IN our editorial of September 16, we expressed our deep concern over the potential harm that “fake news” could cause our elections next year and called for greater vigilance and proactive measures on the part of election authorities, the media and the public to combat it. New revelations in the chaotic US presidential campaign, however, have revealed a disturbing new aspect of the issue and strongly suggest that fact-checking false statements and news stories may not be enough. In a televised CNN interview on Sunday, September 15, vice-presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, the running mate of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, admitted the story that Haitian immigrants in the town of Springfield, Ohio, “might not be true.” Vance first raised the story to national public consciousness shortly before the debate between Trump and Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, during which Trump infamously repeated the tale. What was most alarming — frightening is probably a better word — about Vance’s comments to CNN was that even though he tacitly admitted that he knew the story was a lie, he said, “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.” Vance then encouraged his followers “to keep posting cat memes” on social media. For the record, the allegations about the Haitian immigrants in Springfield — approximately 15,000 have settled there under a federal immigration program — were thoroughly debunked immediately after they were shared publicly by Vance, with the town’s police department, mayor and even the governor of the state of Ohio confirming there had been no such incidents. The original source of the rumor, according to an investigative report by the New Republic, was a neo-Nazi group in the Springfield area, whose leader began spreading the false story online in July. On a historical note, the “immigrants eating pets” fable is an example of what is known as “blood libel,” a common, centuries-old form of persecution of immigrants and other “outsiders” in many societies. In the US, the earliest examples of the false story are from the mid-19th century, when there was a large influx of Irish, Italian, German and other European immigrants into the country.
Creating ‘outrage cycles’ The truly alarming problem revealed by Vance’s comments in the CNN interview is that in the current election campaign in the US, some candidates and their supporters are intentionally sharing stories they know are lies, and what’s more, they know that their opponents and the public know that the stories are lies. The purveyors of this kind of “fake news” have no concern about being challenged with the truth because the objective is simply to create a series of “outrage cycles,” in which the news media and the public are focused on the ludicrous stories rather than more substantive issues, where the populist candidates would be at a disadvantage. Could the same thing happen here? With the population of online trolls and candidates with questionable scruples that we have in the Philippines, it absolutely can and will. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) and dozens of the nation’s media outlets have pledged to proactively combat fake news, but when the objective of some political players is to spread fake news and flood the public conservation with nonsense, fact-checking is not enough. There must be punitive consequences for those who spread harmful fake news of this nature. How that might be accomplished is admittedly uncertain; it does not seem a directive from Comelec would be sufficient in this case. We would recommend that Congress, which is always too eager to “investigate in aid of legislation,” take up this issue. After all, for those who will be up for reelection next year, it is in their best interest to prevent fake news from being spread, lest their own campaigns fall victim to it.
Likewise, whether or not any government body takes stronger action against fake news, the media as a whole must be discerning in what they report and not fall into the “outrage cycle” trap. Admittedly, it runs counter to our nature to not report every statement candidates make in the hope of attracting media coverage, but that may actually be the proper response in some instances.