Mocha wants Rappler ‘reclassified’ as social media

Presidential Communications Operations Office Asec. Mocha Uson on Tuesday asked her boss, Sec. Martin Andanar, to reclassify online news site Rappler as a social media organization.

In a one-page letter, Uson pointed out that unlike other members of the Malacañang Press Corps, Rappler has no counterpart print or broadcast arm.

"I respectfully request that Rappler be reclassified and moved from Malacañang Press Corps to Social Media," she wrote in her letter posted on her Facebook page.

"This should fall under the rules of accreditation administered by my office," Uson said.

Uson is the assistant secretary for social media.

If and when classified as a social media organization, Rappler, currently a member of the Malacañang Press Corps, will have to go through Uson's office to get media accreditation.

The organization will also be covered by Department Order 15 or the "Interim Social Media Practitioner Accreditation" issued last August.

Rappler, for its part, has maintained that as an independent media entity, government does not have the power to regulate it as the Constitution guarantees freedom of the press.

It also noted that the MPC is an independent group that is not under the control of the government, and that the PCOO's social media accreditation only covers individuals and not news organizations. — MDM/NB, GMA News