A Reaction Paper on the Presentation of

Jose Ruperto Martin Marfori Andanar

(Secretary of the Presidential Communications Office of the Philippines)

The Media and Public Safety

(February 5, 2022 @ 10:00 A.M. via Google)

In partial fulfilment of the subject

CRI 210: SEMINAR IN MULTICULTURAL

ISSUES AND URBAN CRIMES

Submitted to:

DR. GERRY J. CAŇO

Professor

Submitted by:

ABRAHAM E. MORONG JR.

PhD Student

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 The Media and Public Safety

Summary Presentation

Martin Andanar was appointed Secretary for the Presidential Communications

Operations Office by President Rodrigo Duterte on June 30, 2016. The Commission on

Appointments confirmed his appointment on October 12, 2016. He spearheaded the

formulation of a National Communications Strategy that focused the rehabilitation of

existing government media and communications resources, and the development of

new platforms for communicating and engaging with the public. He was tasked with

supervising both the operations of the government's news and information agencies,

which includes the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Philippine News

Agency (PNA), People's Television Network (PTV), Philippine Broadcasting Service-

Bureau of Broadcast Services (PBS-BBS), Bureau of Communications Services (BCS),

National Printing Office (NPO), APO Production Unit, Radio Philippines Network (RPN),

and Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC).

Social media is defined by its interactivity, connectedness, and user-generated

content. In today’s society, the use of social media has become a necessary daily

activity. Social media is typically used for social interaction and access to news and

information, and decision making. It is a valuable communication tool with others locally

and worldwide, sharing, creating, and spreading information. Essentially, social media

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vastly impacts our ability to communicate, form relationships, access and spread

information, and to arrive at the best decision.

In the advent of technology, anyone can now deem themselves a “journalist” and

produce news that they feel is accurate and credible. Almost instantly we can create,

share, and spread newsworthy or gossip stories across the globe. For this reason, it

cannot be denied that disinformation and misinformation might prejudice public safety

and security. The media therefore has significant role in the dissemination of truthful

information towards public safety, especially in times of national crisis/emergencies.

Likewise, criminology professional plays vital role in the dissemination of truthful

knowledge in research, which is applied in the prevention, control and treatment of a

crime. We should ensure that all shared information to the public is transparent and free

from prejudice.

Concepts/ Ideas/ Principles/ Thoughts

1. The media in 21st century

Media are communication outlets or tools used to store and deliver

information or data. It is one of the means or channels of general communication,

information, or entertainment in society through newspapers, radio, or television. In the

21st century, traditional media evolved to social media where the creation and sharing of

information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression are done through digital

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platform. More often than not, social media is the first information we consume when we

wake up and the last information we consume before we go to sleep. People of all ages

are using social media, no matter how little they know about the online world (Facebook,

Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Pinterest)

2. The role of media in public safety

Social media is already being tapped for a variety of public safety uses for

help with emergencies. Right now emergency responders use social media to

disseminate or gather information. In the event of an emergency, public safety agencies

can notify the public via posts on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media outlets, as

such social media announcements can actually save lives.

The police and other law enforcement agencies use social media to gather

information about crimes. They scrutinize Facebook and other networking sites looking

for people who are bragging about a crime they just committed – or maybe even posting

pictures or videos of themselves in the act. Social media can also help them tap into the

collective knowledge of entire communities. Oftentimes people post pictures of large-

scale emergencies as they’re happening and emergency responders can utilize that

intelligence in handling the situation.

Therefore social media help spread information rapidly to community

members, which can be useful during public safety emergencies and natural disasters.

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It can also reduce the time it takes for first responders to get the important information

they need, such as location coordinates to help a person in danger. Social media

platforms are increasingly being used to fight crime and pursue investigations. They

offer means for police departments to share information with the public. They also

enable the police to engage and involve their communities in new and potentially

transformative way.

The media shape people's perceptions on crime, which also has a

negative effect on attitudes and behaviour. Whilst the media creates not only a fallacy of

realism, but there are also numerous ways in which the media could possibly cause

crime and deviance too, due to the enormous media coverage one perceives.

