On @srsasot's twisted arguments and the importance of Wikipedia in public relations



After the last round, I thought Sass Rogando Sasot would have enough maturity and humility to see the flaws in her reasoning, but she’s dishing out more twisted arguments about this, which I think need to be addressed.

(Read the following to know what this is about: Duterte's own staff seem to be undermining his administration and Response to Sass Rogando Sasot: Duterte has supporters who are not blind beholden emos. To read Sasot’s comments, go to her FB page For the Motherland - Sass Rogando Sasot)

Just to recap, why did I say that Sasot lacks common sense? Because she reacted to a comment about monitoring Wikipedia by saying it costs a lot of money to do international PR. Wikipedia is free. So what money is she talking about?

(Sass, to say you are book-smart but lack common sense is not ad hominem. It’s a fact. Acknowledge that this is one of your weaknesses, so you can correct it.)

Sasot’s ego was apparently hurt when her statement was rebutted, so she did what she usually does—she ran to Google to dig out some random news article, academic paper, or factoid to justify her position.

This is a typical reaction of people who sit in front of computers all day trawling the internet, instead of learning the facts of life out there in the real world by doing real, practical things.

Sass, that Microsoft incident you dug out from the web is a case of poor execution on Wikipedia. It doesn’t mean monitoring Wikipedia isn’t important.

People who know how to do reputation management properly understand the dynamics of Wikipedia and know how to do it at arm’s length and in a balanced way so no guidelines are violated. Recall what I said in my first comment regarding Duterte’s Wikipedia page: “The page contains none of Duterte’s accomplishments to balance out the negative stuff.”

My point was to add in Duterte’s accomplishments, because the current page as it stood was mostly made up of the negative storylines of the yellows (i.e. Duterte is a fentanyl addict, Davao is a rape/crime capital, Duterte is a mass murderer, Leila de Lima is a hero being persecuted by Duterte). Obviously the yellows have a team working on that page.

Many big companies and public figures (including Noynoy Aquino when he was President) keep a close eye on their Wikipedia pages and have a hand in updating them, within the rules and guidelines of the site. You can’t totally eliminate negative info, of course, but you can balance it out.

Why is Wikipedia important? Although it’s understood that Wikipedia is editable and may contain wrong info at times, communications professionals know it is still very important because, for many people around the world, it is still the first destination they go to when they’re trying to find out about something. Wikipedia is almost always one of the top search results when you search anything on a search engine. Many people actually don’t go any further than Wikipedia, because they’re too lazy or don’t have time. That’s a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless, which must be accepted.

If Andanar doesn’t know this, and if he doesn’t even know how Duterte’s Wikipedia page can be managed at arm’s length within the guidelines of Wikipedia, we should REALLY be worried about his capability to do his job, because this is so basic. It’s like Step One in the rule book when your job involves handling comms for a product or a person.

I really don’t understand how Andanar can have time to make pointless little “art films” about drugs with Brillante Mendoza, but fail to see what’s happening to Duterte’s Wikipedia page.

Andanar has an excuse for everything. He can’t manage Duterte’s international rep because there’s no budget. He can’t do anything about Duterte’s Wikipedia page because, per Sasot, he’s not supposed to (dead wrong, as explained above). He can’t improve PTV 4 because he needs to sell IBC 13 first. (Meanwhile, Mocha Uson has virtually built a government news channel with just one free Facebook page.)

Sass, don’t make this about you. You were not part of the original discussion in the first place. Let Andanar speak for himself. The points that were raised in this discussion are very valid, and while we may not agree on how these issues can be resolved, I think we agree that SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE ASAP. We don’t want to hear any more excuses from Andanar, we want solutions.

As a final point, I would like to make an appeal to people who are close to Duterte who might get to read this: Please talk to the old man and make him understand that defending him = defending the Philippines. OFWs and businessmen are facing a lot of pressure right now because no effective action is being taken to counter the black propaganda that the Liberal Party is spreading abroad. There are ways to communicate with international audiences directly using social media which do not cost a lot of money, as explained previously. This should be explored.


----------------------------
This is a GRP Featured Comment. Join the discussion!


