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2021 State of Press Freedom in the Philippines

Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility executive director Melinda De Jesus presented this report during the celebration of the World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2021.

CMFR executive director Melinda De Jesus discusses the history of the Philippine press fighting the Marcos dictatorship to restore democracy, and the country's recent decline to authoritarianism under President Rodrigo Duterte. She also discusses CMFR's database on attacks and threats against journalists, new laws that tighten restrictions on the Philippines media, and how the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated the situation.

By law, the Duterte presidency ends in 2022. It renders this assessment of press freedom in the PH in a new light. The next election confronts the nation with a fork on the road; to turn the page or stay with the status quo. Filipinos must make their choice with a conscious review of the state of the nation, of which the state of press freedom is only a part, albeit a critical one. 

We must take note of the larger global context as well, as the election of President Duterte in 2016 counted him among other strong men leaders whose rise in power signified the wave of populism, a trend toward greater authoritarianism and the decline of democracy around the world. The emergence of an undemocratic China as a major global power is also a factor in our national situation. 

This annual assessment of press freedom should serve as an examination of how far down the road of authoritarianism the country has come and the consequences of this drift. 

It is accurate to say that the Duterte administration has not conducted itself as a democratic government. Duterte himself has behaved as a feudal or political warlord, relying on “shock and awe” tactics to ensure the submission of the population to his will and to his way. 

Many Filipinos did not mind the willfulness of the strongman president. With so many struggling just to survive from day to day, submission or resignation is a common response to government. Even before the pandemic, the majority of Filipinos have borne the burden of desperate poverty and hardship. You cannot expect those who suffer daily the urban blight and endless traffic, or the severe lack for basic needs — to be concerned about political questions, to be inclined even to evaluate how well or how poorly they are being served. 

While democracy promotes freedom and equality for all, in many countries, it is precisely this inequality, the unfairness in the experience of public goods, that has added to the appeal of the so-called populist message and the pro-poor platform. To strengthen his position, Duterte also expressed his hostility against so called wealthy “oligarchs.” 

In power as president, he immediately established the securitization of policy and program implementation, promoting the status of military and police agencies to establish control, the outcome of which has been the massive loss of human rights. As politicians quickly shifted their allegiance to the ruling coalition, the Executive quickly dominated Congress, eliminating an instrument for check and balance. And with his unprecedented attack on the independence of the Supreme Court, Duterte also demolished the power of the judiciary to effectively check presidential will and executive power. 

We cannot talk about media without this larger political context. 

Our concern today focuses particularly on the impact of the Duterte presidency on the press or media, as an institution, as a community, and the most obvious of all, in the coverage of news. 

As we celebrate World Press Freedom Day, we need to engage in a review of the values reflected in the conduct of our work and role in society. How well have we all fulfilled our mandate to build an informed citizenry? What values have we upheld in the coverage of news? 

The media operates in society and reflects the nature of that society. Reporting the news, the media holds up a mirror the images, the ideas and insights, and yes, the values expressed in a way of life. The press works according to a set of values. The capacity to reflect, to hold up a mirror may be affected by values that rule society. To ensure the quality of journalism and the freedom of the press, those who work in the media must deepen both their individual well as their institutional values. 

Journalistic practice that relies only on recording what “he said-she said” does the job with less questioning, less probing scrutiny of the subject covered. Such coverage echoes the strong authoritarian impulse, should that be the case, which lets the elected powers to do as they please, without question or criticism. 

This kind of reporting has allowed this administration to revise our standards for acceptable presidential conduct, for public decency and good taste; as it has allowed the claim that government was doing something to act on the aggressive presence of China in the West Philippine Sea all the while de-bunking the ruling that favored the Philippine’s claim by the arbitral tribunal in the Hague. It has reported without interpretation the primacy of law enforcement agencies in implementing programs, the enhanced militarization and the consequent marginalization of human rights, public interest and common good. 

There has been little analysis about the impact of the country’s buy-into the POGO industry, China’s massive Silk Road to support “Build, Build, Build.” – opening the gates to a flood of foreign workers in a country that has for so long sent off Filipinos to work abroad. Surely it is obvious that the president’s favor for China has not recognized our national interest.. 

This kind of reporting roots out all values in journalism, as though journalism had none. 

As Filipinos, we need to ask ourselves, how did we let this happen. Our country was an unlikely home for this global shift. Its history has been rooted in the national struggle of independence from colonial power, the first to succeed in Asia, a liberal framework that protected free expression and press freedom from laws, provided for no less than its constitutions of 1935 and 1987. 

But scholarly studies have identified the conditions which show how Philippine democracy has been seeded in soil which was perhaps not sufficiently enriched with nutrients required for democracy to thrive. 

Societal structures did not open up enough to allow institutional checks and balances. The forces of clan and family were retained and legitimized as a political dynasties which treated all public affairs as part of their family enterprise. 

Indeed, news organizations even reflect so much of this political culture. Despite the constitutional protection of media autonomy and the liberal values asserted in the legal framework; the media community in the country had not always been impervious to state pressure, and enough journalists have been willing to follow government’s lead with obsequious coverage. 

The most recent and dramatic example has been the wholesale co-optation of the press by the Ferdinand Marcos when he ruled through Martial Law from 1972 until 1986; and only then when people themselves gathered on the streets to demand his withdrawal from power, forcing the Marcos family, his cronies and officials to exile. 

