Chapter 2

Review of Relevant Literature

This chapter presents the related literature and studies after the thorough
and in-depth search done by the researchers. This will also present the synthesis
of the art to fully understand the research to be done.

Emergence of Fake News

The deliberate spreading of false stories for political purposes has been
around for quite a long time. Indeed, even before the creation of the printing
press in 1493, for instance, faked stories sustaining the "blood libel", that Jews
had killed Christian kids to drink their blood had been circling for around 300
years, as indicated by historians. In the 16th century, spilled state reports, for
example, the Venetian government's relazioni, were viewed as solid wellsprings
of news – starting a cottage industry, a business or manufacturing activity
carried on in a person's home, in faked relazioni (Wilson, 2017).

Also, as Jacob Soll notes in Politico, in the US, "even our glorified Founders
were perpetrators of fake news for political means." To throw together
progressive intensity, even Benjamin Franklin – generally observed as a model of
respectability and American goodness – devised fake stories about lethal
"scalping" Indians working in alliance with King George III (Wilson, 2017).

Fabricated news stories are not really new. However, worries about the
effect of such stories have gone up on a new level of urgency in the Web era.
Computerized innovation has prompted to a blast in online "fake news" that is
harder – with regards to a feature on a Facebook feed, say – to recognize from
the "genuine" thing, and is seen by some to have influenced the US race battle
(Wilson, 2017).

13
 Amid the 20th century, divided detailing never left, obviously. But in wide
terms there was a reaction against sentimentality and a rising interest for
moderately target daily paper news-casting that served and supported the
spread of majority rule liberation. That model is presently in flux, with the
decrease of print media and the ascent of online media – Facebook and
Google specifically – the same numbers of individuals’ essential get to point for
news (Wilson, 2017).

Emergence of Fake News in the Philippines

Much has been said about this controversial topic, but there is still much to
learn. To begin with, fake news isn't new. This is a continuation of the long history
of dark promulgation and turned by "political administrators." Media researcher
Jonathan Corpus Ong advises the people that much more troubling than the
ascent of fake news is the effort of Filipinos towards inconspicuous types of
misleading (Curato, 2017).

In the 21st century, the effect of fake news spread across the social media
and in addition, the utilization of the term. Other than alluding to made-up
stories intended to deceive readers into tapping on links, maximizing traffic and
profit, the term has additionally alluded to satirical news, whose reason for
existing isn't to delude yet rather advise watchers and offer silly discourse about
genuine news and the predominant press.

It is easy to spot and judge fake news, however, the diligent work lies in
distinguishing underestimated lies that shape our conduct and biases, and
thinking about how we progress toward becoming deceitful in propagating
these fabrications (Curato, 2017).

14
 Second, a great approach to battle fake news is for writers to be better at
their work. This statement is from Ruth Cabal, CNN Philippines' Senior
Correspondent and Mark Saludes of Photojournalists' Center of the Philippines.
They clarified the standards newsrooms implement to guarantee the nature of
news reports and in addition the significance of forcing sanctions on failing
columnists (Curato, 2017).

Fake news, on the other hand, offers a comforting view of the world. It
gains traction because it appeals to readers’ emotions, and tells them what
they want to hear (Curato, 2017).

Third, Anna Marie Banaag from the Presidential Communications

Operations Office proclaimed that the Duterte administration is committed to
freedom of speech. They advocate self-control and dependable social media
use. They also discussed how the administration responds when its own
particular authorities are blamed for selling fake news (Curato, 2017).

Fake News
Fake news is those sources that intentionally fabricate information,
disseminate deceptive content, or grossly distort actual news reports. Fake news
is written and published with the intent to mislead in order to gain financially or
politically, often with sensationalist, exaggerated, or patently false headlines
that grab attention. Fake news can look legitimate, but the stories behind the
headlines are entirely fictional. Fake news often employs eye-catching
headlines or entirely fabricated news stories to increase readership, online
sharing, and Internet click revenue. In the latter case, it is similar to sensational
online "clickbait" headlines and relies on advertising revenue generated from
this activity, regardless of the veracity of the published stories. The spread of
fake news today is a big problem; it was spread through the media outlets such

15
as television, radio, prints, and internet. The impact of fake news is a worldwide
phenomenon. Fake news is often spread through the use of fake news websites,
which, in order to gain credibility; specialize in creating attention-grabbing
news, often impersonating well-known news sources. The capacity to mislead
was enhanced by the widespread use of social media. For example, a website
that enabled fake news' proliferation was the Facebook newsfeed. Fake news
that saw higher sharing on Facebook than legitimate news stories which analysts
explained was because fake news often panders to expectations or is otherwise
more exciting than legitimate news. This type of news, found in the traditional
news, social media or fake news websites, has no basis in fact but is presented
as being factually accurate.

Political Fake News

There are many factors behind the ascent of alleged "fake news,"
regardless of whether its stories loaded with hyper-swelled talk and allusion, or
real fabrications that have been made and disseminated by gatherings for
political. Facebook's pushing of our enthusiastic catches is a piece of the photo
- since it is reprimanded for circulating a great deal of fake news - however so is
the thing that a few analysts say is an expansion in political tribalism (Ingram,
2017).

Disregarding the realities has for quite some time been a staple of
political discourse. Consistently, government officials exaggerate some
measurement, contort their rivals' positions, or just tell unmitigated whoppers.
Surrogates and intellectuals spread the turn.

