[Judgment Call] When the misinformed attacks Rappler’s free registration

Depending on how much time you spend on social media and what its unpredictable shifts in algorithms serve you, you must have come across a Facebook post that, in so many words, ascribed the decline of democracy to… hold your breath… Rappler’s reader registration program.

The logic of the UP sociology teacher who posted was: “funnily enough,” because Rappler requires a reader to register before he or she can read a story in full, we are effectively giving misinformation and fascism a boost. So really, she said, this “elitist” and “anti-poor” requirement is just another side of authoritarianism. 

Did you just get lost with that one? Same here.

But I’m not here to add to the many ways that Rappler supporters, freedom vanguards, media literacy students, and fellow journalists called out the misinformed poster about Rappler’s registration ask.

Hello, this is Miriam Grace Go — Miss Go or Miss Gigi in the newsroom — Rappler’s managing editor. It’s been a long time since I wrote Judgment Call, but this issue merits a “what’s up” email, so here goes. I thought I should share the points in what you may call a self-reflection prompt that I emailed to the staff amid the flurry of social media exchanges over the post. 

Signing up to subscribe to Rappler is free, and should be as easy as 1-2-3, but…

• Have we been communicating our registration requirement in a clear and simple manner? Note that I didn’t say, “did we communicate,” because it’s an announcement that should not be done only once, and then left to chance for people to look for or stumble upon in the future. There has to be a continuous promotion of it — you know, like the messaging waves in campaigns? 
• Check the words we use. Did we fail at Messaging 101? If the supposedly best defense of the need for reader sign-ups were repushes of long articles or reposting of long “kuda” (talk) on Facebook, then we might have been using too much tech jargon that now needed to be laymanized, or we may have to break down our promos into “snackable” bits for those already battling information overload. 
• Watch our tone when reacting. In the heat of the moment, a journalist may be tempted to rub in everyone’s face how he or she works long hours and needs to be creative and enterprising to pin down that one elusive source, one confidential document, one missing link for an explosive story. We should rise above that. We can be sharp and witty, but please not be haughty, in our response. 
• Is signing up easy? Easier over time? Our tech team continues to fix the backend to improve the experience for the registrants. We assure you that before you could even send an email pointing out the pain points you encountered, our staff from editorial and digital communications are already nagging the techies about them. Every day.  

Finally, I asked Rapplers to turn this episode around and use it to get more sign-ups and lead more people to download the Rappler Communities app on Android and iOS. And this is what I’d like to ask you, dear members, to do as well. This truly has to be a concerted effort.

There are few things to highlight, and I hope these can help you and I customize our Rappler Registration 101 messaging for our respective circles: 

• The first time you go to a story page on the Rappler site, you can read the article in full. The second time you go to the same page, that’s when a registration prompt pops up.
• Registration is free. User registration is NOT the same as a paywall. You are not paying for anything. We only ask you to provide your name, email, and location, so we can include you in the list of people we send our newsletters to. 
• Why would you want to receive these newsletters? One, they curate Rappler content further, according to the raging issues or the special coverages we have each week. Two, when you click on the links to the stories from those newsletters, we eliminate social media platforms as gatekeepers of what you can read.
• Why would you entrust your email to Rappler? Well, haven’t you entrusted more personal information to Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, Lazada, Shopee, Temu, your neighborhood supermarket doing a promo, that fashion brand whose app you’ve downloaded? Rappler is asking only the bare minimum to keep in touch with real people (not bots and pretend accounts) like you. 
• How are you helping independent journalism by registering? When you go directly to the Rappler site, without going through social media platforms, you allow us — instead of, say, Facebook — to earn from the ads. That way, we sustain our operations. 
• But if you want to support Rappler in monetary terms, there are two ways you can do that: be a member of Rappler+ or donate to our investigative reporting fund. (If you are willing to pay higher subscription to foreign-based publications, or if you have a list of advocacies you regularly donate to, may you please add Rappler to that?) 

If you need more details to equip you in helping spread the word about Rappler reader registration, I invite you to read [Be the Good] Why Rappler is asking you to register to read a story by Community lead Pia Ranada, an explainer in Filipino by lead researcher on disinformation Gemma Bagayaua-Mendoza, and [Tech Thoughts] Get real: Everything online has a cost by desk editor and tech writer Victor Barreiro Jr. 

What a way to start the new year! Thank you that you’re there to set this right with us. – Rappler.com