Fake news

Joe Pallugna

THE prevalence of Facebook and other social media have provided us with quick access to news and what TV stations label as “Breaking News” and regular newscasts and news reports.

There are also featurized news, news analysis, commentaries, editorials and many other approaches of newscasts and news reporting.

Then there’s fake news. And this is the dangerous and libelous one.

In the past week,  I was “burned” or victimized by a supposed CNN news of former Human Rights chair Etta Rosales commenting that the Maute group that attacked Marawi City should not be bombarded by government planes as the fighting field will not be even as they don’t have fighter planes to fight back.

At the height of everyone’s anger of the suffering of the whole populace of Marawi displaced by the Maute attack, I commented that Etta is a stupid woman. Shortly thereafter I realized that such report about Rosales was fake news.

Etta Rosales did not post any denial on social media anymore as the good netizens came to her rescue with corrective comments. But for a short period, her name and reputation had been besmirched and vilified.

About that same week was the posting as news on Facebook that Jim Paredes, of the Apo Hiking Society fame, was reported to have referred to Mindanaoans as people from the mountains, the boondocks.

And he was crucified as an elitist, arrogant Manila-boy and was subjected to hate comments by Duterte supporters who favored the declaration of martial law in the whole of Mindanao. Paredes had to post his denials and defenses. I pity the man.

These and a lot more comprise fake news.

These are supposedly real news posted on dubious websites that bannered the logos and names of legitimate news networks. At first glance, an unsuspecting reader can react negatively, get agitated and angry, get insulted and offended.

It is only after a few minutes of asking one’s self “Is this really true?” that one realizes that he has been duped or misled.

The incredibility of the fake news report settles in later. And by that time the emotions of the reader had already been stoked, the reaction of anger or offense had already been triggered and the name and reputation of the news subject person had already been damaged.

With this present trend now, and abuse, of creating and posting fake news, every reader of news on social media should be doubly forewarned, should be extra-cautious and should be more discerning. Don’t believe immediately what you read. Ask quickly yourself, “Is this really true?”

When there is news of a shooting like in the Resorts World incident, or when a grenade is recovered unexploded like the Country Village Hotel report, one should not outrightly conclude or believe that it is outrightly an act of terrorism. One should, nowadays, be more discerning.

There are even lots of fake news abroad. These fake news are either the work of pranksters and shallow funnymen and jesters or are intentionally crafted and posted by governments or by anti-establishment groups to mislead the readers or to agitate the readers for some political purposes.

Even Russian President Vladimir Putin and American President Donald Trump and the governments of China and Cambodia and Vietnam have been known to use fake news for their own manipulative ends.

Politicians from time immemorial employed fake news to destroy their enemies and to boost their own interests.

So as we continue to browse on social media or listen to TV reports or read newspapers these days, we should be extra wary on what to immediately believe on or react to.

We should accept the new reality that many fake news abound.

We should realize that fake news is not only a new strong trend but, just like your neighbors and friends around you for all these long years, whatever they say about you and just about everybody are not always true. There are always fake friends around as there are fake news.

E-mail: ajpallugna@gmail.com