At that point, there's fake news, the marvel that is currently clearing,
great, the news. Political fake news is made-up of rumors about politicians and
other political issues, masterfully manipulated to look like credible journalistic

16
reports that are easily spread online to large audiences willing to believe the
fictions and spread the word (Holan, 2016).

Facebook: Definition
Facebook is the second largest social network on the web, behind only
MySpace in terms of traffic. Since their launch in February 2004, they've been
able to obtain over 8 million users in the U.S. alone and expand worldwide to 7
other English-speaking countries, with more to follow (Yadav, 2006).

For users, Facebook's core service is completely free and ad-supported. In

fact, in August 2006 Facebook signed a three-year deal with Microsoft to
provide and sell ads on their site in return for a revenue split. The deal followed
an announcement from Facebook's direct competitor MySpace who signed a
similar deal with Google. The youthful demographic that both the services
attract is highly prized amongst advertisers and should return a good amount of
revenue for both the services to stay alive - and profit (Yadav, 2006).

A typical Facebook profile consists of a number of different sections,

including Information, Status, Friends, Friends in Other Networks, Photos, Notes,
Groups, and The Wall. Most of the sections are self-explanatory but some are
specific to Facebook (Yadav, 2006).

Astonishingly, the average person will spend nearly two hours

(approximately 116 minutes) on social media every day, which translates to a
total of 5 years and 4 months spent over a lifetime. Even more, time spent on
social is only expected to increase as platforms develop (Asano, 2017).

Along with organizing and joining events, users can also invite and
recommend others to an event. This feature, however, has raised some

17
controversy as it is generally the start of underage drinking and dry campus
violations. Colleges and universities use the feature to catch planning of such
events beforehand and investigate those that are over. In any case, it's one of
the most popular features of the service and even beats some of the competing
products made specifically for this purpose (Yadav, 2006).

Facebook: Leading Social Network

With the exception of China, Russia, and a few other countries, Facebook
continues to dominate the social network scene in major markets worldwide.
The popularity of newer social networks like Instagram is increasing rapidly, but
users tend to adopt those platforms in addition to Facebook, rather than as
replacements, as explored in a marketing report, ―Global Social Platforms 2016:
A Country-by-Country Review of Social Network Usage‖ (Social Media, 2016).

Young consumers have been at the forefront of this trend, and in

November 2015, it was estimated that the average social network user 16- to 24-
years-old accessed at least five different social platforms weekly.

Facebook’s ―Free Basics‖ app, which grants users free mobile access to
certain websites, is likely to have driven some of the growth in mobile use of the
platform. The websites included in the service vary by market, but all include
Facebook as well as news, health and government services. The app has had its
share of controversy, however, and was recently banned by the governments in
both Egypt and India (Social Media, 2016).

Worldwide, the number of social network users continues to rise, and they
have more platforms to choose from than ever before. What’s more, consumers
across the globe are dedicating more time to social networking (Social Media,
2016).

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 Nowadays, more than half of the internet users use two or more of the
social media sites, thus, Facebook remains the most popular platform for those
using just one social media sites (Morrison, 2015). Facebook is the most widely
used of the major social media platforms. Its user base is mainly representative
of the population as a whole (Pew Research, 2017). The social media platforms
themselves are evolving their tools and options to further attract and engage
new audiences, and these innovations create a massive effect in the eyes of
the users.

Fake News Sites

Journalism would technically teach the easy schematic of five Ws (who,
what, when, where, why) and one H (how) when narrating a news story. Fact-
checking and citing the sources are also a very important element in Journalism
practices (Kilates, 2016, 2017).

However, these basic things are being disregarded and ignored handily
by the ―brains‖ behind fake ―news‖ sites. They promote outright lies and
obviously fake headlines and it doesn’t help that people are now in the age of
Facebook, ―shares,‖ and ―likes,‖ (Kilates, 2016, 2017). There should be a very fine
line between fake and satirical and the latter takes a lot of real brains to pull off
(Kilates, 2016, 2017).

Kilates, an award-winning poet, and media practitioner, pointed out a

few elements which are almost always evident in a fake news site and these
are: bad grammar – such as ―ng‖ and ―nang‖ often being interchanged,
desperately written contents, fantastic claims, bizarre headlines, obvious lies,
and lastly, no sources, citations, or attributions. Also, if the URL of a website have
peculiar additions like ".co" or ".su," or that are facilitated by third-party platforms
like WordPress, it is just considered malicious. [Link] is one of the

19
examples of this fake news sites which mimics the URL, design, and logo of the
actual news site [Link] (Murtha, 2016) (Willingham, 2014, 2016).

The following are the Top Fake News Sites according to Center for Media
Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR, 2017), cross-checked by the researchers
based on the characteristics of fake news site that was aforementioned such as
bad grammar, badly written contents, unrealistic claims, strange or unusual
headlines, evident lies, and undefined sources or citations: Pinoy Trending
([Link] Public Trending
([Link] FilipiNews PH ([Link]
Asian Policy Press ([Link] All Things Pinoy
([Link] News Media PH
([Link] Kalye Pinoy ([Link]
Pinoy Freedom Wall ([Link] and Hot News
Philippines ([Link]

Aside from the characteristics mentioned above, advertisements on the

sites’ home pages are just bad and sometimes, not suitable for work. Kilates
(2016, 2017) urged that instead of responding with anger or hate, put the ―fake
news alert!‖ stamp on the comment box.

