[DECODED] Who's Funding Your News? A Dive into Media Transparency

The integrity of news reporting is under scrutiny as investigations reveal the alarming trend of public relations firms posing as legitimate news organizations. A case in point is the digital news platform 'Pilipinas Today'.

This site, which appears to operate like a traditional newsroom, has amassed a staggering following of 13 million across multiple Facebook pages. However, a closer look at its funding reveals a different narrative.

Investigative Findings

These operations mimic legitimate news outlets while pushing partisan or corporate agendas, without disclosing who funds them.

Rappler Investigation

From August 2020 to April 2026, 'Pilipinas Today' reportedly spent approximately P138 million on political ads on Facebook, making it the top spender in this category in the Philippines. When considering its entire network of related advertisers, this figure swells to P189 million over more than 40,000 ad campaigns.

• 31 pages under 'Pilipinas Today' were involved in massive political ad spending.
• 25% of its content was found to resemble PR material for public officials.

The investigation uncovered that a political consulting firm linked to past allegations of online disinformation campaigns in Guam is behind the funding. This raises significant concerns, especially as traditional newsrooms face layoffs and reduced resources.

As legitimate news organizations struggle, this kind of 'pink slime journalism' threatens to fill the void, blurring the lines between information and propaganda.

The implications are profound: when PR masquerades as journalism, the public loses the ability to discern whether the information serves their interests or those of the clients funding it.