Rappler, a social
news network, made huge waves during their Move.PH Chat Series at the
University of San Jose - Recoletos, Center for Performing Arts last November
21, 2012.
Third year AB Mass Communication,
AB Liberal Arts in Commerce: Major in Marketing and Communication (LIACOM), and
AB English Seminar classes of the Department of Communication, Languages, and
Literature under the College of Arts and Sciences, co-sponsored the seminar
entitled “Social Media for Social Change: Pag-ugmad sa Kaalam sa Responsableng
Paggamit sa Internet (Developing Responsible Use for the Internet).”
“Rappler and many
other domains are using the internet to promote social change and we can only
pursue change, if we’ll always be responsible users of this platform,” Reverend
Father Emmanuel Bolilia, OAR, the university’s vice president for academics said
as he welcomed the assembly.
Former ABS-CBN Senior
Vice President for News and Current Affairs and Rappler’s CEO and Executive
Editor, Maria Ressa gave the keynote speech on how social media can be used to
evoke social changes.
“You are so young and you have so much power right now
because of social media,” Maria Ressa greeted the 597 participants composed of
Josenians, Media practitioners, and other representatives from Cebu Normal
University, University of San Carlos, Southwestern University, Velez College,
University of the Philippines - Cebu, and Silliman University - Dumaguete.
Ressa stressed on how social media allows
Science to meet with religion and its capability of making us ‘look into things
in God’s eye view’ giving us a different perspective.
She believed that
social media being such a powerful tool in information drive can predict world
events just like how twitter was able to forecast Philip Philip’s victory over
the highly-contested Filipino-American, Jessica Sanchez during the 11th
Season of the American Idol. She also explained why people get hooked for
long hours in the internet.
Emotions are
amplified because of two chemicals, dopamine and oxytocin, in the body that
increase every time a person’s status, photo, or post is liked, giving the user
satisfaction.
“We will be
irrelevant in the future if we don’t adapt,” she answered King Anthony Perez, a
Mass Communication student from the University of the Philippines - Cebu, who
asked her about her shift from the conventional media into the new multimedia
reporting. Despite being in the
broadcasting industry for more than 20 years, Ressa admitted that objectivity
is just a myth and not her ultimate goal in reporting. Giving content,
letting people feel the story and making them realize why they should care
about such news, are her goals.
The next speakers
Ike Durano, DYRL’s Public Affairs announcer, and Mr. Ruben Licera, Jr., Cebu
Bloggers Society’s (CBS) president, shared why they are a hundred percent against
some of the provisions of the Anti-Cybercrime Law. “Our laws are a bit dilapidated,” Durano said calling for the
necessity of enacting laws that are supposed to address pressing needs of the
times. He added that we have ‘congressmen and senators who enact
legislations for personal reasons, rather than for the good of the nation.’
He also discussed on how void Republic Act No. 10175 is due to the vagueness rule, the
issue on due process, and over breadth doctrine of its penalties. Licera
took pride when the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order due to
CBS’ formal complaint against the law. Licera,
however, admitted that the law should be amended not junked. He
suggested that the SC should provide a forum and tap professionals to check on
the law.
Chay
Hofileña, Rappler’s Citizen Journalism or Community
Engagement director refreshed on the Ethics of Journalism. “Be social media smart,” Hofileña reminded everyone to keep
language civil and respectful when posting and to avoid feeding trolls.There are a lot of things to discover online, but we need to
‘disconnect to connect’, Hofileña said because people tend to be so tied up in the virtual world.
The only bisaya among the Rappler team, Ayee Macaraig,
discussed the challenges faced by a multimedia reporter. Being ANC’s former writer and executive producer, Macaraig
talked on the differences between being a conventional news reporter from being
a multimedia reporter. “It’s a lonely job,” Macaraig attested how a multimedia
reporter does more with being less but it didn’t stop her from covering events.
During a coverage, Macaraig has to set up the equipment, interview,
take shots, and edit the raw files. Being a multimedia reporter entails one to be a
one-superman team to combat the deadlines which are on steroids. Facebook’s wide
reach mobilizes social causes.
The sixth speaker tackled on using social media to
push an advocacy. Michael Josh Villanueva, Rappler’s Special Projects Head,
gave ways on how to effectively use Facebook in pushing for a social cause. An advocacy’s FB Page should not only be attractive, but
should also be substantial. For advocates to fully further their social thrust, doing
it online is an effective way as much as doing something offline. That goes back to what Chay Hofileña meant with ‘disconnect to
connect’.
Patricia Evangelista, London-based
annual International Public Speaking Champion and Rappler’s narrative
multimedia reporter, was the last speaker and played some of her documentaries
on Andi Eigenman’s pregnancy and the ruthless Maguindanao Massacre.
Teenage pregnancies aren’t new today
same as with the Maguindanao Massacre, which happened three years ago, but why
does Patricia continue to tell stories about these two? “I can’t forget…I hope I never
will…and in the hopes that it wouldn’t happen again,” these are the reasons why
she tells these stories.
Effective journalists get people to
listen to their stories but if people don’t listen, ‘they are not moved by your
story or you, yourself aren’t moved by your story,’ she added.
Selected students were formed into
groups and chose a social cause that they want to advocate online. Cyber
bullying, discrimination, education, and the rising case of street children
were some of the concerns that were given attention.
For the published article, please click on this link:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3662510376420&set=a.2096297862086.86732.1684542202&type=3&theater
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