Fake News vs. Satire News

Fake news articles have all the earmarks of being spurred not to engage,
but rather to trap certain readers into trusting the articles to be legitimate news,
along these lines inciting distrustful shares via web-based networking media
locales like Facebook. This humor is lacking – and while one can contend that
amusingness is subjective, this absence of silliness is exhibited basically by the
huge measure of readers who routinely botch the articles as honest to goodness
that is satire news that is intended to have an evident amusingness consider that

20
is clear to the reader, which means it is much less likely to be misinterpreted as
real news. Regularly the topic of the articles distributed on faux tire sites are
picked to incorporate subjects that frequently pull in high "shareability" via social
network and in addition, drifting points that are as of now pervasive via social
media. Some of the more popular fake news ―faux tire‖ websites have received
wide criticism for their exploitation of controversial events. Additionally, such sites
have also been criticized for helping re-occurring myths associated with racial
politics spread (The Difference between satire and faux tire, 2017).

Satire, on the other hand, is the use of humor to show that someone or
something is foolish, weak, or bad. It often ridicules a person, government, or
society by way of subtle and funny lines. News satire is a type of parody
presented in a format typical of mainstream journalism and called a satire
because of its content. Being the subject of good satire is like being a loser in
high school, the target had definitely no idea that he/she is the subject of the
joke (De La Cruz, 2016).

Satirical pieces are commentaries that should be taken seriously because

they point out national issues that we should be concerned about. But not too
serious that you believe what they say literally (De La Cruz, 2016).

Here is a list of satirical sites that are not to be taken seriously (CMFR, 2017):
The Adobo Chronicles ([Link] Eritas Times
([Link] So, What’s News?
([Link] Mosquito Press
([Link] and Agila News
([Link]

21
Fake News on Facebook
Fake news sites are making it troublesome for some individuals mind to
recognize reality and fantasy. Also, the reactions to these fake stories are
beginning to get troubling (Walker, 2016).

Fake news stories touch on a broad range of subjects, from unproven

cancer cures to celebrity hoaxes and backyard Bigfoot sightings. But fake
political stories have drawn outsized attention because of the possibility that
they influenced public perceptions and could have swayed the results of
elections (Ortutay, 2016).

Fake news stories can be quicker to go viral than news stories from
traditional sources. That's because they were created for sharing — they are
clickable, often inflammatory and pander to emotional responses (Ortutay,
2016).

Facebook is taking new measures to curb the spread of fake news on its
huge and influential social network. It will focus on the "worst of the worst"
offenders and partner with outside fact-checkers and news organizations to sort
honest news reports from made-up stories that play to people's passions and
preconceived notions (Ortutay, 2016).

Headline as Misleading
Psychologists have long known that first impressions really do matter—
what we see, hear, feel, or experience in our first encounter with something
colors how we process the rest of it. Articles are no exception (Konnikova, 2014).
By its choice of phrasing, a headline can influence the mindset of the readers as
they read so that they later recall details that coincide with what they were
expecting.

22
 As a result of these shifts in perception, problems arise when a headline is
ever so slightly misleading (Konnikova, 2014). The headline had accomplished
more than essentially to reframe the article. On account of the truthful articles, a
misleading headline hurt a reader's capacity to review the article's elements.
That is, the parts that were in accordance with the headline, for example, a
declining theft rate, were less demanding to recall than the restricting, non-
headlined pattern. Deductions, in any case, stayed sound: the confusion was
sufficient enough that readers were aware of it and proceeded to correct their
impressions accordingly (Konnikova, 2014).

Engagement Rate
Compared to other days in the week, Buddymedia’s study found that
engagement rates for Facebook are 18% higher on Thursdays and Fridays. As
they put it, ―the less people want to be at work, the more they are on
Facebook!‖ (Cooper, 2013).

Another study found that engagement was 32% higher on weekends, so

the end of the week is definitely a good, rough guide to start experimenting with
(Cooper, 2016).

According to a study by Saleh, post engagement rate by a single person

on Facebook is 75% or 7/10 high in the first 5 hours. Engagement rates on
Thursdays and Fridays are 18% higher than the other day because people find
more leisure time available during these days. This proves that the engagement
rate of an individual is higher than the 40% or 4/10 rate in 2016.

Facebook Reactions
Since the end of February, Facebook users have the possibility to express
their emotions in different ways than just with a Like. Through Facebook

23
Reactions, brands, or in this study's case, news can get a more profound
comprehension on how content is seen by their audience. Facebook Reactions
are another route for users to express their emotions and an incredible open
door for pages to pick up bits of knowledge on how a posted substance is seen
by their fans (Gottke, 2016). New Facebook Reactions are an incredible trade-
off between setting aside the opportunity to remark and essentially leaving a
fast like and proceeding onward. Along these lines, organizations would do well
to post content that users can respond to with 'love, haha, sad, angry, wow' to
benefit as much as possible from this element and consequently get bits of
knowledge on how their substance is seen (Gottke, 2016).

Level of Knowledge
Knowledge is conventionally defined as beliefs of an agent in
accordance with the existing people, objects, process, and events. The
certainty of correct beliefs and claims rather guessed-correct belief of an
existing reality necessitates justified and sufficient evidence. An agent ―knows‖
something if it acts as if it had the information and is acting rationally to achieve
its goal. The actions of an agent, including knowledge-based servers and
knowledge-based systems, can be seen through a ―tell and ask‖ functional
interface, where a client interacts with an agent by making logical assertions
(tell) and posing queries (ask).

