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CBCP guide lists websites peddling fake news[/size][/b]

A guide issued by the CBCP tags at least 29 websites for 'carrying fake or unverified contents'[/b]

Paterno Esmaquel II
June 24 2017


BISHOPS' GUIDELINES. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, led by Archbishop Socrates Vilegas (in photo), issues pastoral guidelines on the use of social media. File photo of Villegas by Angie de Silva/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – Beware of these websites.

Months before issuing a pastoral letter against fake news on Wednesday, June 21, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) published its Pastoral Guidelines on the Use of Social Media. It comes with an appendix on websites "carrying fake or unverified contents."

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Of these websites, 5 links – Guard1an, Kalye Pinoy, Trending Balita, Trending News Portal, and TrendTitan – are either dead or under construction.

One website, OKD2, when visited, morphs into the website "Pinoy Pride" under the URL thephpride.blogspot.com.

Meanwhile, the website FilipiNews PH is not in the URL www.filipinewsph.com, as stated in the CBCP guidelines, but in the URL www.filipinewsph.net.

This reflects the characteristic of fake news websites, which can morph as needed or move to other URLs, depending on whether they have been tagged or blocked as sources of fake news.

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Beyond the CBCP's partial list, more fake news sites abound as opposing political camps in the Philippines spread their own propaganda.

In fact, a number of officials and agencies of the Duterte administration, such as Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson, have also been accused of spreading fake news. Uson and many pro-Duterte bloggers have also discredited legitimate journalists as "presstitutes." (READ: Inside Martin Andanar's man cave; posted below)

Cracking down on fake news sites, the CBCP said in an unprecedented pastoral letter on Wednesday that it is a sin to spread fake news.

The CBCP said the Catholic faith obliges Catholics "to refrain from patronizing, popularizing, and supporting identified sources of 'alternative facts' or 'fake news.'"

Referring to fake news, Villegas pointed out on Wednesday: "Not only does this offend against the orientation of the human intellect to the truth. It is, more fundamentally, a sin against charity because it hinders persons from making right and sound decisions and induces them, instead, to make faulty ones!"

http://www.rappler.com/

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As of the afternoon of Thursday, January 26, the episode had garnered over 774,000 views and shared over 13,000 times. The numbers are quite impressive for a first episode that ran for over 50 minutes and featured interviews with two bloggers who are avid supporters of Duterte – Sass Rogando Sasot and Rey Joseph (RJ) Nieto, who, until only a few weeks ago, was known as the anonymous “Thinking Pinoy.” Andanar ended that episode with a short interview with National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr.

Early on, after Duterte won as president, the first thing that Andanar asked the Malacañang Press Corps (MPC) officers was if bloggers like "Thinking Pinoy" could be accredited as members of the press corps. Clear about the distinction between the role of the press and that of pro-Duterte bloggers, the officers said no.

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Platform of legitimacy

Through his resurrected Martin’s Mancave – with “Lifecast” attached to the brand to give the podcast a new name on Facebook – the Cabinet secretary provides the two bloggers with a platform and grants them legitimacy, both as attack dogs out to intimidate journalists and as sources of alarmist information.

This shrewd artificial online boost spread like wild fire the message about the supposed plot to oust Duterte. It rattled the social media sphere of Duterte followers and generated a lot of anger about the supposed grand conspiracy.

Andanar justified his decision to discuss #LeniLeaks in his podcast, saying that the administration does not welcome any destabilization attempts and is against methods to advance such destabilization interests “kung totoo man (if they are true).”

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Nieto, on the other hand, also recently repeatedly cursed from Singapore the MPC for their statement calling out Andanar.

The MPC – accredited journalists assigned to cover the Palace – said in their statement that they were “disturbed by the propensity of the officials of this administration to blame the media whenever the inflammatory statements of the President stir controversy or draw flak.” Andanar had accused the MPC of “misreporting” Duterte’s statements on martial law.

Not content with his curses, Nieto flashed the dirty finger repeatedly during his 13-minute rant. “Nasaan ang Malacañang Press Corps? Nakatambay kayo sa hotel o nagsa-shopping kayo sa Orchard Road…. Puro kayo inutil, mga putang ina ’nyo. ’Wag kayo umarte na kay-iinam. Wala naman kayong ginawa sa Singapore kundi mamasyal. O, ’yan ba loyal sa Filipino people?”

(Where’s the Malacañang Press Corps? Standing by the hotel or shopping on Orchard Road…. You’re all useless, sons of bitches. Don’t act as if you’re all good. You didn’t do anything in Singapore but to shop. Is that what you call loyal to the Filipino people?)


REY JOSEPH NIETO. The face behind Thinking Pinoy. Screenshot of his Facebook Live video.

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Boosts and failure

During his podcast, Andanar built up Sasot and Nieto, then known as the anonymous Thinking Pinoy, and referred to them as “internet superstar bloggers.”

Donning headphones and doing the interviews, Andanar made it easy for viewers on Facebook to forget he is an official of the Palace and no longer a broadcaster.

Instead of using government resources at his disposal to establish the veracity of #LeniLeaks through solid intelligence information from other agencies of government, Andanar chose the two partisan bloggers as his sources.

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Perhaps because it was a weekend or because not enough traction was created, the number of posts dropped not long after.

The next attempt to sustain interest came the following day on January 8, a Sunday, via a second episode of the podcast, leading up to the January 9 Cabinet meeting, where Andanar said the #LeniLeaks issue would be brought up.


 
The second episode, however, got much lesser viewership. As of afternoon of January 26, it had 98,000 views and over 1,100 shares. The numbers were much lower compared to the over 774,000 views and over 13,000 shares of the first episode.

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Propaganda

In his January 24 Facebook Live interview with Duterte supporter "Maharlika" in Los Angeles, Andanar said the possibility of bloggers being accredited to cover the Palace is "very bright." The unspoken rule is that they should support the Duterte presidency and dish out only "constructive information."

In that interview, Andanar said a certain Carlos Munda, who runs the pro-Duterte MindaVote page, has already been given access by the PCO to its newsfeed. He said it's really a matter of creating a "new system" to include bloggers in the news feed of the Palace.

For Andanar, whether in Malacañang or in his man cave, the distinction between journalists and bloggers, as well as news and propaganda, are all a blur. – with Paige Occeñola and Pia Ranada/Rappler.com

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