Senate committee hearing to tackle fake news

Sen. Grace Poe (File photo from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media on Tuesday will tackle remedies to combat fake news and the accountability of the government on spreading disinformation, among others, Sen. Grace Poe said on Sunday.

“The hearing on fake news will focus mainly on remedies as proposed by our resource persons,” Poe said in a statement.

In line with this, the senator said her committee would tackle three issues:

• the effect of fake news in shaping public opinion
• the responsibility of bloggers and journalists in spreading misinformation
• and the accountability of government for the use or misuse of resources in spreading disinformation

“Since most of our resource persons are either media practitioners or from the academe, I look forward to an intelligent and meaningful discussion that will result in solutions rather than focus on conflict,” Poe said.

Earlier, the senator said 17 resource speakers, including Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson, had confirmed their attendance at the inquiry.

The other confirmed guests as of Dec. 8:

• Tony La Viña, former dean of the Ateneo School of Government
• Maria Regina “Ging‘ Reyes, head of the ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs Division (NCAD)
• lawyer Caesar Poblador, head of Legal Services of ABS-CBN
• Chi Almario-Gonzalez, head of the ABS-CBN News Gathering Group
• Rowena Paraan, head of Bayan Mo iPatrol Mo, the citizen journalism arm of ABS-CBN
• Howie Severino, broadcast journalist with GMA
• Ed Lingao, broadcast journalist with TV5
• John Nery, columnist and associate editor of Philippine Daily Inquirer
• Maria Ressa, chief executive officer of Rappler
• Vince Lazatin, executive director of the Transparency and Accountability Network
• Ellen Tordesillas, journalist-blogger of Vera Files
• lawyer Gilbert Andres of the Center for International Law (CenterLaw)
• Jane Uymatiao, blogger and resource person on social media
• Inday Espina-Varona, contributing editor and writer at ABS-CBN Integrated News and Current Affairs
• Jover Laurio, law student and blogger behind “Pinoy Ako Blog”
• Noemi Lardizabal-Dado, blogger and editor at Blog Watch, a citizen media site, also known as @momblogger on Twitter

/atm