Tag: social media

Facts matter in the Philippines, but only the facts that favour its elite

November 29, 2017November 29, 2017 benign0 5 Comments

The irony in the clique of “social media influencers” who hosted an event dubbed a forum on “Truth, Trust, and Democracy in the Age of Selfies, Trolls and Bots” just flies over people’s pointed heads. The event was organised “by the Journalism for Nation Building Foundation (JNBF), Rappler, and other stakeholder groups”. This is not…

Media, Politics, Society

Filipinos can overcome ‘fake news’ by developing more CURIOSITY #FactsMatterPH

November 28, 2017 benign0 11 Comments

Indeed, Filipinos need to be reminded that “facts matter”. That’s because Filipinos were not raised at home nor trained in school to build factual bases for what they believe in. In most cases, Filipino kids are told what to think rather than taught how to think. It is challenging too considering that Philippine society is…

Culture, Media

The ‘debate’ over a ‘revolutionary government’ is a complete waste of time

November 27, 2017November 27, 2017 benign0 5 Comments

Back in 1986 following the EDSA “people power revolution”, Cory Aquino, who was crowned leader of this “revolution” by the Imperial Manila “activists” of the time, was installed as president of the Yellowtards’ “revolutionary government”. Legitimisation of Aquino’s government was easy, thanks to the Philippines’ being a predominantly starstruck “God-fearing” Roman Catholic society. All the…

Government, Politics

The Philippines’ social media ‘influencers’ are mentally ill-equipped to tackle national issues

November 22, 2017 benign0 6 Comments

The Philippine political “debate” remains as confused as ever because partisans across the spectrum cannot agree on who or which administration is at fault for the persistence of a number of problems. Many of these problems are big ones: Manila’s traffic and public transport woes, foreign policy around which bloc of superpowers the Philippines should…

Development, Politics, Society

Mainstream media vs DDS bloggers: a ‘war on truth’ that could destroy both sides!

November 17, 2017 benign0 16 Comments

For all the calls for a crackdown on “fake news”, it seems even the world’s most respected “journalists” just can’t seem to help partaking in a bit of the troll party where all of this orginates and gets passed around. Within the last 24 hours, two seemingly respected personalities in the mainstream industry of conventional…

Media, Politics

A sadly familiar demand for RESPECT is on exhibit during the #ASEAN2017 Summit in Manila

November 15, 2017 benign0 14 Comments

Lately we’ve been seeing many perverse senses of entitlement exhibited by — horrors — some of the Philippines’ most influential people. That’s thanks to the on-going Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit currently being held in Manila. Whilst, the event brought out the best in the attending world leaders, it seemed to not have…

Politics, Society

Die-hard bloggers behaving badly: anti-‘disente’ taken too far

November 14, 2017 benign0 5 Comments

The key to sustained consistency in media practice (whether in mainstream or otherwise) is to compete on content and quality — not on narcissistic stunts and attention-grabbing circuses. On the mainstream front, this is how Rappler did itself in — because it made itself the news rather than focusing on just reported it. Of course…

Media, Politics, Society

Justin Trudeau’s Jollibee visit ‘staged’ but a winner just the same

November 13, 2017November 13, 2017 benign0 10 Comments

What is really amazing about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s brief visit to a Jollibee restaurant shortly after landing on Clark Field for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Manila is that some Filipinos would actually consider the possibility that this visit was a genuinely candid spur-of-the-moment decision on Trudeau’s part. It…

Culture, Glitz and Glamour, Society