Tests on a topic aimed at and considered as a set of rules to measure a

person’s knowledge on the subject are by means a practical way to measure
the level of knowledge. It is in conformity with the set of rules by which a number
is assigned to a characteristic (knowledge) of an event or object (person) that
defines the level. Knowledge may be operationally described through typical
multiple-choice tests which allow the person to select an answer from the given
choices. A test taker can alternatively select the correct answer and infer

24
knowledge or not or can provide a lucky guess. A person may be uninformed –
does not know the answer - or misinformed – extremely sure of the incorrect
answer selected as correct. A test taker providing a correct but unsure answer
or made lucky guesses have knowledge equal to a person who is certain of the
correct answer implied in reliance on the correctness the test.

More certain knowledge of information produces more reliable responses.

Likewise, misinformation leads to an error in performance task from which a
person strongly believes in something as correct but is actually incorrect. Thus, it
is crucial to detect and point out misinformation.

Usable knowledge illustrates for a person to take actions, a person should

be sure in an adequate degree of the correctness of the belief or knowledge. It
is called usable belief if a person believes something to be correct but is, in fact,
incorrect or misinformed. Similarly, a person may use something which he
believes strongly as a basis to take an action regardless whether what the
person believes is correct or not. If what a person believes is correct, then he is
well informed and knowledgeable.

To qualify as knowledge, belief should be correct and justified. The

degree of correctness and justification should be determined from the criteria
regulated by subject matter experts and defined as a certain level that is a
function of variables such as the benefits if the answer is correct and costs if the
answer is incorrect.

Level of Engagement
Social Media engagement is about getting followers to act and interact,
it’s about giving them the key to social media presence because the user knows
they will represent them well. These are the levels of social media engagement:

25
attention, appreciation, sharing, opinion, contribution, animation and
advocacy. Attention, this is when a user follows updates but not looking to
interact with them. Appreciation is when a user decides to show his
appreciation for what was posted, through a like, a favorite or any positive sign.
Sharing, the user liked the update, enough to be willing to share it with the own
network. Opinion, as he/she is getting more and more engaged with the brand,
the user starts to express an opinion on the update and leave comments.

Contribution, at this stage the user is starting to produce the own content,
he wants to share with the other users, on the social media profiles (Desreumaux,
2014).

When a person thinks about social media engagement, it’s smart to break
it down into something tangible, such as a long-term relationship. In this
example, he/she can imagine a committed and lengthy relationship takes
dedication, readiness to adapt, the ability to think about the future and ensure
the other person involved is happy for years to come.

Engagement is not just a single interaction with one of the followers, but
an open line of communication over a period of time for everyone who has
access. Engagement is slightly different and on its own level. When the person
thinks about social media engagement, it’s about how he/she uses networks like
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to create a trail of followers and keep them to
interact with his/her succeeding posts.

When we talk about engagement to Facebook, we are referring to the

activity that users do to pages, and even to posts, comments, and reactions.
The engagement to Facebook that this study focused on are the interactions
such as Like, Comments, Shares, Replies, Repost, and so on.

26
 Most Facebook users are actively engaging with their networks on the site.
As opposed to simply reading or viewing content, 65% of Facebook users
frequently or sometimes share, post or comment on Facebook (Duggan, et. al.,
2014).

Engagement Rate on individual posts is a valuable metric for comparing

the quality of content that people post to their pages. It gives you a way to
compare engagement between two posts that reached a different number of
users. Knowing what share of your audience actually engages with content can
indicate the quality of your audience as you grow fans over time (Smitha, 2013).

Filipino Netizens
The Philippines is said to be the social media capital of the world, a title
that we did not give ourselves, but by digital experts around the globe, despite
our generally slow internet connection (Igna, 2015). In a news, Makati and Pasig
city were even tagged as two of the selfie capitals of the world. But how
intensive do we Filipinos use the World Wide Web in this digital age?

According to We Are Social Singapore on March 2015, Philippines is one

of the countries with the most number of active internet users at 44.2 million users
(National Telehealth Center, 2015). The study also showed that an average of 42
million users is active on social media and that 114.6 million are using mobile
devices to connect and 36 million are using mobile to connect to their social
media accounts.

Filipinos rush to embrace new advancements. Two or three years back,

amid the rise of feature phones, the nation was named the SMS capital of the

27
world. In any case, this has gradually changed with online networking and visit
applications rising as new intends to convey (Magdirila, 2014).

The Philippines contribute an enormous development in mobile phone

penetration. In 2012, Philippines had a monstrous 326 percent surge. Posting
updates and checking news feeds are additionally the most well-known
exercises on smartphones (Magdirila, 2014).

Gender-related Exposure to Facebook

Duggan, Perrin, and Greenwood (2016) state in their research on Social
Media Update prior this year that women use Facebook at high rates than men.
Moreover, on a recent study conducted by Pew Research Center (2017) shows
that women are using social media than men by 6 percent difference. Brenner
(2012) and Rideout et al. (2010) (as cited in Herring and Kapidzic, 2015) stated
that girls are more active in social media on average than men do.

The research found out that between men and women, women are more
likely exposed to the news on Facebook than men. Women are more likely to
see news stories on Facebook on a regular basis about crimes and local
government and politics, while both men and women see news stories on
Facebook about national government and politics and international news at
roughly the same rate (Barthel, et al., 2015).

