Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Joseph Morong is not a journalist but a transcriptionist


Wazzup Pilipinas!

Journalism 101: "If someone says it's raining & another person says it's dry, it's not your job to quote them both. Your job is to look out the fucking window and find out which is true."

GMA 7 and Joseph Morong are trending because of the "fact check"issue in tweeting.

It’s ironic that Joseph Morong has Fact or Fake show in GMA 7, but didnt bother to do fact check.

Maybe they are told to relay the news raw as it was and fact checking will be later seen in this program. 


Let us collectively call out Joseph Morong and GMA News for not providing immediate context and fact-checks to Duterte’s tirades when his MPC colleagues have done so. You don’t deserve to be called journalists — you are mere transcribers, mere parrots.

Journalists are those who fish the truth from the sea of lies. 

To be clear, we are not "cancelling" Joseph Morong. That's unfair and illogical. What we ask is that the media be more critical when reporting official claims and stop being an unwilling arm of this admin's propaganda infrastructure.

The past few years have been an information war. When the police and the vigilantes killed thousands of individuals in the war on drugs—a term which we easily accepted—the media rushed to the scene, reported the mutilation and bloodbath, tallied the stats like in a computer game.

But very few dared to question the official reports, to make a stand on natl TV on the dehumanization of the poor. They aired the president's bold speeches, but interviewed the orphans merely as "the other side" of the story.

The press can no longer sustain this complicity.


It's quite sad but truth really hurts. Despite our demanding to a more dissenting media we should have, it is also hard to grasp what they are dealing with. Gambling themselves to a dangerous environment just to give us timely news about that matter is already a commending one.

But that doesn't mean the media will just keep an eye on that, do nothing about it. If there is something they are lacking for, is their job to serve us speak the truth to power. They must be our helping hand to call out their lapses as we demand better leadership.

Journalism as a discipline of verification, should have the commitment to verification and accuracy. Thus, we should also include fact-checks to one's statement. We are a journalist not a transcriptionist.

As part of our professional identity, we should seek for the truth because it values and legitimizes the journalist's social role as 'detective for the people'.

As a journalist, media disciple and future media practitioner, we don't need to censor such statements as this will make our industry to be more vulnerable from being cut out and suppressed as a self-governing institution and as the Fourth Estate.

You're the fourth estate, not someone in power to silence (or in your words censor) anyone. kailangan ng masinsinang usapan dito sa role ng peryodista sa isang post-modern age. the (lie)vestream will always be broadcasted, but who will broadcast the truth?

Democracy doesn't mean neutrality. If the President lies, it's your job to denounce it.

According to Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel from their book "The Elements of Journalism", the first element of good journalism is: 

Personally i like how Kovach and Rosentiel’s elements of journalism still stand true today. My amateur assessment of news tells me that news media is fixated on being a record of daily events. We can go a step higher and give people useful and true facts. 

The whole livestream + transcript will most likely be available on state channels. what networks can now do is work on processing that raw info into something that citizens can actually use for their self governance.


Vice President Leni.Robredo denies tweeting " Where is the President?"

With respect, no one asked Joseph Morong to censor the palace creatures. All that is asked is that we do not just put direct quotes without counterchecking it with the available evidence. 

I know he is not the enemy, but direct quotes is insufficient to hold them to account.

Is Joseph Morong scared to ruin whatever friendship/good working relationship he has with Roque and this administration?

Journalistic objectivity, in of itself is a good virtue. But like any other virtue, it needs context. 

Case in point, honesty is a good virtue in of itself. Pero pag nakasalubong mo ba si  Jessica Soho sa office sasabihin mo ba, Maam Jess, honestly mataba ka po.

di ba hindi?? kasi contextually, hindi yun magandang ugali. 

Contextually, gina-gago na yung mga kababayan mo with fake claims pero yung tone of reporting nyo is forcing neutrality stance parin. Gising GMA dami nyong taga-UP diyan, tapos ganyan.

Lemme just say that Pia Ranada is gold standard when it comes to tweet reporting 



I remember when Duterte confronted her in front of all the media and our queen Pia did not crumble at all. Duterte has always been afraid of women. Hanggang ngayon, takot si Duterte sa babae. 

Channeling American journalists where they include the truth. We need more of this.

If it isn’t too much to ask, don’t just be a recorder of news (we appreciate this). However, there are so many people who believe that what they read is true and don’t bother checking. I believe you can do better.

Yung mga hindi kinaya ang standard ng journalism napunta sa MMDA at DENR. 

Was amazed pa kay Joseph Morong a few months back na "nahahabol" niya yung words in transcribing. Now, I just saw the fine line between transcribing and journalism.


A tale of two tweets, one coverage. One has context. The other one is just parroting the speaker, may update pero walang sustansya.

Naging puppy na talaga siya ng mga sinungaling, and it’s the lady who has the balls. 




Take notes from Pia Ranada please and fact-check while tweeting.

The people are worried that you are just a stenographer for the government.

You are in a capacity to discern truth and lambast lies. The President is using the media to stir extreme polarity at the expense of the VP. If no one's going to fact check, then everything will always be in his favor.

Instead of just quoting Duterte, you also put a disclaimer that what he is saying is NOT right. Whether he says that to VP Leni or to anyone does NOT make it right.

It's a scary country we live in, but we need to call out people who do wrong. Please help out.

Is it just me or is Joseph Morong becoming more and more of a mouthpiece of this administration?



Both Pia Ranada (Rappler) and Joseph Morong (GMA News) are members of the malacaƱang press corps, but they deliver news differently. this infamous senator sends a lot of photos, it's a matter of choosing. one chose to show his face. TATLO PA HA.

Pero sa totoo lang minsan iniisip ko kung dede es ka ba. Just being honest, DEMOKRASYA tayo.

Making Digs as his cover photo speaks a lot, no? 


Thank you Rappler, ABS-CBN, and Inquirer for fact-checking and debunking Tatay’s rambling speech. 

Thank you, Joseph Morong, for providing the transcript. 



Joseph Morong lost his credibility from the moment he tweeted this.

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