N.B. – I may not have the time to discuss this point in detail at a public lecture today (February 28), 2 p.m. at PUP Sta. Mesa so I should write it here.

The solution to the prevalence of “fake news” is not legislation but self-regulation and media education.

As early as June 2017, the opposition to Senate Bill No. (SBN) 1492 (Villanueva) and House Bill No. (HBN) 6022 (Villafuerte) was mainly due to (1) their weak defintion of “fake news” which consequently cast a net so wide that it stifles freedom of the press and of expression; and (2) their goal to penalize the people themselves, very much unlike Germany’s Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz which, problematic as it is based on the opposition of media groups and other concerned organizations based in that country, only targets the owners of the social media platforms.

This explains why the recently-filed SBN 1680 (Poe) should also be opposed, even if it penalizes not the people in general but only the public officials and employees for the spread of “fake news” by amending Sections 4-B and 7 of Republic Act No. 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees). While we may be tempted to see “fake news” peddlers in power to be penalized, please remember that government employees like information officers are also covered by this bill.

So if a writer from a government media agency is asked, for example, to re-angle a story, he or she could be penalized if doing so turns out to be “false news or information that [erodes] the reliability, accuracy and truthfulness accorded by the public to the government” (SBN 1680, Sec. 1). If you would notice, the words erosion, reliability, accuracy and truth are so broad that any person could claim being a victim of “fake news” as a result.

While there is no debate that public officials and employees who are engaged in public information are expected to have higher standards in the performance of their jobs, it cannot be done through legislation.

In the case of government, the path toward self-regulation and media education may be done by ensuring (1) editorial independence as promised by President Duterte at least for the People’s Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) in his 2016 State of the Nation Address (SONA); and (2) adequate budget for media training so that information officers would know not just the skills but also the knowledge regarding the normative standards and ethics of public information and journalism.