GOV'T RECASTS INFO STRATEGY, BLOGGERS FACE EXCLUSION

By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

Stung and stunned by mounting public outrage over the spate of fake news emanating from several pro-government bloggers, the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) is recasting the state information strategy mainly to boost the sagging credibility of the Duterte government.

PCOO Undersecretary Joel Sy Egco said the overall strategy has the following elements:

-         distancing from the pro-government bloggers, who currently face  widespread public criticisms for authoring fake news;

-         prevent them from using the government information infrastructure as their communications platform; and

-         re-instituting editorial independence for its government information agencies.

Egco said the government could not stop bloggers, whether pro or against the government, from expressing themselves, but they should use other communications platforms, which are not the government’s.

Initially, Egco said the PCOO has formed an eight-man editorial advisory board to guide the state-owned Philippine News Agency (PNA) in the dissemination of news that involve various government agencies.

One of the members of the eight-man advisory board said this is intended to prevent the likes of blogger and PCOO Assistant Mocha Uson from using the PNA as their platform for their blogs earlier criticized for containing fake details.

“Those bloggers use to have their say to press editors to carry their blogs on PNA wires. They throw their weight around, drop names of the higher ups to have been published, and callously order editors them on what to do with their copies,” the source said.

“This should never happen again as the advisory board sets up editorial policies,” the source said.

Egco did not deny what the source had said but added that a draft department order has been prepared to put an editorial structure for the PNA and ensure its editorial independence from outside parties, including bloggers.

Egco said pro-government bloggers could use social media as their platforms and the PCOO would not intervene.

Egco earlier said in the public hearing of the Senate committee on public information and mass media last Thursday that the websites that publish fakes news carrying the President’s name could adversely affect the government because the public could perceive these websites as part of the state information machinery.*