Members of the Malacañang Press Corps (MPC) on Thursday clashed with an official of the Presidential Communication Operations Office (PCOO) over a department order (DO) allowing social-media practitioners to cover the activities of the President.
In a news briefing, reporters from various news outfits questioned the intention of DO 15 of the PCOO allowing social-media practitioners to cover the activities of the President. Under DO 15, any person 18 years of age and with at least 5,000 followers on social media may cover news briefings in Malacañang and events of the President, which, before DO 15, was solely reserved for the MPC.
PCOO Assistant Secretary Michel Kristian R. Ablan said there are guidelines on the accreditation of social-media practitioners intending to cover the Office of the President. One of which is that the social-media practitioner may not pass on to another person his privilege to cover.
“We added the laws of accreditation as an important section in the policy because we saw that once we accredit social-media practitioners in Malacañang and PCOO activities, they may pass on the accreditation pass to another person that we did not screen,” Ablan said.
However, a reporter for an online news outfit said the order might imperil the security and life of the President since the 5,000 follower requisite may just be used by any social-media practitioner or blogger with ill intentions to get inside the Palace or, worse, get near the President.
Another reporter asked what output the PCOO is expecting from the social-media practitioners allowed to cover the President. To this, Ablan said it expects none from the practitioners as they are given the right to publish as they may.
Ablan added the PCOO will allow profanities in its contents about the President’s activities, which mainstream reporters are not permitted to use. “[On] the use of profanity, the policy is silent,” Ablan said.
Another reporter from a newspaper said the department order insults journalists who rose to the ranks through years of serving the mass media industry. “If you’re in the mainstream, some will have to begin in the police beat, in general assignments, before being given the task to cover the President. Now you have bloggers, who are not well-versed with communications and journalism, allowed to cover Malacañang,” the newspaper reporter said.
DO 15 earned online ire for allegedly allowing social-media users without knowledge of media ethics the privilege to report on the activities of the President. A number of journalism and communication students said the order is insulting to their degree, given that their future profession will be handed out to any person 18 years of age and with at least 5,000 followers on social media.
According to Ablan, the order was issued as a form of gratitude of the President to “bloggers who supported him during the campaign”.