JOURNALISTS TOLD TO GO THE FAIR. From the note in Cebuano-Bisaya posted Wednesday, March 16, by Superbalita news editor Roger Vallena on his Facebook wall, check this out:
“Kaming mga journalist, labina kadtong naa sa field, magpadayon sa pangalagad nga patas, gaayag unsay matuod, di magbalita og fake news...”
And note the translation, most probably by Google, not by Roger who eats the native language for breakfast and lunch, his heavy meals:
“We journalists, labina kadtong in the field, let’s go to the fair, (tell) what is the truth, don’t tell the fake news...”
I suppose the translator thinks the fair is where journalists can be fair and truthful and not report fake news. But then, there may be no fair open in this season of shutdown of entertainment centers, fairs and circuses among them.
The message still comes through, despite the hilarity in the translation. For Roger’s: “...Di na mga estorya estorya lang, mugna sa imaginasyon, og hinangdan sa kisame,” this Google translation: “No longer estorya estorya only, mugna in imagination and ready for the ceiling.”
Roger said stories from journalists of legitimate news organizations don’t tell “estorya-estorya only” whipped up and written down after staring in deep thought at the ceiling. When news reporters start thinking they’re ready to climb up the ceiling, that’s time they stop doing journalism and do something else, say, peddle hand sanitizers or toilet paper.
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Who is ‘Kevinn’?
‘UNSA NI KATINUOD.’ Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia Wednesday (March 18) blasted during a press-con at users of Facebook and other social media who peddle false stories and rumors.
She mentioned one “Kevinn” more than once for being particularly venal in his/her chat group remarks. Governor Gwen fumed over one specific “lie,” that there are 10 Covid-19 corpses at a Cosmopolitan funeral parlor in Cebu City, supposedly victims of the coronavirus, a “fact” that is allegedly being hidden by the authorities.
Guv Gwen promised to ferret out Kevinn from the swamps or wherever “trolls” prowl and prey on the easy believers who readily “likes” titillating trivia or “shares” it with others already packaged as news.
The naïve and ignorant the governor didn’t spare, capping dismay with “mga bright man unta ning mga Cebuano.” Some are bright enough to preface their false posts with “Unsa ni katinuood?” as if they didn’t know and merely wanted to know.
That strategy of disinformation deviously lays down a false intent: Supposedly verifying but already accepts its truth and merely wants the shade of it: slightly true, mostly true or very true. And sometimes the peddler knows it is not true but feigns he or she wants to confirm it nonetheless. Some columnists resort to the “Just asking” syndrome, which is “legitimate” media’s equivalent of “Unsa ka tinuod ni?”
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‘Don’t read Facebook’
Health Regional Director Dr. Jaime Barnadas in the same Capitol press-con debunked the “Cosmo corpses” story, repeating that the first suspected Covid case in Cebu was still to be confirmed by Manila lab test. (Wednesday afternoon, Cebu recorded its first Wuhan virus case: A patient (188) admitted at Chong Hua Hospital in Mandaue City. Not known was how he got it and his condition.)
Bernadas went to the point of advising people not to read Facebook, a more drastic backlash than Guv Gwen’s advice to get their information from the Capitol website, the “legitimate” news media outlets, and the DOJ information office. The DOH chief notes the presence of pseudo purveyors in FB: People who pretend to be reporters or doctors and even some “nga magpaka-gobernador.”
The problem apparently is (1) learning and accepting that a dubious source cannot be trusted and (2) resisting the urge to share the dubious material at once with one’s friends or even the rest of the world.
Facebook carries, or leads to, some reliable materials. The tough part is segregating the worthy from the trash. Many social media users either fail to recognize information whose idea may be nurtured and shared with others and falsehood which may be killed on sight and buried six feet under.
Guv Gwen lashes at the worst kind of social media users: the kind that knows the material is false and yet circulates it, feigning ignorance and interest to know.