The Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) would lay down several programs aimed to combat the proliferation of fake news in the country, OPS officer-in-charge (OIC) Cheloy Garafil said on Wednesday, Oct. 12.
The statement was made after Pulse Asia’s recent Ulat ng Bayan survey showed that nine in 10 Filipino adults believe that fake news is the country’s problem.
In a press briefing, Garafil acknowledged that fake news is a “serious matter” that her office needs to address.
“Kaya ngayon, meron kaming mga programa na ili-lay down in the coming days. We’ll let you know kasi gusto rin talaga natin na ma-address itong mga problema ng fake news,” she said.
(That is why we have several programs that we will lay down in the coming days. We’ll let you know because we really want to address the problem of fake news.)
In the Pulse Asia poll that was conducted from Sept. 17 to 21, the majority of the respondents, or 86 percent believe that fake news is the country's problem. While only 14 percent believe it is not.
Many answered that fake news peddlers are mostly social media influencers and/or vloggers at 58 percent, followed by journalists at 40 percent, and national-level politicians at 37 percent.
Majority of the respondents, or 90 percent said they are exposed to fake political news.
The leading sources of fake news about government and politics are the internet or social media with 68 percent and television with 67 percent.
