PCOO enhances gov’t communication platforms

By Azer Parrocha, Philippine News Agency on February 3, 2018

MANILA— The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) has started enhancing the facilities and capacity-building of the employees of its various government communication platforms particularly the People’s Television-4 (PTV-4), Philippine Information Agency (PIA), and the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar made this announcement Tuesday (January 30) during the second Senate hearing on fake news wherein he also sought for a higher budget for media and information literacy education.

“We are not only the advocates of real news and accurate information. It should be the collective effort of all stakeholders to educate our people to discern fake from real news to minimize, if not eliminate the spread of false information,” Andanar told the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media.

Higher ratings, more followers

To date, Andanar said that the PTV-4 has increased its transmission from 25,000 to 55,000 watts and soon to 120,000 watts to reach more people and provide quality presentation.

He also took pride in PTV’s fourth ranking in the Kantar Media Q3 2017 Media Report with highest number of online engagements in its Facebook page at 3,200 per 1000 followers.

PTV-4 and the page currently has around 1.4 million followers. Facilities, programs and shows of the Philippine Broadcast Service and Radyo Pilipinas have also been improved.

Radyo Pilipinas currently holds the seventh spot in rankings as of 3rd quarter 2017, coming from zero in 3rd quarter 2016.

As for the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Andanar said that the agency continues to generate and disseminate “timely, accurate and relevant” news by its 16 regional and 72 provincial offices nationwide using multimedia platforms, including social media.

Andanar assured that the stories pass through multiple layers of editing and vetting prior to release.

Moreover, there have also been efforts to promote responsible use of social media including tips on how to spot fake news.

PNA Newsroom

Andanar said that the PNA recently launched its newscast dubbed PNA Newsroom, which is a weekday English news program that provides a daily dose of relevant news from all over the agency’s provincial bureaus.

Andanar guaranteed that the newscast remained “objective” in its news coverage.

He pointed out that the PNA has also strengthened its multimedia production team to help agencies of the Executive Branch in terms of promoting their campaigns and accomplishments.

He said that the PNA has been generating over a hundred articles daily. These articles from Metro Manila and 20 other provincial bureaus nationwide are a source of news for some mainstream or provincial media outlets.

Like other platforms, the PNA office along Visayas Avenue also received a renovation as part of its upgrade.

PCOO has also established the Provincial Communication Officers Network or PCONet in order to collaborate with local government units and regional media in explaining the policies of the administration to the grassroots.

Since last year, PCOO has had dialogues with ASEAN neighbors to tackle measures and best practices to counter fake news and to deliver the right information to the public.