Core signed up for JTI, said Ballaran.
Ballaran also said that this initiative will empower the audience to choose what content they will consume online and not just by the choices given to them by the algorithms.
“The remedy to unfair competition between fake news and trustworthy information is to distinguish which is the trustworthy source of information, and that’s through JTI,” Pañares said.
The current challenge of RSF is to encourage more media outlets to sign up for JTI in order to get Google and other tech companies on board, said Pañares.
