Media and Information Literacy

CASE STUDY
IMPACT OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM AND SOCIAL MEDIA

INTRODUCTION

Social media is integral part of modern society. It helps us to get the latest news

within fraction of seconds. It helps to exchange information and let us people to take

part in social events, but social media can be discouraging and crime encouraging.

This article seeks to address the impact of social media and citizen journalism on

those people engaged directly or indirectly in the field of professional journalism for

their opinions and perceptions. It seeks to answer is there any kind of discernible

effect so far, and if so, if this influence consolidated. Citizen journalism is the

dissemination of information by people who are not professional journalists. Citizen

reporters do not do this kind of journalism because it is their job, but because of the

way they want to improve society. Citizen journalism is the basis of democracy that

encourages citizens to actively participate in social processes.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

 To show the impact of social journalism and social media

 To understand how things are affected after a false information circulated

around the internet

 To know the liabilities of the wrong information spreader

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

This study reviews the news about Quiapo road rage that happened last July 25,

2016, where Vhon Tanto, a driver of red Hyundai EON car shot the cyclist, Mark

Vincent Garalde on P. Casal St., Quiapo Manila. Suspect left the scene of the crime

leaving the dead victim lying on the street.

Moreover, this study highlights the false information released by a page on

Facebook, Top Gear Philippines by posting the link to the Facebook profile about Mr.

Nestor Punzalan. They also posted a photo of Punzalan's car, which was

coincidentally a Hyundai Eon model, similar to the car in the incident. Mr. Punzalan

falsely accused as the suspect in the said shooting incident and the cyberbullying

that happened to him and to his family over the social media.

GUIDE QUESTIONS

1. How was Mr. Nestor Punzalan affected by being wrongfully accused in social

media as the suspect in the said shooting incident?

According to the video, Mr. Nestor Punzalan was greatly affected by being

wrongfully accused in social media as the prime suspected in the said

shooting incident. He and his family are receiving hateful words towards their

life and even death threats. He was traumatized after his name and photos
 went viral online. It wasn’t easy for him but he knew in himself that he was not

the person in the video.

2. What is the liability of Top Gear, other media outlets, and netizens who

wrongfully accused Mr. Nestor Punzalan as the suspect in the said shooting

incident?

The Top Gear, other media outlets, and the netizens who wrongfully accused

Mr. Nestor Punzalan as the suspect in the said shooting incident should give

their apology to him and be responsible of what they have done. In addition,

they should also help in clearing his name and should be punished by the law.

3. What role was played by citizen journalism and social media in this incident?

The role that they did together with social media was to falsely accused Mr.

Nestor Punzalan as the suspected of the shooting incident. Instead of helping

the problem to be solved by doing the right thing and giving factual and

reliable information, they became the source of fake news that makes the

situation worsted.

4. What positive and negative effects of media and information on individual and

society were evident in this incident?

The positive effects of media and information on individual and society that

were evident in this incident is to give an information and ideas on what is

 really happening in our society. It was good to become an active social media

user but we should be responsible enough on what we posted online and

make sure that it is right.

The negative effects, people think that all the ideas and information they saw

online is true or facts without evaluating it that can lead to something unjust.

5. How can we prevent this kind of incident as experienced by Mr. Punzalan

from happening in the future?

We can prevent this kind of incident as experienced by Mr. Punzalan from

happening in the future, first, we should be a responsible media user. We

should avoid posting unreliable information. We should also learn to evaluate

information and identify facts from bluffs to avoid creating conflict on the

internet.

6. What important lessons can we learn from this event as a social media user?

As a social media user, the important lessons that we learned from this event,

first we should be a literate citizen journalist. We must first think all the

aspects that will be affected the moment we say something online. For not

everything we see online be it posted or shared video, does not always

convey what it is, but we need to take a deeper view and understanding. It’s

because every action has an equal responsibility.

CONCLUSION

In the case of Mr. Punzalan, he was wrongfully accused by the Top Gear Philippines

on Facebook as the suspect in the said shooting accident. Being a citizen journalist

we should be responsible enough of our data or information before posting it. We

should check if it’s reliable because it can ruin the dignity of other people just like Mr.

Nestor Punzalan case. A citizen journalist should empower the right information

cause we individual have a freedom of expression and information. We shouldn’t

promote the wrong information dissemination because we have to write right. THINK

BEFORE YOU CLICK!

REFERENCES

YouTube Channel: GMA News and Current Affairs, Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE8GHioR1YU

MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY (MIL) People Media

Nikon Celis, ABS-CBN News

Prepared by:

Sayson, Jasper T.
Sardido, Mary Jane P.
Yaris, Christine Joy O.