By EJ Roque/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) launched the “Dismiss Disinformation” campaign to bolster its war against fake news and to guide voters in the upcoming May 13 elections.
“We hope we are going to help the public clearly understand that fake news hurts good candidates. There are good candidates out there deserving and should be the chosen leaders in the provinces or their cities, but because they fall victim to fake news, they don’t get elected,” PCOO media adviser Pia Roces-Morato said in a recent interview with Net 25’s program “Pambansang Almusal.”
“At the end of the day your public servants should be the leaders that you deserve, and you will be voting for the good ones. You should be voting for the good ones in this coming election without falling victim to fake news,” she added.
Morato expressed hope that with the newest PCOO campaign, they will be able to explain to the public how to avoid being victimized by fake news and to distinguish misinformation from disinformation.
“In misinformation, it happens to all of us, because us who are in the media industry, we write, we are exposed to everything we see on TV, on Facebook, and sometimes we create mistakes, but these mistakes can still be corrected and within our power to change it,” Morato explained.
“On the other hand, disinformation is not accidental but is created on purpose. Those who spread disinformation do this for their gain, and it is the public who are most affected by it,” she added.
For his part, Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Senior Director for Strategic Communications Benjie Felipe said those responsible for spreading disinformation are spending a considerable amount of money.
“You can see that they are creating good content. The written content is believable because they are spending money on it,” he said.
Felipe said click bait contents have the power to grab the attention of the public easily as well as to influence and sway the public into believing false information.
He advised the public to check the ‘About Us’ of the news to see the creator’s identity.
He also warned the public not to “like” or “share” any information in social media without reading it first to prevent being a victim and, at the same time, a purveyor of disinformation and fake news.
“With this, we can control the spread of fake news. Especially, if we know its consequences,” he said.
PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar earlier urged voters not to allow fake news to ruin the chances of the candidates who can serve the country well.
Andanar said if people will allow disinformation to prevail “we are actually allowing ourselves to be cheated” by unfair elections which basically destroys the democratic election process.
For the latest updates about this story, visit the Philippine News Agency website
