Spotting the Fake: SIGNIS World Congress in Korea 2022
SIGNIS means “Sign and Fire”: the Catholic Church’s use of the Communications Media should be a sign of God’s Presence in the world just like fire that would spread and enlighten. “SIGNIS” is a World organization of the Catholic Church for all lay, religious and clergy media practitioners. SIGNIS World Congress 2022 was held in South Korea last August 16-19, where the participants reached 158 in number who came from different parts of the world.
From the Philippines only 5 participated, due to the many protocols needed. Here are some of the lessons learned from this Congress:
Techniques on how to encounter and prevent fake news from social media platforms. Pope Francis in his message for World Communications Day 2018 analyzed:
…Fake news as something which is meant to deceive and manipulate the readers…the root of fake news is “thirst for power”.
Therefore, there is a need of checking the validity of news. Asking friends and family, reading the comments on the post, or seeking out a second news source will be helpful in verifying. We can also help stop the spread of fake news by developing a more critical attitude.
Because young people can easily become victims of fake news- some research findings reveal a serious lack of digital literacy among young people in Myanmar just like in the Philippines. Learning this, I realized that there is a need for education in critical digital literacy in order to protect ourselves from being brainwashed by fake news.
The mission therefore, according to Pope Francis, is to make journalism as “protectors of news” being at the service of all especially for those who have no voice. The invitation here is to have genuine interest in the marginalized people and to communicate true and meaningful information for the people in their struggles.
A Report from Seoul by Fr. Minsoo Kim Ignatius in mass communication from Pennsylvania entitled “Catholic Church Alternative to fake news” observes that the reason for fake news is GREED – this is the engine of the spread of fake news because false information meets greed which is easily triggered in human nature: the greed of all including those in power, lies in the root of today’s fake news production and distribution and being mistaken for the truth — (52nd World Communications Day, 2018)
According to him, the alternatives to fake news are:
- Media literacy: learning or educating oneself on the effects and use of the social media platforms and being critical on the news reported
- Alternative journalism: looking for some alternative means to check the facts.
- Anti-discrimination law: proposal of this law would protect people from deceiving news
SIGNIS can and should be a relevant factor for global ethics of communication for peace and re-evaluation of the community which promotes ‘ethics of relationality”.
I rejoice and thank God for the chance to go to Korea for the SIGNIS World Congress 2022.
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