Presidential Communications Office Lays Down Accreditation For Bloggers And Social Media Practitioners

The Presidential Communications Office, led by Secretary Martin Andanar, has signed an interim policy on accrediting social media practitioners such as bloggers in order for them to cover events of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Called the “Interim Social Media Practitioner Accreditation,” department order no. 15 outlines who are qualified for accreditation and the process of accreditation, according to an Inquirer report. The Social Media Office, headed by Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson, will be responsible for the process.

Guidelines On Who Can Be Accredited And How

The department order cites as its reason for being is “recognizing emerging communication platforms and harnessing the full potential of social media tools in pursuit of the PCOO’s mandate to engage the citizenry in order to enrich the quality of discourse on matters of national governance.”

In order to be qualified for accreditation, one must be 18 years of age and above, must have a social media account and must have at least 5,000 followers on any social media platform. Those who are interested to apply for accreditation may do so through the newly created Social Media Office. The Presidential Security Group will also give clearance on any accreditation.

The order also sets out to define a social media practitioner as “a person that maintains a publicly-accessible social media page, blog, or website, which generates content and whose principal advocacy is the regular dissemination of original news and/or opinion of interest.”

Journalists, Netizens React

According to a Philippine Star report, journalists were among the first to react to the news. The National Press Club declared that bloggers, especially those who are not professional journalists cannot be a member of the club. They said this in response to the PCOO’s openness to involve social media practitioners in covering the President.

Teddy Boy Locsin Jr. via Twitter also made the distinction: “If they don’t work for a tangible news outlet they are not newsmen.” Another Twitter user made an interesting analogy: “Giving social media people media accreditation is like giving out drivers licenses to people who can’t drive.” Yet another was more to the point: “This “Interim Social Media Practitioner Accreditation” is practically PCOO’s way of legitimizing propaganda and fake news.”

Sec. Andanar clarified that social media practitioners were not accredited as journalists or members of the Malacanang Press Corps. They are merely there to blog about the events of the President. However, he says that they PCOO will encourage bloggers to follow the journalist’s code of ethics. He also said that bloggers no matter the political leaning are welcome to apply.