Educational Reference
Since 2005, young adults or those who completed college and at least
college level were more likely to use and continue to use social media at high
levels compared to those who have a high school diploma or less (Pew
Research, 2015 and 2017). Researchers from University of Michigan, found that
today's college students are significantly less empathetic than college students

28
of the 1980s and 1990s, based on surveys measuring empathy among almost
14,000 college students over the last 30 years (Chen, 2010), causing them to be
more engrossed in social media, than being sociable in person.

Monthly Income Reference

According to the Summary of Latest Wage Orders and Implementing
Rules, issued by The Regional Boards and was updated on the 31st of August
2017, the latest minimum wage for non-agricultural jobs in NCR is ₱491.00, which
means that minimum wage earners in the south are those who earn below
₱10,000.00 and anyone who earns above the said amount does not belong to
the minimum wage earners in the Philippines.

In the Philippines, it’s tough to describe who really comprise these

segments and how big the segments are due to lack of credible and
substantive research (Pinoy Money Talk, 2017).

As per National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), those who earn an

average of P9,061 per month belong to the low-income group while those who
earn an average income of P36, 934 per month is said to belong to the middle-
income group. High-income segments earn an average of P200, 000 per month
or P2.4 million annually (Pinoy Money Talk, 2017).

Length of Facebook Exposure

Nowadays, more than half of the internet users use two or more of the
social media sites, thus, Facebook remains the most popular platform for those
using just one social media sites (Duggan et. al., 2014). Facebook is the most
widely used of the major social media platforms, and its user base is most
broadly representative of the population as a whole (Pew Research, 2017). The
social media platforms themselves are evolving their tools and options to further

29
attract and engage new audiences, and these innovations create a massive
effect in the eyes of the users.

An average person will spend nearly two hours (approximately 116

minutes) on social media every day, which translates to a total of 5 years and 4
months spent over a lifetime. Even more, time spent on social is only expected
to increase as platforms develop (Asano, 2017). In this study, 92% of the
respondents spend 2 hours and more a day by using Facebook, proving that,
through time, people will increasingly depend on using social media to pass the
time.

Fake News Sites vs. Mainstream News Sites

Majority of a huge number of websites and Facebook news sites emerge
and present themselves as news providers, fabricating news stories, hooking
social media users from trending and viral posts generally. Up to date, fake news
sites and its practice exists from presentation of flawed information claimed to
be made up by credential and trained reporters undergone editorial process
with lacking of editorial team identification, deliberately spreading pulled out
contents from mainstream news sources spinning it to the desired news with
unverified aggregation, to encouraging social media users contribute public
content regardless of its bias. At that point, the execution of misinformation
deteriorates democratic discourse reducing intellectual content of the news
(CMFR, 2016, 2017).

The following are the shared common characteristics on the ground of

Facebook news sites: bad grammar, badly written contents, unrealistic claims,
strange or unusual headlines, evident lies and unidentified citations or sources
(CMFR, 2016, 2017).

30
 Mainstream news sources, on the other hand, hold accountable for the
reports posted without malice to fool readers by its neither content nor failure to
the credibility of reposted news stories. Consistently, credible news sources
supply crucial information on websites with non-click bait-ey headlines (Toropin,
2016).

The following are the characteristics of a high quality trusted news

website: neutral title on the headline, clear distinguished of the editorial staff,
independent content, non-outraged or incensed headlines, not hosted by
WordPress, inhibits transparency, and does actual reporting (Toropin, 2016).

CMFR (2017) reported that contents on Facebook news sites that are not
verified, providing excuses for probable errors are likely to be an unreliable
source of news. Fake news sites either do not provide information or claiming
content published in good faith and for information purpose only without the
warranty of the information’s completeness, accuracy, and reliability. Even
more, these sites don’t hold liability for injuries, damages or losses with the use or
display of content. The list includes All Things Pinoy, Asian Policy Press, FilipiNews
PH, Hot News Philippines, Kalye Pinoy, News Media PH, Pinoy Freedom Wall,
Pinoy Trending, Public Trending, and Trending News Portal (CMFR, 2017; GMA
News Online, 2017).

Credible news sites, on the other hand, are respective news program
which shares accurate information based on truth and does not spread falsify
content, simulcasting and broadcasting news, business, weather, entertainment
and other important information. Reliable news sites include GMA News Online,
CNN Philippines, and InterAksyon. [Link] is also known to be one of the
most trusted broadsheets in the Philippines (Philippine Primer, 2016). Mashable, a
top news source, reports breaking web news, provides analysis of trends, offers

31
guides and resources on social media, and reviews new websites and services
(Samples, et. al., 2011). Quartz, MSN, and Reuters Philippines are generally
reporting factual information, hence considered trustworthy, and use very few
loaded words attempting to influence audience thru stereotypes or appealing
to emotion (Media Bias Fact Check, 2014, 2017).

Fictional works that are meant to spoof of ideas, individuals and events in
a contemporary form that exposes truth are produced by satirical websites.
Among the compiled list of satirical websites include Eritas Times and Mosquito
Press, hardly distinguished by many Filipino social media users from the truth
(CMFR, 2016, 2017).

Fake News: Aguirre/Hontiveros

The discussion on Senator Risa Hontiveros is about her evident
condemning of Caloocan police men drug raid in the case of the death of
teenager, Kian Lloyd Delos Santos and her previous matter in question regarding
the anomaly of Php 1.761 billion of illegal bonuses given to employees and
officers of Philhealth in 2013.

