Media Under Attack in Philippines: Rappler

Numerous non-profit organizations in the Philippines accuse the Duterte administration of using the Covid-19 pandemic to attack the press freedoms and block scrutiny of corruption and human rights abuses. A Manila court convicted Rappler’s CEO Maria Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. of cyber libel for a 2012 report. One group said “the verdict delivers a ‘chilling effect’ to other media practitioners who are ‘about to expose an anomaly and corruption from the government, in fear of a cyberlibel case,’” reports Ryan Macasero for Rappler. “[T]he verdict was based on the retroactive application of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, which was passed 4 months after Santos’ article was published.” The judge considered correction of a typo in 2014 as republication of the article, hence covered under the law. Ressa and Santos are appealing the verdict, but also face seven other cses filed by government agencies. – YaleGlobal