By Jeffrey Damicog
Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Marvic Leonen on Saturday, May 2, told the public to be more discerning before believing any posts on social media.
“The number of persons who retweet or repost or like, those do not make the post true,” he stressed during an online forum conducted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP).
At the moment, the magistrate lamented that many people still believe in many fake news posted in social media. “But sadly many are more convinced about the reckless posts that are made on social media and act on that basis,” he said
“I think one of the things that the virus has taught us, it is important to trust science, to trust validation,” Leonen pointed out. With this, the magistrate makes “a distinction between posts in social media and posts made by journalists.”
“I think journalism contains many of the ethics that are not there when someone posts perceived facts and opinion,” he explained. “Journalists will always have ethics of facts. Journalists will always have the ethics of validation. Journalists will always have the ethics of accountability, not only to themselves, but more so to their institution,” Leonen added.
Because of this, Leonen pointed out that “as differentiated from other persons that post on social media, the information that you provide are often sought as a result of balance, validation, accountability and collectivity between your set group.”