Follow audience on platforms like TikTok, journalists urge colleagues

MANILA, Philippines – Media should follow their audience on popular platforms like TikTok, journalists urged their colleagues on World Press Freedom Day.

In a forum at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Mass Communication Auditorium on Wednesday, May 3, a panel of journalists said it is crucial to produce compelling content on social media platforms, as news consumers change their behavior.

“News must follow the audience. News must go where the people are. News must create the different ways of keeping it more interesting because it is relevant,” said Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) executive director Melinda Quintos de Jesus.

“You have to touch base with your audience. You have to know about them. You have to connect with them. You have to make them part of the news and draw them in just as they were seduced by social media providers,” she added.

ABS-CBN News chief of reporters Jeff Canoy shared that he was initially reluctant about using social media in news reporting because it was unconventional. He, however, recognized the power of the platform to reach a wider audience.

“Like many other journalists of my generation, it’s (social media) not for me. I grew up with newspapers, with TV and radio. So, I will say it’s not really for me and then I am now on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook,” Canoy said. 

“Now that I’m trying to use this landscape, I sort of regret saying three years ago that that this is not for me. Because it’s up to us to safeguard social media against fake news, misinformation, disinformation, but the journalists weren’t there. That’s what is sad – we sort of allow this to fester,” he added. 

Based on a study by NewsGuard, a US-based site helmed by journalists that track online misinformation, found about 20% of search results delivered by TikTok contain misinformation. 

Freelance journalist and former Rappler reporter Rambo Talabong, for his part, emphasized the value of language to engage the audience.

“Napakahalaga ng wika kasi kung mayroon kayong parehong pananalita, sinasabi bahagi kayo ng parehong village, parehong lugar. Alam ‘nyo parang, ‘Ah galing siya sa parehong konteksto sa akin,'” he said.

(Language is very important because if you speak the same language, you are considered part of the same village, the same place. You know, it’s like, ‘Oh, he comes from the same context as me.’)

While Talabong recognized the relevance of using TikTok and producing engaging content to inform the public, he said it is not enough as he highlighted the attacks against the press. 

“Rights are not guaranteed. Sabihin man natin na may karapatan tayo, karapat-dapat na mayroon tayo na karapatan na pumunta at magreport nang malaya pero wala tayo nito,” Talabong said. 

(Rights are not guaranteed. We may argue that we have rights, we should have the right to go and report freely but we do not have these rights.)

Attacks against journalists under Marcos Jr. administration

During the forum organized by the UP College of Mass Communication and Freedom for Media, Freedom for All Network, De Jesus presented a report on the attacks against media workers since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed power last year. 

Based on the compiled report of CMFR and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, there were 75 attacks and threats against media workers from June 30, 2022, to April 30, 2023.

Within this short period, two journalists were killed: radio broadcaster Rey Blanco who was stabbed to death in Negros Oriental, and Percival Mabasa, better known as Percy Lapid, who was shot dead in Las Piñas City.  

Among the alleged perpetrators of the attacks against media workers, 41 were state agents – 23 from the national government, 12 from the police, and six from the local government. 

“How dangerous can the world become for people doing this job? How much more killings? How much more danger and peril?” De Jesus asked. – Rappler.com