Information Dystopia and Philippine Democracy

This paper explores the results of a nationwide survey that asked 19,621 Filipino internet users from April 9 to May 25, 2020 a total of 18 questions about access and reliability of the news media, values related to accuracy, trust, and fairness, the impact of disinformation, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The online survey, one of the largest about the Philippine media, was conducted by the international nonprofit Internews through its partner RIWI Corp. to help it map the media landscape and information disorder in the Philippines. Internews seeks to improve the environment for a free press, bolster the capacity of media and other organizations to address disinformation, and strengthen media self-regulation.

Drawn from all 17 regions, the respondents are 57% male and 43% female. More than half are aged 18 to 34. Two in five have a university degree or more, while more than a fourth have reached secondary school. Those who reported personal monthly incomes of P15,000 and below comprise 70% of the sample. Nearly three-fourths answered the survey in English and 26% in Filipino. Two in three did so through a smartphone and slightly less than a third through a desktop.

This paper laces the discussion with related studies, including the Digital News Report 2020 (DNR 2020) of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ), which covered the Philippines for the first time.

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