The Communicator’s League (CL) – Journalism Guild hosted the “I Am Real” 2024 Conference, a discussion centered on the battle against disinformation and fake news in today’s times, on February 2 from 1:30 PM to 5:30 PM at the Holy Angel University (HAU) Theatre.
According to Nawon Kim, CL’s Journalism Guild Head and lead organizer of the event, the conference is more concentrated on ways to fight disinformation and fake news, in comparison to the previous iteration of I Am Real, which was centered on its nature.
The event magnified the issue of disinformation in the present news media landscape. More so, speakers John Nery of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Celine Samson of the VERA files addressed the topics, “Writing with and Against AI” and “PRAMIS, WALANG LOKOHAN – Truth Telling in the Age of disinformation” respectively.
“[The] goal was to relate the conference with the current issues. Thus, like how you may have seen [in] the conference, the speakers were able to tackle some of the most controversial issues like AI, deep fakes and social media,” Kim stated.
“[And] we wanted more people [to] join us for our cause and fight against fake news together,” she continued.
In achieving this objective, various universities and student publications in Central Luzon were invited to attend the conference, such as the University of Santo Tomas (UST), National University (NU) Clark, Systems Plus College Foundation (SPCF), City College of Angeles (CCA), St. Scholastica’s College, and University of the Assumption (UA).
The conference served as an avenue for student journalists and aspiring communicators to power through the fallacies enhanced by new technologies, where the curiosities of the students were sated through the question and answer forums.
“I Am Real really showcased what is real in the journalism world. It separated what is AI generated [news] and what really is the voice of the people,” Jackie Carillo, President of NU Clark – Comm Pillars had described.
After the event, Kim stated that the conference received various commendations from the aforementioned invited universities and hopes that initiatives on fighting disinformation, like I Am Real, continue to spread.
Written by Lana Erin
Layout by Winston Adam Lejarde
