Maria Ressa, Rappler, and Government Assault on Media
BY CARLA SAPSFORD NEWMAN | ILLUSTRATION BY EDMUND IP
Press freedom is under attack worldwide. In Asia, some worrying strains of social media weaponization by heads of state have reached new levels of sophistication.
Trolling of prominent journalists by state proxies has become commonplace and increasingly threatening. In the Philippines, “astroturfing” — state agents or proxies pretending to be grassroots advocates — has been increasingly effective in attacking media figures critical of the Rodrigo Duterte government.
When Duterte was sworn in as president in 2016, he threw down the gauntlet: “Just because you’re a journalist, you are not exempted from assassination, if you’re a son of a bitch. Freedom of expression cannot help you if you have done something wrong.”
Three Philippine journalists were assassinated this year, “most likely by agents working for local politicians, who can have reporters silenced with complete impunity,” Reporters Without Borders says. Politicians attacking journalists and journalism has become commonplace.
At the center of this storm stands Rappler, whose editor Maria Ressa was recently arrested on sedition charges — allegedly for using foreign money to attempt a coup against the Duterte regime. “This is a critical juncture,” Ressa says, “ the weaponization of social media and abuse of power and use of the law against us.”
“The Philippines government is weaponizing every aspect of law it can find to attack Maria Ressa and Rappler,” says Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch. “They want to harass and retaliate against her, shut down her investigative team and silence the website’s independent journalist voice.” All because Rappler dares call out the egregious rights abuses in Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs,” he says.
“Let no one doubt that this a full-on, sustained assault against freedom of the press in the Philippines,” Robertson says, “and Maria and her team are on the barricades fighting for the rights of an independent press.”
Ressa points to the level of harassment against her and her organization as a clear indication of the government’s intentions: 11 cases filed against Rappler and Ressa in 14 months.
“I was forced to post bail eight times in two months. I was arrested two times in five weeks,” she says. “I was targeted and harassed. But it isn’t just me. There have been consistent and sustained attacks against independent media.”
When journalists are labeled terrorists or enemies of the state, or charged with sedition or other trumped-up charges, the war on the press has entered a new dangerous phase. Rights can be suspended, and in the name of national security, trials are less than fair and imprisonment lengthy.
“Just because you’re a journalist, you are not exempted from assassination, if you’re a son of a bitch. Freedom of expression cannot help you if you have done something wrong.”
This is a most dangerous time to be a journalist, Ressa says. Journalists elsewhere who think they won’t be affected should think again.
Initially Ressa and fellow journalists laughed at a recent government “Oust Duterte Matrix” when a government spokesman that alleged they were plotting to oust the president.
“We all poo pooed it. But a week later, they arrest this guy and he’s charged with inciting sedition for sharing a video,” Ressa says. “There is the possibility for more arrests.”
Fellow journalist and professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism Sheila Coronel recently wrote that mainstream Filipino journalists have called attacks on Rappler and others “tools to advance U.S. hegemony over Filipino consciousness.”
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) is another independent organization under investigation, says Coronel.
“As an independent, donor-funded nonprofit, PCIJ is freed from both commercial pressures and the business interests of media proprietors,” Coronel says. “(However) raising funds from local foundations or business groups could be fraught because they are all tied to local political or business groups.”
Emboldened by a lack of response from traditional external human rights critics such as the United States, leaders across Asia are cracking down on media and arresting their biggest critics. Similar government efforts to bring down “opposition” media use the foreign funding charge with increasing success in places such as Malaysia.
In the Philippines throughout the region, foreign-funded media outlets are increasingly branded as mouthpieces of foreign powers or purveyors of “fake news.” Social media conspiracy theories and examples of astroturfing abound, and governments have become more sophisticated in their war on the free press.
The Philippine law against sedition is not unique in Asia — many governments across the region have similar laws on the books. In times of significant criticism against the power structure, these laws are invoked to arrest and silence journalists and their outlets.
In Singapore, a government move to criminalize ‘fake news’ has garnered international attention. The Singaporean ‘Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation’ bill, introduced in Parliament on April 1, 2019, was widely criticized as a threat to free expression.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee described the criminal prosecution of libel in the Philippines as “excessive” and in violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which the Philippines is a signatory. The country ranks 134 globally in terms of press freedom, down one spot from last year.
“The international community must stand firm against this assault,” says Robertson of Human Rights Watch “If Duterte has his way, the Philippines media will be reduced to drug war cheerleaders and his remaining critics will be relegated to remote corners of social media where they can monitored and attacked by troll armies that many believe are beholden to the government.” 🗨️
Carla Sapsford Newman is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association.
