Social media played a key role in catapulting former Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte to the presidency, a development that an ardent Duterte supporter said proved that social media has truly emerged as a “threat” to the very existence of the so-called traditional media in the near future. Social media has also become a tool of the marginalized in voicing out their frustrations to the existing social order.
“Prior to the introduction of social media, voters would have been bombarded by stories and advertisements of candidates who had the most cash. Winners were determined by the amount of money for campaign slogans, jingles and press releases. The year 2016 was different in the sense that there was an alternative—Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and Instagram, where voters would and could access the huge crowd shots of Duterte rallies. Citizens took it upon themselves to share pictures, videos, stories and posters favorable to Duterte,” Edgardo Clemente, chairman of the Metro Manila Duterte for President Movement, said in an interview on Facebook.
Clemente traced what he termed as the antipoor biases of the mainstream media, and its connections to big business on why the silent majority went to social media to voice out their dissatisfaction on the existing social order.
“Today those who can only manage fractured English, wrong grammar and poor construction in the presentation of their ideas are dominating social media,” he noted.
“The hoi polloi are finally seizing power, and such venerated institutions like printed newspapers will be the first victims in the new world unleashed by the Internet,” Clemente added.
The result of this development has led to the emergence of a potent pro-Duterte force in the social-media space. Clemente said it is not fair to blame the pro-Duterte forces on the issue of cyber bullying against the critics.
The critics entirely miss the point, because there are around 20 million pro-Duterte supporters online. “This is a simplistic explanation to blame salaried pro-Duterte forces, but misses that fact that newly empowered volunteer hordes of Duterte supporters actually comprise the majority or the bulk of most of the social-media activities of liking, sharing, commenting and posting of proadministration stories with the concomitant negative comments against perceived opponents of the current dispensation.”
With its huge reach, Clemente said, social media can be a thorn on the side of the traditional media, because it can rightly fall under the classification of big data, as in fan pages or groups with hundreds of thousands of likes and members each, thus, survey results coming from million-member groups will have a higher sensitivity of results.
He added the print media feels threatened by a group of amateurs who, Clemente said, suddenly emerged out of the blue and became a prominent fixture in the media scene in such a short span of time.
“They [traditional media] miss the fact that thousands of amateurs [in terms of lack of college degrees in journalism] are stealing their lunch with the ultimate result of many newspapers operating at a loss with eventual closure or bankruptcy,” Clemente said.
“The heated battle, just like the last presidential elections, is between the few so-called elite and highly educated netizens against the great unwashed but newly politically active,” he added.
“The situation here is similar to the post French Revolution, the newly minted power brokers, the hoi poloi, seem to be running amuck,” Clemente said. “But this was only because the monarchy committed so much atrocity against the populace. Anarchy was the order of the day because all the previous exploitation was within the pomp and pageantry of dynastic rule.”
In a separate interview with the BusinessMirror, Pompee la Viña called for fairness in the online discussions of Duterte programs and agenda. “Let us delve on the trolls and conspiracy theories because these things are pulling down the country,” he said.
Once again, the social media director of the Duterte team in the recent elections addressed the issue of the so-called keyboard warriors. On the question if the Duterte administration has an army of paid trolls, la Viña said:
“As far as I know the answer is none. Moreover, it would be a waste of money funding the group because of the sheer volume of Duterte’s supporters. We have 14 million supporters. These are the people who really believe in the vision and goals of President Duterte.”
For a long time, la Viña said supporters of Duterte reached out to the common people to determine their real problems. They found out different answers when they toured several areas in the country. While the urban-based candidates focused on the economy. Duterte zeroed in on drugs and crime. Those were the magic keys to capture the imagination of the people.
La Viña and his social-media staff work double time to highlight the advocacies of the then-reluctant presidential aspirant. “The poor and other sectors felt helpless. Suddenly, a candidate emerges and gives them hope,” he pointed out.
“That is beyond macroeconomics. The war on drugs and corruption can make a difference. It is my personal belief and conviction,” he added.
As far as the trolls are concerned, la Viña has one advice. Just ignore them.