Nearly half of Filipinos say publishing things critical of admin ‘dangerous’ —SWS

Nearly half of Filipinos believe that it is “dangerous” to publish things critical of the administration, according to a poll conducted in December and published on Tuesday by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The SWS survey, conducted from December 10 to 14, found that 47% of adult Filipinos agree (19% strongly agree, 28% somewhat agree) with the statement, "It is dangerous to print or broadcast anything critical of the administration, even if it is the truth." Twenty-seven percent are undecided, and 26% disagree (14% somewhat disagree, 12% strongly disagree) with the.

“The resulting net agreement score of +20 (% agree minus % disagree, correctly rounded), classified by SWS as moderate, is 4 points below the moderate +24 (46% agree, 22% disagree) in December 2021,” the SWS said.

GMA News Online has sought comment from Malacañang.

Net agreement falls except in Mindanao

The net agreement that it is “dangerous to print or broadcast anything critical of the administration, even if it is the truth” was highest in Metro Manila (+28, or 53% agree, 25% disagree), followed by the Visayas (+23, or 47% agree, 25% disagree, correctly rounded), Balance Luzon (+21), and Mindanao (+13).

Net agreement fell in two areas compared to December 2021, when the net agreement score was a "strong" +41 (59% agree, 18% disagree) in Metro Manila and a strong +36 (54% agree, 18% disagree) in the Visayas.

The net agreement remained moderate in Balance Luzon, hardly moving from +23 (44% agree, 21% disagree) in December 2021 to +21 (46% agree, 26% disagree, correctly rounded) in December 2022.

However, SWS said, it rose from neutral to moderate in Mindanao, up from +7 (36% agree, 28% disagree, correctly rounded) in December 2021 to +13 (43% agree, 29% disagree, correctly rounded) to December 2022.

The SWS said the net agreement that it is “dangerous to print or broadcast anything critical of the administration, even if it is the truth" was at moderate levels of +24 among non-elementary graduates, +18 among elementary graduates, and +24 among junior high school graduates, compared to the neutral +4 among college graduates.

The first quarter 2023 SWS survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults aged 18 and above nationwide.

It has a sampling error margin ±2.8% for national percentages, ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

The SWS said that it regularly assesses respondents’ opinions on the state of press freedom in the country as part of monitoring Filipinos’ quality of life.

The Philippines climbed 14 spots in this year's World Press Freedom Index, placing 132nd out of 180 countries.

According to global press watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), since the Duterte administration, the Philippine media is “extremely vibrant despite the government’s targeted attacks and constant harassment… of journalists and media outlets that are too critical.”

Though it said that many journalists are still targets of threats and lawsuits in the regional level, RSF noted that there were no journalists and media workers killed since January 1, 2023, although two journalists were reportedly detained. — BM, GMA Integrated News