Newstwerk (2017) published that Senator Hontiveros has been visibly

condemning the drug raid conducted by the police men causing the death of
a teenager to her issue last 2013 on allegedly unauthorized bonuses of
Philhealth, which was sourced from Thinking Pinoy News.

Fake news is content generated intended to fool readers through false

information dissemination which can be propaganda (Cornell University Library,
2017). Moreau (2017) stated that fake news sites backed up their information
from unrecognizable/untrustworthy site or going around in circles following links
in the news article. The following characteristics were clearly apparent in the

32
prior article which supports this study’s claims that topics about Senator Risa
Hontiveros are actually not true.

The discussion on Justice Secretary talks about his plan to file an ethics
complaint against Senator Risa Hontiveros following the disclosure of the
photograph of him and Negros Occidental Rep. Jacinto Paras wanting to bring
arguments against the senator from a news site which has no identification that
contains the site’s editorial team and staff, history, physical address and contact
information.

Amyezra (2017) reported in PilipiKnows that Aguirre will file a complaint

against Senator Hontiveros for alleged violating of his invasion under Bill of Rights
on protection of interchanges and Republic Act 4200 or the Anti-Wiretapping
Act.

According to Moreau (2017), fake news stories are not linked to credible
sources to back up their claims, with the author’s byline doesn’t sound
professional from a news site with lack of information about itself, its mission and
vision, its founder and when it was founded. The following characteristics of fake
news were clearly evident in the preceding article corroborating to the study’s
claims that topics regarding Aguirre are fake.

Fake News: Alvarez

The context of discussion about Alvarez is about the call of Speaker
Pantaleon Alvarez for all commissioners of CHR to quit along with their
chairperson.

Based on the report published by NEWSiNFOLEARN (2017), Alvarez calls for

the commissioners on CHR to quit and be replaced by those who understand

33
the mandate of their duty. Moreover, Alvarez stated the government issuance
of CHR’s original budget depends if CHR will pursue programs that will benefit
the people.

Fake news are those content wherein spun facts are pulled out from main
stream news sources to emphasize new meaning curated by content
aggregators and unreliable news sites present their news as legitimate news
though do not contain editorial information of the website (CMFR, 2017). Given
the following characteristics of fake news justifies the study’s claims that topics
regarding the Alvarez are fake.

Fake News: Bato/Philippine National Police (PNP)

The discussion about Bato/PNP talks about the PNP Chief Dela Rosa’s
shedding of tears during the senate hearing mocked by the former chairman of
CHR Etta Rosales.

Trending Topics PH (2017) reported that PNP Chief Dela Rosa denied the
allegations of order to kill drug suspects and if proven true, he will resign from his
post as PNP Chief. It is also reported that Senator Hontiveros wil believe what she
wanted to believe.

Fake news are those content wherein spun facts are pulled out from main
stream news sources to emphasize new meaning curated by content
aggregators and unreliable news sites present their news as legitimate news
though do not contain editorial information of the website (CMFR, 2017).
Moreau (2017) stated that fake news articles are spread by untrustworthy news
sites that don’t have information about the page, or have a thin, vague content
or content information that doesn’t sound professional. Given the following

34
characteristics of fake news justifies the study’s claims that topics regarding the
PNP Chief Dela Rosa/ PNP are fake.

Fake News: Commission on Human Rights (CHR)

The context of the discussion on Commission on Human Rights (CHR) talks
about the government body for P1,000.00 budget for 2018 due to its biased
leadership by CHR Chair, deemed as the Liberal Party attack dog, and its
selective justice for crimes that contradicts the administration campaigns.

According to FilipiNews (2017), CHR Chito Gascon has been over all
media airing his complaints against military abuses without vetting that the
Maute/ISIS are the enemy and not the military during the escalation of Marawi
crisis. Trending Topics PH (2017), reported CHR desperately tries to save criminals
rather than those of the victims of human rights violations by the criminals.

According to CMFR (2017), the characteristics of fake news are

aggregated content, create own reports to resemble credible journalism, and
viral and trending posts selection in internet curating into news. The following
characteristics were vividly obvious in the preceding article which supports this
study’s claim that issues regarding CHR are actually a fake.

Fake news: COMELEC

The context of discussion about COMELEC talks about COMELEC Chief
Andy Bautista to charge his own wife with interest whenever she needs to
borrow money from him.

News info learn (2017), COMELEC COMELEC Chier Bautista noted that his
wife has no real one. His wife loans from him for the tuition and other household
paymenst. The report also shows the post included in the article.

35
 Based on CMFR (2017), fake news characteristics are composed of
unverified aggregators to which manipulated content curators scour the net for
interesting article, viral or trending post and share it online. Fake news
characteristics are those content wherein spun facts are pulled out from main
stream news sources to emphasize new meaning curated by content
aggregators. The following characteristics were vividly obvious in the preceding
article which supports this study’s claim that issues regarding COMELEC are
actually a fake.

Fake News: DOTr

The context of discussion about DOTR is about the 48 light rail coaches
worth P3.8 billion procured by the former President Aquino from Dalian
Locomotive and Rolling Stocks Company which are to be returned yet.

According to [Link] (2017), DOTr already sent letters to study the

coaches bought by the previous administration to determine whether they
could be of use. Trains were delivered last year but were not used due to issues
on signaling system and compatibility.

Fake news articles c According to CMFR (2017), the characteristics of fake

news includes unverified aggregation, curating content pulled out from a
reliable source to spin it. Given the following characteristics of fake news justifies
the study’s claims that topics regarding the DoTr are fake.

