From Crisis to Credibility: Institutional Isomorphism and the Evolution of Indian Fact-Checking Organizations
Article
In the Global South, particularly in populous democracies like India, misinformation and disinformation have become persistent features of public discourse. False narratives in this country don’t just appear during moments of political tension, they’re often deployed strategically to tap into identity-based divisions and sway public sentiment. Understanding how institutions respond to these dynamics, this study investigates the organizational trajectories of fact-checking entities operating in India’s National Capital Region (NCR) using the lens of Institutional Isomorphism. The study examines how external pressures and normative influences have shaped their institutional behaviour. The three dimensions of the theory —coercive, mimetic, and normative, were employed to understand the forces guiding their evolution. Coercive pressures from elections, communal unrest, and the COVID-19 pandemic pushed many into reactive, short-term responses, and over time, with international standards and lessons borrowed from global peers, these organisations were encouraged towards more stable institutional practices like multilingual outreach, broader thematic coverage, and new verification tools based on platform-integration and Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning. Drawing on 24 interviews across 13 NCR-based organizations, the findings suggest a discernible shift from reactive crisis response to strategic institutionalization, positioning fact-checkers as emerging pillars within India’s media accountability ecosystem.
The Rise and Fall of E-sabong: Exploring Pitmaster through Digital and Physical Ethnography
Article
Pitmaster’s E-sabong (online cockfighting) portal is a neoliberal permutation of traditional cockfighting operating through the extension of the interface beyond the virtual space to its physical operational management. This research examines the role of speed in proliferating capitalistic ideologies by narrating the rise and fall of Pitmaster’s E-sabong through digital and physical ethnographies that highlight the “social pathology” it caused. Three spaces of the Pitmaster ecosystem are examined in this research. First, the operational management of E-sabong agents is explored through interviews to reveal the principle of speed permeating in their modus operandi. Second, the role of digital wallet apps such as GCash in accelerating the already speedy mechanics of Pitmaster was given focus to show the eventual downfall of the system. Finally, the design principle of the online sabong portal is examined to magnify the centrality of speed as its core feature. This study highlights how changes in speed within virtual systems can have a direct impact on the lived realities of the Filipino people interacting with such technologies of speed particularly gambling applications.
Propaganda or not? An Analysis of Tony Velasquez’s “The Kalibapi Family,” 1943-1944
Article
At the height of Japan’s occupation of the Philippines, among the major priorities of the Japanese government was to bring back a sense of normalcy, to pull the Filipinos into their fold, and to support their war causes. This was done through various means, such as wartime propaganda through the control and censorship of Philippine media. The Tribune was one news publication that fell under Japanese control, and its contents, including its comic strips, were heavily censored during the war. This study analyzes the historical and artistic contents of the comic strip “The Kalibapi Family.” Penned by Antonio “Tony” Velasquez, the strip was published by the Tribune from 1943 to 1944. This study seeks to answer the following questions: How did Tony Velasquez illustrate the conditions and different aspects of life under the Japanese Occupation through “The Kalibapi Family” comic strips? Did Velázquez try to satirize the Japanese? Did he put some elements of resistance in the comic strips? Data for the study were gathered through the online archives of the Filipinas Heritage Library and the National Library of Australia. After a process of purposive sampling, 30 strips were selected and explored through content and discourse analysis. The study found that although “The Kalibapi Family” was initially dismissed as propaganda, the comic was generally more pro-Philippine Republic. Velasquez presented a nuanced perspective where he showed how a Filipino artist could portray the real situation at that time in a more comical manner that the general public can understand.
Torture in Martial Law Cinema
Article
In the context of the broad historical amnesia and authoritarian nostalgia that attended the rehabilitation of the Marcoses in Philippine politics, the filmic representation of torture has served as a crucial element in constructing the memory of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. This article examines how torture in Martial Law cinema contributes to the cultivation of the public’s historical consciousness about the dictatorship. Touching on significant concerns about the representability of political violence and trauma, sense memory, and the question of sensationalism, the article analyzes the film ML (2018) by Benedict Mique, which graphically portrays Martial Law torture through conventions associated with torture porn. It highlights how the film’s explicit reenactment of political violence engenders reflections about the crisis of historical memory, and the continuities between Marcos Sr.’s dictatorial rule and fascist violence under the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte. The article explores how such generic adherence to violent cinema can advance our understanding of the complex sensory dynamics of filmic spectacle in shaping political memory and articulating socio-political commentary.
“Representing a country of multiethnic voices:” Ang kontradiskurso ng grupong Alamat laban sa monokultural at kolonyal na nasyonalismo na umiiral sa Pilipinas
Article
Abstrakt
Ang Filipino boy group na Alamat ay isang multietnikong Filipino boy group na nabuo noong 2020 na may mga miyembrong Tagalog, Ilokano, Kapampangan, Sebwano, Hiligaynon, Bikolano, at Waray. Layunin ng pag-aaral na ito na suriin ang mga orihinal na awitin, covers, at collaboration videos ng natukoy na grupo. Sisiyasatin ng papel na ito ang pagsusulong ng Alamat ng kontra-diskursong lumalaban sa monokultural at kolonyal na nasyonalismong umiiral sa Pilipinas sa pamamagitan ng paggamit at pagkilala sa mga rehiyonal na wikang katutubo, ang pagkilala sa nagbabagong kultura na may paghahalo ng tradisyonal at makabagong kulturang Filipino, ang pagbuo ng kontra-oryentalistang pagbasag sa mga negatibong imahen ng Filipino, at ang pagpapalaganap ng multi-rehiyonal na musikang Filipino.
Abstract
The Filipino boy group Alamat is a multiethnic Filipino boy group formed in 2020 with Tagalog, Ilokano, Kapampangan, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Bikolano, and Waray members. The purpose of this study is to analyze the original songs, covers, and collaboration videos of the identified group. This paper will examine the promotion of Alamat’s counter-discourse that resists the monocultural and colonial nationalism that exists in the Philippines through the use and recognition of regional indigenous languages, the recognition of changing culture with a mix of traditional and modern Filipino culture, the development of a counter-orientalist breakdown of negative Filipino images, and the spread of multi-regional Filipino music.
Alliance Building as a Communicative Action by Anti-Mining Advocates in the Philippines
Article
As we assert the role of communication as an empowerment tool (Rowlands, 1997) and perceive how effective democracies depend on an understanding of the sources and mechanisms of public discontent (Matejova, 2023), this study mainly focuses on how communication enables alliance building of environment advocates, especially in a deeply polarized issue of anti-mining as applied by Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM). In gathering the data, a combination of procedures was employed to capture a rich picture of the phenomenon: (1) document analysis, (2) participant observation, (3) photo-elicitation, and (4) in-depth interview. Data analysis was performed by following the steps in grounded theory. The findings of this study are presented in a theoretical model that demonstrates that the advocates’ communicative approach is a complex process consisting of motivations of the advocates for joining in the campaign, intervening conditions, use of various communication strategies, and outcomes, which are all constitutive to how alliance building as communication for development operates.