Comments

  1. Not to focus on sass, but I must say this continuing saga of Martin Paandar is already so long in the tooth something really must be done about him. If he isn't going to do a good job, why keep throwing good money after bad? Martin Paandar seems to be have been living under a rock. Apoplectically unimaginative & uncreative when the time calls for nothing else but. He needs to move on & move out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sass is right, this yellow tard blogspot is wrong,ingnorance and idiot. Paid bloggers and commentors,,they are at their most idiotic mind now. Very desperate to go back in government and corrupt again

    ReplyDelete
  3. i like d30 but andanar is incompetent..he was once asked a question which he couldnt articulate. If cayetano was present he could have schooled that reporter.

    ReplyDelete
  4. FACT: Bloggers are always right. If each one of them thinks differently from one another, then each one of them is still right. They cannot argue with one another because no one would win. That's why they depend on their readers to decide who is right and who is wrong. The problem is, while they go on feeding their egos proving to everyone they are the better one, they are also feeding the dark forces and opening gates for Trojan Horses.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ^ Yes I noticed that as well about Andanar during that presscon where the famew***e g toengi or (whateva her name us) ridiculed PRRD under a pretense of a concerned question about ejks.. and andanar mumbled something remotely intelligent.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wikipedia? What? This site isn't even a reliable source of info that is why I don't use it as source of literature when we do science research. I am still with Sass.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am still with Sass of course. Mr. Andanar do your job please.

    ReplyDelete
  8. i agree with you 100% sir..why not join forces with Sass and save the ship...don't let go of Andanar but utilize his talent surely he's good at something. The 3 of u work together and come up with a decisive program to defend Duterte and the Filipinos internationally.

    ReplyDelete
  9. lol! Wikipedia as your source??? who the heck believes about Wikipedia??? anybody can make changes to it and it is not reliable! Sass was right and on point! Wikipedia is rubbish and whoever use this site as their preference in politics must be dumb!

    ReplyDelete
  10. The issue was just pointed out and not to discredit someone but to emphasise there is something needs to be done. Sass was emphasising the importance of doing job to its best and be creative in dealing with day to day activities.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ernie Abella makes a beter PR manager than Andanar. He cannot be pushed into a corner with even the most obnoxious bait question from the media. I watch his press corps sessions and he handles the media well. I think Andanar is a good news reader and not anything more. The govt should build a strong online content production team quick which is led by a capable leader who is effective not just some pretty face. My 25 cents thought

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is constructive criticism of the current admin and concerns pointed out are genuine and valid. Speaking as an OFW, the negative PR is really affecting how other nationalities view Philippines and Filipinos in general. Time to be proactive rather than reactive.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I have said this previously somewhere that the PR office of the President is not doing its job to protect him from the blatant lies propagated by the yellow mob and the negative media. Regardless of where lies are published be it in any respected media or not, it should not be ignored. Remember what Goebbels used to say about lies? The reality is judging from past events and what has occurred just recently, (the April 2 Luneta rally carried on without the assistance of the president's PR group), it is the various DDS groups in the country and abroad including the OFWs who are carrying the banner for the support of Duterte NOT the PR office or any communication agency presided or headed by Andanar. The guy is almost inutile, and correctly viewed as reactive not proactive. He is overrated as a communication head of the president. Which is why it's no surprise that he is being suspected as a mole or sympathizer of the yellow mob. He has all the resources he can command to insure that the right information is disseminated and counteract any misinformation spouted out by the opposition. To say that the president does not want this or that, Andanar is just not asserting what everyone thinks should be done right. The president is very busy attending to many issues in almost all fronts, that's why he is not expected to know everything and that's why he has lieutenants to take care of those things he may not be very much aware of. Andanar is wanting in filling up this gap in the president's armor. Andanar, Abella and the rest of the group are not judged by what they have done but by what they haven't done or should have done.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular this week

Duterte BPI bank scandal a trap set for Trillanes?

Reporters Karen Lema and Manuel Mogato of @Reuters LIED about the Duterte "Hitler" quote

Day 2: Senate hearing backfires against a rattled Senator Leila de Lima!

An open letter to CNN on their reporting on the #YolandaPH disaster in the Philippines