We help provide the balance

EDITORIAL

“Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

THE quote, attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, was a grudging praise to the job of newspapers “to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” It also expressed the feeling shared by rulers since the first newspaper saw the light of day.

The mainstream media have continued in helping shape democratic and tolerant societies even in this age of smartphones and social media, and their role is as important today as newspapers did in the 17th century.

But the media landscape is changing generation after generation, century after century, because technological advancements affect our way of life. Media however have always adapted to the environment.

Today, we have social media. It is a tool. It can be a good tool. But it can also be a bad tool. The online ruckus we witnessed during the first quarter of the year due to the election season highlighted the inability of many citizens to evaluate information and content in whatever form as it appeared in social media; it underscored the great need for media literacy especially in this digital age.

We have seen how social media went amok and haywire in the last elections, cluttering up discussions and burying the real and important issues with fake news and eye-catching memes, many of which were based on inaccurate information and worse, deliberately false or improbable accounts that were made to pass off as journalism. Until now, we see the good, the bad, and the ugly in social media where netizens exercise so much freedom, and where many, sadly, have shown that they are incapable of drawing the line between fact and fiction, between news and opinion.

Human experience however tells us that freedom and democracy, even if faulty and abused at times, are better than subjugation and despotism. And so, let social media be what it is–a tool where people have the freedom to be good, to be bad, to be thought-provoking or to be downright stupid. As it is, social media, by its very nature, is a platform for freewheeling discussions.

This is where newspapers, the mainstream media, come in to provide the balance. In spite of their imperfections, mainstream media work to ensure a well-informed citizenry so that people would be able to analyze events, form their own opinion, and actively engage in meaningful public conversations and constructive debates.

The Mindanao Gold Star Daily has been doing just that for nearly three decades. And as we mark our 27th year today, we renew, once again, our commitment to continue nurturing the watchdog culture we have developed in the field or in our newsroom, fight for freedom and democracy, and the right of citizens to be properly informed so that they could participate in our collective efforts at building our communities, cities, provinces, regions, and the nation.

We thank our readers, especially those who have made us a part of their daily routine since 1989, and all those who advertised with us for the trust and confidence–all of you have made Gold Star happen.