3. Concept of Traditional Media and Digital Media

Traditional media is defined as media that existed before the rise of the

internet, such as newspaper, radio or television. Digital media means any

communication media that operate with the use of any of various encoded machine-

readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified,

listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. In relation to public safety,

traditional media platform are more reliable source for information than digital media

because is not prone for misinformation or disinformation.

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4. The concept of misinformation from disinformation

Misinformation is unintentional mistakes or information that is false, but

the person who is disseminating it believes that it is true, such as inaccurate photo

captions, dates, statistics or translations. Disinformation is information that is false, and

the person who is disseminating it knows it is false. It is a deliberate, intentional lie, and

points to people being actively disinformed by malicious actors, such as fabricated or

deliberately manipulated audio/visual content. Both misinformation from disinformation

are forms of fake news.

5. The effect of misinformation and disinformation to public safety

According to PCOO Assistant Secretary JV Arcena, as criminology

practitioners, it is important to know that the information is true because false/fake

information has the potential to polarise public opinion, to promote violent or hate

speech, and ultimately to undermine democracies and reduce trust in the democratic

processes that might danger the public safety. Hence, it is imperative that the public are

trained to understand and assess information reported by all forms of media.

Any misinformation and disinformation committed that affect public safety

are indorsed to the proper law enforcement agencies concerned for appropriate

investigation and prosecution, considering that the Presidential Communications

Operations Office (PCOO) has no investigatory and prosecutorial powers.

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6. The role of Presidential Communications Office of the Philippines

The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) or formerly

known as “Office of the Press Secretary (OPS)” is in charge of disseminating the

government’s message to private media entities. It exercises supervision and control

over state-owned media entities to disseminate the official messages properly and

effectively in accordance with the communications plan. It is responsible for the

accreditation and authentication of the credentials of foreign media correspondents in

line with its primary task to cultivate relations and assist private media entities. The

PCOO head holds a cabinet rank. He/she is assisted by an undersecretary for

administration and finance, an undersecretary for operations, a chief of staff, an

assistant secretary for legislative affairs, and an electronic data processing division

chief.

7. The role of Presidential Communications Office of the Philippines in the

National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC)

The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) of the Philippines is

a member of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-

ELCAC). The office is the head of Social Media Affairs, Sectoral concerns represented

by Undersecretary of New Media and External Affairs, Atty. Lorraine Marie Badoy. The

Office helps to disseminate the different programs, projects, activities and services of

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 the various government agencies, including community support programs on

countering violent extremism.

8. The contributory role of criminology practitioner in the mass media

Criminology practitioner plays vital role in the dissemination of truthful

knowledge in research, which is applied in the prevention, control and treatment of a

crime. They should ensure that all shared information to the public is transparent and

free from prejudice.

9. The biases of Philippine mass media

According to PCOO Assistant Secretary JV Arcena, in telling us what is

happening around the world, the media serve as a messenger. Giving biased news or

wrong information could create, among our people and in the international community,

negative perceptions about our own country. Media should not be one-sided, however

there are instances wherein the public can sense bias/prejudice in their coverage and

reporting. This bias is due to the fact that some media company network is owned by

oligarch who sought to protect and advance their private/personal interests. For this

reason, it is imperative to evaluate the background or source of information to do away

with misinformation or disinformation.

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10. Related media law and regulation in the Philippines

There is no general law that applies to the media sector as a whole.

Nevertheless, the laws and regulations in place typically focus on regulating access to

content, such as age-gating with respect to movies, age advisories in relation to

television shows, and ownership restrictions and consumer protection. In addition, the

media sector is affected by legislation on press freedom, intellectual property, privacy,

criminal law and the general civil law. Various government agencies handle content

regulation, such as the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, the

Optical Media Board and the National Council for Children’s Television.