Fake News: Drug War

The context of discussion about drug war is about the former president
Noynoy Aquino III’s criticism over drug war campaign by the present
administration and how netizens rebuked him.

36
 Based on the report of Pinoy Trending News (2017), the former president
has been called all sorts of names by supporters of President Duterte after
criticizing the administration’s campaign against drugs. The report also showed
the statement of a social media blogger and supporter of President Duterte on
Facebook as well as some of the comments of Facebook online users.

Based on CMFR (2017), fake news characteristics are composed of

unverified aggregators to which manipulated content curators scour the net for
interesting article, viral or trending post and share it online. Fake news are those
content wherein spun facts are pulled out from main stream news sources to
emphasize new meaning curated by content aggregators. The following
characteristics were vividly obvious in the preceding article which supports this
study’s claim that issues regarding war on drugs are actually a fake.

Fake News: Duterte Issues

The context of discussion about Duterte is about his statement on Senator
Trillanes accusation against his son as trash with insufficient evidence to prove
the allegations.

Balitang Totoo (2017) reported that President Duterte stated all

information from the senator against his son, allegedly involving him in a Chinese
triad added the allegations against his son-in-law, is trash. Furthermore, the
senator has been targeting his son since the presidential elections. The news site
got their source from Politiko.

According to Moreau (2017), news articles which are linked to

untrustworthy news sites that have thin or vague content about the page are
considered as fake news. Moreover, fake news sites present themselves as

37
reliable news sources providing news in resemblance to legitimate ones (CMF,
2017). The following characteristics given were vividly obvious in the preceding
article that supports the study’s claims that topics regarding President Duterte
are not true.

Fake News: EDSA Rally

The context of discussion about EDSA Rally talks about a Davaoeña
lecturing the Liberal Party to defend President Duterte against his critics wanting
to drag him down.

According to Trending Topics PH (2017), a Davaoeña supporter of

President Duterte said whatever means the opposing party use to oust the
president; none of the Filipinos who chose him cares. She stated the 16 million
Filipinos will definitely defend him.

Based on CMFR (2017), fake news characteristics are composed of

unverified aggregators to which manipulated content curators scour the net for
interesting article, viral or trending post and share it online. Given the following
characteristics of fake news justifies the study’s claims that topics regarding the
EDSA Rally are fake.

Fake News: Fariñas

The context of discussion about Rep. Fariɦas talks about the 112 – 39
members who voted for the budget of CHR and the reactions and comments of
online users.

According to Philippines Trend (2017), Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariɦas

affirmed that 112 members stood a ―yes’ vote while 39 stood to vote ―no‖ or

38
against the motion. After it came up to social media, netizens reacted on social
media with its P1,000.00 budget.

Fake news characteristics are composed of unverified aggregators to

which manipulated content curators scour the net for interesting article, viral or
trending post and share it online (CMFR, 2017). According to Moreau (2017),
fake news stories are not linked to credible sources to back up their claims, and
spread by untrustworthy news sites that don’t have information about the page,
or have a thin, vague content or content information that doesn’t sound
professional. The following characteristics were vividly obvious in the preceding
article which supports this study’s claim that issues regarding Farinas are actually
not true.

Fake News: Leni Robredo

The context of discussion on Vice President Leni Robredo is about her
statement regarding the birthday of former pesident Ferdinand Marcos as a
national holiday instead of as a special non-working holiday in Ilocos Norte
declared by President Duterte last September 9, 2017.

Pinoy Trending News (2017) reported some of the netizens comments and
reactions on VP Robredo’s statement from Puffer Square Facebook page,
making her a laughing stock on the internet. Moreover, it is shown in the news
site the video of VP Robredo’s interview wherein other parts of the video are cut
off.

CMFR (2017) stated that fake news sites do choose selective posts in the
internet which has gained a significant amount of following and present
curated news similar to legitimate ones. Fake news sites may embed videos that
are not in line with the article in question (Moreau, 2017). The following

39
characteristics of fake news were clearly evident in the preceding article that
supports study’s claim those topics about Vice President Leni Robredo.

Fake News: Martial Law

The discussion about Martial Law talks about Former DILG Secretary Rafael
Alunan III condemning Philippine Daily Inquirer as irresponsible on posting an
article announcing President Duterte may declare Martial Law next week.

Pinoy Trending News (2017) reported that former DILG Secretary said
Inquirer’s report about martial law is incorrect according to Secretary Delfin
Lorenzana, owing the President Duterte and the Filipino people an apology. The
report also included post of a pro-Duterte blogger on the issue.

According to CMFR (2017), the characteristics of fake news are unverified

aggregation, curating content pulled out from a reliable source to spin it, and
picked up from viral posts in internet. These characteristics of fake news were
vividly obvious in the article above that supports the study’s claim that topics
about martial law are not true.

Fake news: Mocha Uson

The discussion about Mocha Uson talks about the Presidential
Communications Operations Office Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson accusing
Jessica Soho as fake news after Soho reported Mocha being criticized by Lanao
del Sur’s first district representative in the ARMM Regional Assembly Zia Alonto
Adiong.

Pinoy Trending News (2017) reported Mocha Uson reached the attention
following Jessica Soho’s report of her being criticized for taking a selfie while not
wearing a hijab with her boots on inside the mosque. The news site embedded a

40
video uploaded by Uson calling GMA 7 and Jessica Soho’s report was
misleading. The news site did not source from mainstream media.

