Informing the citizens—the very essence of a journalist in these trying times. For a country to be strong and independent, freedom is one of the key aspects. There will be no democracy without well-informed citizens and informing a citizen is a journalist’s role in the society. For the past six years, media and journalism have been tainted badly and have been abused wickedly. Within these years, it is inarguable that misinformation severely affected the majority of our citizens, especially those who do not have access to education and immediate information resources. A revised version of the history, credit grabbed projects, wrongly accused people, character assassinations, red-tagging—all of these are just some of the unjust acts we have experienced as a nation. Our perception of reality, especially the youth and the marginalized, has been corrupted. It was as if some of us had worn filtered lenses during these times. But today, where people are starting to take a stand with the truth, more and more Filipinos have woken up from their slumber, and the majority of these are from the youth.
With the election just around the corner, a lot of people are starting to get involved in politics—which is not a bad thing at all. But what seems to be an eyebrow-raising moment is that some people are still falling for the propaganda of traditional politicians and political dynasties. Although it is really frustrating and heart-wrenching to see your fellow Filipino vote for these kinds of politicians, you really cannot blame them as they are just also a victim of misinformation and years of well-funded history revisionism. But pity cannot really save these people and our country—this corruption of our state and people needs to stop, and the upcoming election would be our one-time ticket to wipe out from position all the traditional politicians or trapos that are milking our taxes and resources. Now that the election is just one month away, every day feels like a war—a war against fake news and fake news peddlers. With the pandemic, giving us more time to think about different things other than our fast-paced life before, a great number of citizens have changed perspectives towards politics since last year. More young people have started and are starting to take interest in our history and politics. A big part of this movement wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for the non-profit online news organization and fact-checker in the Philippines—Vera files, founded by veteran Filipino jo
urnalists in March 2008, who censors false information on Facebook and the Facebook itself—since this is the most accessible platform to everyone from all ages. Mind you, these socially and politically aware youth are not just internet warriors but they are a real number manifesting specifically in Leni Robredo’s, an opposition candidate who has no record of corruption and possesses good qualities of a servant, campaign rally which means they are choosing to be on the right side of the history—same words Taylor Swift, a well-known American singer-songwriter, made and chose during their country’s battle for democracy and rights. In Swifts’ documentary “Miss Americana”, she encouraged her supporters, especially the young ones to be involved and aware of politics and it seems that some of her supporters are bringing the same energy in this battle of ours. During these times, we can see a lot of our local celebrities making their stand to stand with the right, regardless of the public backlash against them. Fearless journalists stand firm with the truth to deliver unfiltered new
scasts.
Filipino people have endured and suffered for a long time with their rights being suppressed and them being oppressed that young people are marching in front of the line and initiating volunteering activities. This era and events have really produced brave Filipino youth—a generation of politically aware and accountable men and women that might start a new period of our race with unlearned generational toxic behavior. Supporting a specific candidate that we think poss
esses the qualities of a servant leader that our nation needs is not, in any form, wrong. What taints support into being illogical is confusing it with “worship”. The people we elect have a job to do and that is to serve us, people, not the other way around. Let us always remember to stay vigilant and critical. If the person we’ve supported at first made an unethical or dishonest act the moment they took a seat, let us not turn a blind eye and keep the same energy of calling out wrongdoings against our rights. For a country to be strong and independent, freedom is one of the key aspects. There will be no democracy without well-informed citizens and informing a citizen is a journalist’s role in the society.
We, student journalists, must always choose to be on the right side of history.
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