News organizations should explore and make their presence felt in new and emerging social media platforms such as TikTok to help flag fake news.

Aileen Perez, GMA Public Affairs social media head, said journalists must “learn to convey messages in new platforms” to reach a wider audience, particularly those who seldom consume content from the mainstream media.

“Dapat andun tayo [journalists], dapat alam natin ‘yung mga content na idedeliver natin dun. I think it’s not actually a battle between traditional and alternative journalists. I think it should be [that] the traditional journalists should learn how to convey their messages doon sa bagong platform,” Perez said during the 23rd Inkblots campus journalism conference on Feb. 26. 

Perez said the presence of news organizations on social media would help contain the spread of false information.

“I know there are a lot of fake news on Tiktok, but ‘yun nga [ang problema] kasi wala tayo[ng news organizations] doon e… Ang magaling ngayon sa mga troll at purveyors of fake news e marunong sila doon sa bagong platforms na wala tayo,” she said.

“It’s important for journalists to learn how to manage these platforms,” Perez added.

TikTok is a social media platform where users can post and share short-form videos ranging from 15 seconds to three minutes. It is the fourth most-used social media platform in the Philippines, with 67.9 percent of internet users (51.61 million of 76.01 million users) using it monthly, according to the 2022 Digital Report.

However, it is infamous for being a platform where misinformation and disinformation are spread, especially about the upcoming national elections.

The theme of the second virtual installment of Inkblots, the annual UST National Campus Journalism Fellowship, was “Press freedom and democracy: The role of the campus press in the 2022 elections.” 

Rappler’s central desk senior editor Joel Pablo Salud was the keynote speaker for the 23rd Inkblots. He talked about fact-checking and covering the elections, which he said should be “fair, balanced and, most of all, based on facts.”

Salud urged campus journalists to “band together” in the fight against fake news this election season.

“I think it’s important that campus journalists band together because they will be able to reach a lot of young people regarding issues involved. Half of the voting population is from their age group,” he said.

Perez discussed social media, fake news and the 2022 polls, while UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies fellow Asst. Prof. Joselito de los Reyes stressed the importance of campus press in shaping public opinion.

De los Reyes, in his message, said campus publications should make their presence felt and explore strategies to reach a wider audience in social media.

“May mensahe ang pagiging irrelevant at dito tayo sinasamantala,” he said.

UST journalism professor and 2020 Marshall McLuhan Award fellow Christian Esguerra talked about the media’s role as a watchdog of democracy and power. 

In his message, Esguerra stressed the importance of media independence.

“Media, as an independent monitor of power, has a social contract to the people, at ‘yun ay ang pag-alaga sa interest nila at siguraduhin na hindi sila aabusuhin ng mga taong nasa kapangyarihan. We have to be independent to be able to perform our job, our role as a monitor of power,” he said.

Rappler’s justice and anti-corruption reporter Lian Buan moderated the Inkblots roundtable discussion.

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