Fake news are those content wherein spun facts are pulled out from main
stream news sources to emphasize new meaning and content aggregators
scour internet for trending and viral content or posts and share it online (CMFR,
2017). The characteristics of fake news were clearly apparent in the above
article that justifies the study’s claims that topic about Mocha Uson to Jessica
Soho are fake.

Fake News: Teenager Killings

The discussion regarding killings of minor talks about President Duterte’s
statement of recent killings of minors were masterminded by those saboteurs
who are out to discredit him and the campaign against drugs on war.

According to Pinoy Trending News (2017), President Rodrigo Duterte said

saboteurs masterminded the recent killings of minor, defending the police from
allegations behind spate of killings. Furthermore, the news reported some of the
comments of the netizens originated from the post of Thinking Pinoy about the
topic.

Fake news can be propaganda to spread false information generated by

non-news organization disseminating falsify information (Cornell University
Library, 2017). Fake news is a made up content from mainstream news sources
giving an entirely new context and meaning of the news story (CMFR, 2017). The
following characteristics of fake news were vividly apparent in the given article
above that supports the study’s claims that topics about minor killings are not
true.

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Fake News: Triads/Pulong
The context of the discussion regarding Pulong Duterte and triads is about
Paolo Duterte’s expression of wrath against Senator Trillanes after Trillanes
accused the president of his hidden wealth.

According to Pinoy Trending News (2017), Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte

posted his reply on Facebook to Senato Trillanes’ accusations and reminded the
senator to protect the interest of the people rather than his own, to which the
post has gained various reactions and comments.

Based on CMFR (2017), fake news characteristics are composed of

unverified aggregators to which manipulated content curators scour the net for
interesting article, viral or trending post and share it online. Given the following
characteristics of fake news justifies the study’s claims that topics regarding the
Pulong are fake.

The discussion about Triads talks about the allegations of Senator Trillanes
against Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte as a member of a triad and the reactions of
the netizens on his claims.

According to Pinoy Trending News (2017), shared photos from the

Facebook page of Leni Robredo’s Fashion Diary are posted exposing VM Paolo
Duterte’s body tattoos and some of the reactions of the netizens as well as
comments on the issue.

Based on CMFR (2017), the characteristics of fake news are stories drawn
from trending and viral posts in internet intended to hook readers which are
curated by content aggregators. Moreover, fake news articles are spread by
untrustworthy news sites that don’t have information about the page, or have a

42
thin, vague content or content information that doesn’t sound professional
(Moreau, 2017). The following characteristics were vividly obvious in the
preceding article which supports this study’s claim that issues regarding Triads
are actually not true.

Fake News: Trillanes

The context of discussion regarding Senator Trillanes is about the exposure
of corruption against him and his family to which the senator resorted to
harassment and threat rather explaining the issue.

According to FilipiNews PH (2017), Atty. Rico Quicho questioned Senator

Trillanes of him receiving financial assistance from a relative given the fact that
he is already a senator and earns his own salary. Moreover, Senator Trillanes
threatened Quicho after the latter asked the senator to be subjected to Senate
ethics committee investigation. FilipiNews PH derived its report from Atty.
Quicho’s post previously reported by Dugong Maharlika.

Based on CMFR (2017), fake news s are stories drawn from trending and
viral posts in internet intended to hook readers which are curated by content
aggregators, based from an unrecognizable news site and anonymous sources
to back up claims. The following characteristics were vividly obvious in the
above article justify the study’s claims that topics about Senator Trillanes are
fake.

Communication Campaign
Communication campaign is a progression of facilitated messages or
other special endeavors that are purposively intended to accomplish
foreordained objectives on the other hand targets. According to Paisley,
communication campaigns are defined with reference to their objectives and

43
methods, with the former focusing on ―one group’s intention to influence other
groups’ beliefs or behavior, using communicated appeals.‖ Atkin’s definition of
communication campaigns as ―promotional messages in the public interest
disseminated through mass media channels to target audiences‖ illustrates a
methods approach. The methods for communication campaigns today
encompass more than the mass media to include special events, interpersonal
communication, and personal influence (Okigbo, Crawford, 2014).

Synthesis
In this chapter, the researchers indicated reviews of literatures and studies
that are similar or relevant to this study, since the main objective of this study is to
determine the level of knowledge and level of engagement of selected Filipino
Netizens on political fake news articles on Facebook. These literatures and
studies can be related to the analysis of the background of the study. It can be
helpful towards future similar studies.

Fabricated news stories are not really new. However, worries about the
effect of such stories have gone up on a new level of urgency in the Web era.
Computerized innovation has prompted to a blast in online "fake news" that is
harder – with regards to a feature on a Facebook feed, say – to recognize from
the "genuine" thing, and is seen by some to have influenced the US race battle.

Fake news stories touch on a broad range of subjects, from unproven

cancer cures to celebrity hoaxes and backyard Bigfoot sightings. But fake
political stories have drawn outsized attention because of the possibility that
they influenced public perceptions and could have swayed the results of
elections

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 Disregarding the realities has for quite some time been a staple of political
discourse. Consistently, government officials exaggerate some measurement,
contort their rivals' positions, or just tell unmitigated whoppers. Surrogates and
intellectuals spread the turn.

In this study, researchers defined fake news from its emergence up to the
latest political issues wherein people have been engaging themselves.
Moreover, this study also tackled different literatures regarding the articles
written purposively to provoke fake news spread. Articles such as CHR, Duterte
Issues, and Trillanes are also included in this study.

45