[Inside the Newsroom] Letting go of our blinders in the US-Israel war on Iran

As one of the perpetually online reporters at Rappler, I have a cursed social media algorithm. It’s one that recommends I read about people supporting Rappler as much as people being less than pleasant about our news organization’s original content. 

Recently my feed came across a post slamming my coworker for writing about Iran’s AI-powered propaganda machine but not mentioning the US and Donald Trump’s own propaganda propping up its horrific war on Iran, its support of Israel in its many combined engagements, and Trump’s ego. The reaction looks to be from the anti-imperialist side of Philippine discussions, and were quite rude to boot, but are mostly par for the course.

Everyone expects the news to record history, but because of that damned “history is written by the victors” nonsense, news is also at times subject to contrasting ideologies and people slamming us for not being the most comprehensive and encyclopedic reference in every story.

Here’s the thing, though: my coworker Gelo Gonzales and I aren’t analysts per se, but reporters covering technology and platforms for Rappler. Such platforms include things like social media, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and the accountability people hold for these technologies we have today. (Victor also writes the weekly column Tech Thoughts. — Editor) 

In other words, whether or not we believe in a particular ideology or train of thought, we follow where the evidence and data take us in our respective beats.

This means chronicling the Lego memes and AI slop-propaganda of Iran, even as we also write and report separately on Trump’s numerous disinformation tactics and the propaganda he espouses (such as his Doctor Jesus AI meme).

The job also entails us citing people more knowledgeable than us about the topics we cover. These sources have their own biases and lenses from which they see the world, so they do not get along with people who do not share the same lenses.

Now, I recognize people can be angry about certain things and not about others — case in point, my coworker is being called names on social media for being factual but not writing all-encompassingly about the US-Israel war on Iran and the tactics the two sides are taking.

But that’s the nature of social media: We write something, you have a take on it, and soon you’re treating another human being as the ideological other without a care for how that other person may feel if they see your words.

Here’s another thing that can be true, however: Trump’s America can be horrible for a subset of its people in a way Iran is horrible to a subset of its people, but in different fashions. 

Iran is a theocratic Islamic republic at present that can be oppressive if you don’t tow the line of the authoritarian government. Trump, meanwhile, tried to make himself into an analogue of Jesus despite being an authoritarian warmonger, which is obviously very anti-Jesus.

What am I getting at? 

Well, it’s simply this: Chronicling history as a reporter means letting go, albeit temporarily, of my own ideological blinders even as the world revolves around biases and blinders altogether. 

It also means, however, that I have to accept my own biases that blind me from things I don’t understand, and I try to go beyond them to find some insight that helps make sense of the world around me.

Whether that’s with regard to war, peace, religion, or the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies as mainstream, reporters just try to suss out what’s real and reliably report on it. 

If warranted, we can also act on what we know and implore others to advocate for what we might see as a better way of doing things, and that includes calling out bad actors. For instance, check out the Corruption Watch chat room on the Rappler app and report corruption in your locality — and, please do that while being kind to the people we interact with, online or off. – Rappler.com

Inside the Newsroom is a newsletter delivered straight to your inbox every week. Visit rappler.com/newsletters to manage your newsletter subscriptions.