Likes Aren’t Facts: Why Credibility Still Matters
At the press conference held at STEFTI on September 11, 2026, I was able to listen to speaker Ahlette C. Reyes, who shared a meaningful and valuable insight about responsibility in the digital world of journalism, along with the importance of being knowledgeable about the topic.
A statement from the speaker that truly embodied the theme for this year’s Division Schools Press Conference was, “Accuracy is still better than virality.” As I interpreted it, this means that no matter how popular a post is, we should always practice the habit of verifying the source of its information instead of blindly trusting what it says, since there is no guarantee that it is credible or true.
Therefore, with that in mind, it brings up a question: What causes misinformation to be so common in digital journalism, and what can we do to be responsible? Mainly, the root causes tend to be the author’s bias and the fact that anyone is able to post anything on the internet without any obligation to make sure it is accurate. So, it is up to us not only to make sure we are reading credible information but also to make sure that what we are writing is verified information.
A piece of advice the speaker gave regarding this was, “Check the context of the story, verify the information, confirm with known sources of authority, then publish responsibly.” I find this advice to be very helpful, as it can help us become responsible journalists while simultaneously becoming literate readers of online news. Nowadays, people can easily fall for the illusion that popularity is the same as credibility when it comes to posts online.
Ultimately, the internet is a place where there will be nobody but ourselves to guide us in determining what is real and what is not when it comes to information. This is why it is truly an essential skill to be able to discern misinformation from verified information. The words the speaker shared further explained what exactly the theme “Beyond Likes and Shares: Responsible Campus Journalism in the Digital Ecosystem” represents. It teaches us to have a strong sense of responsibility in the implementation of digital journalism in modern times.
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