Only Philippine nationals or corporations, partnerships or associations

wholly owned by Philippine nationals may engage in broadcasting. There are no

regulations in relation to the cross-ownership of media. However, an entity cannot

engage in both telecommunications and broadcasting under a single franchise. A

broadcasting company would need to be a corporation established in the Philippines

with a franchise granted by the Philippine Congress. This franchise is in the form of law

and therefore its grant goes through the same process as other types of statutes. The

term of a Congressional franchise is 25 years and is renewable upon application. An

enfranchised broadcasting company would have to also obtain certain principal licences

from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). These are: (a) Certificate of

public convenience and necessity (CPCN). The application process is of a judicial

nature, where an applicant files a petition for the CPCN issuance, and must prove its

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legal, technical and financial capability, as well as the feasibility of offering the

contemplated service; (b) Provisional authority (PA). The PA is an authority to operate

issued to a CPCN applicant once it successfully proves that it has the financial and

technical capacity to deliver its services to the public. The PA is issued pending the full

assessment of the application for, and issuance of, the CPCN. The holder of a PA can

already operate the service even if the CPCN petition is still pending. A PA’s term is 18

months and is renewable upon application; and (c) Frequency allocation. This is

typically applied for and allocated after the issuance of the PA or CPCN. An application

is made using the NTC-prescribed form, supported by technical specifications of the

broadcast network and of the equipment to be used.

Further, there are no general regulations expressly governing new media

content, except for special laws against content-related offences online under the

Cybercrime Prevention Act and the Anti-Child Pornography Act (Republic Act No.

9775). Thus, the general media laws apply to the new media operator based in the

Philippines and providing service herein.

Conclusion

In the advent of technology, anyone can now deem themselves a

“journalist” and produce news that they feel is accurate and credible. Almost instantly

we can create, share, and spread newsworthy or gossip stories across the globe. The

power of social media has allowed our society to be much more knowledgeable of

worldwide affairs and news. The possibilities are seemingly endless for social media. It

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is uncommon for people to go a day without using or referring to social media. Whether

it is used for communicating, learning, or decision making, social media is here to stay

and will continue to affect our society.

It can’t be argued that public safety is everybody’s responsibility. However,

the media has significant role in public safety especially in times of national

crisis/emergencies, by disseminating reliable and truthful information. Thus,

disinformation and misinformation might prejudice public safety and security. As such,

to protect and maintain public safety, it is important to know the sources of media

information to prevent or so as not to be a victim of disinformation and misinformation.

Moreover, the government should strengthen its policies in handling

misinformation and disinformation that prejudice public safety and security.

Recommendation:

1. As educator, it is vital for schools to provide students with a solid education on

media and information literacy as part of the curriculum and by engaging with civil

society and other stakeholders to raise awareness about fake news. Many parents

do not have sufficient technical competence to keep up with their children’s online

activities, or educate them about the risks they might be facing. Schools, therefore,

have a duty to provide young people with the critical and information skills which

they cannot access at home.

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2. The State should take measures to promote media and digital literacy by

incorporating these topics as part of the regular curriculum of secondary and

tertiary education considering that the young are vulnerable to propaganda,

misinformation and fake news by spending significant amount of their time

watching television, playing online games, chatting, blogging, listening to music,

posting photos of themselves and searching for other people with whom to

communicate online.

3. Provide training for teachers and other significant people on media and information

literacy particularly on the strategies of handling propaganda, misinformation and

fake news.

4. Strengthening the ethical standards and values of all media practitioners against

fake news and news biases.

5. Review and enhance all government policies relative to traditional media and

digital media vis-à-vis addressing misinformation and disinformation.

References:

1. Jose Ruperto Martin Marfori Andanar @

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Andanar/ Retrieved February 5, 2022

2. Reliance on Social Media in Today’s Society @

https://www.insegment.com/blog/reliance-on-social-media-in-todays-society/

Retrieved February 5, 2022

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3. https://www.kovacorp.com/social-media-public-safety/Retrieved February 5, 2022

4. https://www.coe.int/en/web/campaign-free-to-speak-safe-to-learn/dealing-with-

propaganda-misinformation-and-fake-news/ Retrieved February 5, 2022

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Communications_Group#:~:text=The%20

Presidential%20Communications%20Operations%20Office%20(PCOO)%20is%20

in%20charge%20of,message%20to%20private%20media%20entities.&text=The%

20PCOO%20is%20composed%20of,Philippines%20News%20Agency/ Retrieved

February 5, 2022

6. https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=2c8a14b6-742a-40f7-b587-

1aef8c77c420/Retrieved February 5, 2022

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