The notion of alternative facts rose to popularity due to its usage by U.S. Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway after American President Donald Trump’s inauguration last January 2017. The terminology spread not just in America but in the world’s stream of consciousness through the limitless reach of the Internet, as it delves not just on the idea of facts but on the very essence of knowledge and truth, something which that will always matter to the human mind.
Upon observing this, the researcher questioned the existence of alternative facts, something which happens to be of relevance in the Philippines as unsolicited and supposedly news sources have started to exist and spread out unreliable news on the streams of the cyberspace, that which were easily shared through the social media site Facebook.
One of which that is always related to these labels of alternative facts and fake news are the Facebook pages of Mocha Uson and Sass Sasot, of which are two proud and known DDS or Duterte Die-hard Supporters, or what the supporters of Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte call themselves. Thus, the researcher aims to debunk the notion of alternative facts and discover how it spreads, and understand how the medium helps in propagating it and in shaping the communication processes of today’s world, with Sass Sasot’s Facebook page’s For the Motherland – Sass Rogando Sasot selected posts as the case study, with the use of rhetorical and content analysis, seen through the concepts of Aristotle’s Rhetorical Theory, Marshall McLuhan’s Theory of Technological Determinism, and David Jolliffe’s Rhetorical Framework –in analyzing the posts selected through constructed random one week sampling.
Recently, the Duterte Die-hard Supporters (DDS) phenomenon and the way they spread and consume news became a trend in the social media, and a subject of scrutiny and a challenge to the mainstream media. In fact, the DDS have their own online communities and groups in Facebook, with thousands of members, wherein they exchange opinions on the news and posts they share in these groups.
Upon observing this, the researcher was intrigued by their behavior of news consumption and thus, she conducted an ethnographic and observant study so as to understand their wants and needs and perception of a news, the factors that influences their news consumption behavior, by having DDS who participates online as the main subject of the study. By fusing the tenets of the circuit of culture, uses and gratification, and Husserl’s phenomenology, and by using virtual ethnography to gather data in their community, the researcher aims to discover the context of the DDS news consumption, observe and record it, and analyze their motivations that influence their behavior and perception on the news they do and do not consume through analyzing the interrelations of the stages in the circuit of culture.
This paper, then, aims to enlighten its readers about the physical, psychological, and possibly financial risks associated with cosmetic surgery and how it outweighs any pros, as well as examine the phenomenon from a variety of perspectives.
With the rise of emerging media platforms and emerging pop culture trends, the choice of content the audience is faced with is more packed than ever to the point that it may become a bit too overwhelming. Some people rely on opinions to decide on whether to subject themselves to certain content or not. As with the variety of content, there’s also the variety in demographics. This study was conducted to see how different demographics perceive content from these emerging media platforms: Kids, Teens, and Elders, through three titles from the YouTube Channel of The Fine Brothers: Kids React, Teens React, and Elders React.
Audience perception theory was mostly used in this study, and as will be shown in the results of the study, there are some similarities with kids and elders in contrast with the perception of teens. One factor that can be attributed to this observation is the Diffusion of Innovation, in which teens have most exposure to the content, and the most experience with the technology utilizing the new platforms.
This study will be helpful and significant in improving the use of different media for
educating children of ages 5 to 12 and in lessening their interest with computer games. Also, this
study will be of great use to parents who desire to give their children a better form of entertainment
while learning. Similarly, broadcasting companies aiming to achieve the same success may benefit
from this research.