Correction please, Mr. President! — Media

CHEERS TO Philstar.com, Rappler, and VERA Files for fact-checking and providing context as they live-tweeted President Duterte’s last State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 26, when most of media simply carried the livestream. CMFR also cheers media organizations Inquirer.net, CNNPhilippines.com, Manila Bulletin Online, and ABS-CBN that later published and aired fact-checks on the President’s speech.

During the President’s last SONA, Philstar.com was quick to counter the President’s false claims on the ease in public transportation, road projects, and the anti-insurgency program, among others. 

Similarly, Rappler and VERA Files gave context to Duterte’s comments by referring to previous articles and fact-checks they have written; the issues include ABS-CBN’s franchise, the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill, and the Balangiga bells.

Beyond real-time fact checking, Rappler published an article on July 27 titled “Duterte takes lies offline in SONA 2021.” Vernise Tantuco pointed out how Duterte “amplified the lie with regard to the tax cases and ABS-CBN’s supposed tax evasion.”

Other online news sites joined in the effort. Some examples: 

• “Duterte touts passage of FOI bill, but his wealth report stays a secret” by CNNPhilippines.com, July 26 
• “Duterte’s last SONA: Not letting facts get in the way” by Inquirer.net, July 27 

On TV, ABS-CBN corrected Duterte’s claims on various issues by citing experts and lawmakers in TV Patrol and The World Tonight. On July 27, Mike Navallo cited Dr. Tony Leachon, Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, Sen. Ralph Recto, and other experts to correct the President’s comments on, among other issues, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippines’ arbitral victory and the suposed need to impose martial law to fight corruption. Navallo also corrected Duterte’s claims and accusations about ABS-CBN. 

On July 28, Rappler, Philstar.com, CNNPhilippines.com, Manila Bulletin Online and ABS-CBN.com caught and corrected another false statement by the president. The online sites reported Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra in a Viber group for media confirmed that immigration personnel who were involved in the “pastillas” scam were neither fired nor dismissed and were in fact reporting for duty, as investigations on their involvement are still ongoing. Duterte had claimed in the SONA that he fired them all. Inquirer’s print edition reported the same correction on July 29.

Hopefully, more journalists will engage in the practice of providing truthful and accurate information, including correcting false claims made by those in power. Real time correction is a boon that can be done with the help of Twitter. Understandably, other platforms may take longer.  Some falsehoods may also require more review and evaluation to check. But all efforts to question and to counter mis- or disinformation help to recover the essential value of news media. Journalists should do what is necessary to protect media space and time from the onslaught of lies and propaganda.