New Information Highway to Counter Fake News

In pursuit of its mandate to deliver accurate, relevant and timely information, the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) is gearing up to build an “information highway” where only facts would get moving.

PIA Director General Harold Clavite, here for the opening ceremony of the BIMP-EAGA Expo, said on Monday the project is an infrastructure through which “correct information is delivered to the public,” enabling ordinary citizens at the grassroots communities to “make good decisions.”

Chief of the five components of the information highway is a government information center (GIC) in every province that would provide information support to the public, he said.

“This is the information infrastructure that we want to build in the provinces,” Clavite told business executives and diplomats gathered at the inaugural of the BIMP-EAGA Expo. BIMP-EAGA stands for Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippine East Asian Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), a subgroup of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). To boost the operation of GICs, Clavite said the PIA, in partnership with other government offices, will establish a network of information volunteers expected “to counter fake news, misinformation, and disinformation.“

“Unfortunately, we are in an era where a lot of people would craft and fabricate information basically for their own purpose,” he said.

Echoing the long-held observation that some media practitioners are paid to concoct false or erroneous information as a means of livelihood, Clavite said the fake news has become so commonplace on various media platforms.

Clavite said plans are afoot to establish a stronghold of information network at the grassroots level by enlisting barangay information officers in a joint effort with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and local government units.

“The DILG already issued a memorandum circular asking the barangays to designate barangay public information officers,” he said.

In the long run, the general public would then be weaved together to become responsible in handling public information through the rollout of a module on media and information literacy for communities in the Asean, he added.

“We work with the government of Singapore in developing the module with the platform and the plan to be implemented in all 10 Asean member-states,” he said.

In line with media and information literacy, Clavite said the PIA is working to educate the public on the importance of responsible sharing of information.

“You own your cell phone. You own your social media accounts but very few of us are realizing that owning a cellphone, owning the data, we have the responsibility for the information that we send out,” he said. (PIA-XI)