Perception is real: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Digital Influence Operations of Pro-Marcos and Anti-Marcos Propagandists

Abstract

The world has entered an era of post-truth politics, a rapidly observable phenomenon in which appeals to emotion and personal beliefs have become “more influential” in shaping public opinion and public policy relative to the objective fact (Mccormick et al., 2022). With the proliferating streams of scholarship on disinformation, infodemic management in the Global North and Global South, it is important to situate the characteristics and dynamics of information ecosystems in the Philippine context beyond its conceptualization as patient zero in the global disinformation epidemic. The undergraduate thesis entitled “Perception is real: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Digital Influence Operations of Pro-Marcos and Anti-Marcos Propagandists” expounds on the current body of knowledge on Philippine political communication. Employing the discourse of suspicion through case studies and critical discourse analyses of the discursive strategies and media messages embedded in user-generated content of Youtube political vloggers, this research rejects the predominant notion that the broad support and the political resurgence of the Marcoses can only be attributed to “bobotantes” and paid trolls. Simultaneously, it also investigates the under-researched influence operations of alternative media networks and digital museums, establishing these institutions’ indelible role and relevance as grassroots intermediaries and open-access repositories, respectively.