But lest we forget, even under repressive conditions in the past, there have always been journalists who set themselves apart to sustain the function of the fourth estate to check the abuse of power. The alternative press has taken many forms and is showing itself even now, the courage, the fortitude, the will to speak truth to power. 

The Duterte administration has succeeded to control the flow of information and dominate coverage, but there are forces in media who retain their fearless independence.

The question now is whether these forces will gain the people’s support or if it will be reduced only to a voice in the wilderness. 

Animosity against all critics. Lack of Transparency and Accountability. Social media campaign against mainstream media. Targetting Rappler, ABS-CBN and Inquirer.

These may now be well known facts. But I suggest we force ourselves to recall them. 

A brief review indicates that actual interaction of the president with members of the press has been minimal.  And yet it is the impact on the press that demonstrates most dramatically the country’s drift toward  authoritarianism, indeed of the tyranny of his leadership. 

Within the first six months, with media restraining its natural impulse to criticize a new government to observe the traditional good will “honeymoon,” Duterte unleashed the savage force of TokHang against the poorest communities; an army of trolls and his genuine supporters waged a massive social media campaign to demonize the mainstream press along with ceaseless attacks on the political opposition. The connection between troll armies and the Palace communications office became visible as social media influencers were given positions in government or were featured in Palace programs. 

In 2017, the intimidation of media, particularly of their owners, set in, instilling an almost visceral fear, a deep-seated terror at being made a target of unfounded charges. 

In his second year in office, he singled our three media organizations with threats against their owners – which he acted on. All three,The Philippine Daily Inquirer, broadcast network ABS-CBN and online Rappler, had proactively investigated the rising number of deaths from the government “war on drugs.” 

Like a contagion, this animosity toward the free press spread among government officials at all levels, who adopted the president’s own bullying stance, initiating an array of actions against the press, the range of which I will present as recorded in CMFR data base. 

The question then: Is there press freedom still in the Philippines?  

The answer is, yes, in parts; as the press community itself is also divided.  

Actually, the answer one gets depends on who you ask. The press like the rest of the population is divided, working as it were in separate cells even in the same news organization or as news organizations form opposing camps. In some newsrooms, efforts were made to discourage stories that would put the president and the administration in a bad light.  Only recently, CMFR has noted take downs or modifications of original reports, self-censorship of the most open kind. 

One senses a lack of institutional solidarity, as though organizations were watching out only for own interests alone and not caring about how other organizations fare. As though the institution itself did not exist. 

What  is the future for this divided press? 

The answer may depend on who the public believes more.  But bear in mind that even public opinion polls are now being questioned because in an atmosphere of limited information and fear, these methods may no longer make sense. 

The conditions then are complex. The constitution remains the sanctuary of its protection. Whether this is effective enough requires more extended and nuanced discussion. 

International media watchdogs noted a pattern of restrictions on the press and free speech during the pandemic. Quarantine conditions inherently restrict all activities. But more in some cases than in others. Filipino journalists were required to submit to accreditation, which added another layer of bureaucratic involvement in the press conduct. Everyone knows that such credentials can be withdrawn for no reason at all. 

Pandemic conditions heightened the securitization of all government conduct, which made media workers more vulnerable to close examination at check-points and to heightened surveillance. 

The economic impact of the lockdowns in different places also caused the demise of numerous daily and weekly news publications based in the communities, small press outlets which served the people with a channel which connected the people to their elected officials. 

Lately all the community papers which suspended publications have reportedly returned with both digital and print issues. But we have yet to check if these are doing more or less independently as they did in the past. 

There is good news in the resilience shown by community radio. But unfortunately, radio in this country has been dependent on government information, or chat programs that are politically sponsored through the system of block-timing. So whether radio can provide the force among communities to assist them in their political choices remains an open question. 

The effect on haccess to information is deeply felt. With poor wi-fi conditions, the digital meetings are difficult to maintain and poor connectivity can easily be used as a cover for officials who do not want to give an answer. 

Some officials have resorted to pre-packaged text/online briefings on a a take-it or leave-it basis. There are less and less officials who bother to return calls to answer questions or to clarify questions.   

PCIJ reported how the low response rate of government worsened during the quarantine periods. A review period from March 13 to May 27 showed that only one out of ten requests filed before the government’s FOI portal was answered. 

Two laws passed in 2020 included provisions that legalize penalties for passing “fake news” adding to those in the Anti-Cybercrime Law – provisions which have been contested in the courts, the latter lost in the High Court. Among the provisions expanding presidential powers to address the COVID-19 challenge in the Bayanihan to Heal as One Law places in the hands of government the determination of what constitutes fake news and its penalties. 

Another legislation “Anti-Terror” Law” is now being challenged in the Supreme Court for its unconstitutional provisions, including those that could be used by police and military to curtail legitimate criticism, with at least two cases already recorded for the arrest of critical media practitioners. 

The Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments against the Anti-Terror Act.  The decision of the High Court will be a major factor in shaping the future of the press. Its implementation will further tighten government’s hold over the once free press of the country. But the discussion should be re-opened on whether there is need for Cyber-libel law? 

Even without the pandemic, the deepening culture of fear is itself effectively controlling newsrooms. 

The effective closure of the country’s major broadcast network ABS-CBN was an unprecedented act of state power which struck at the core of the media system and the communities, leaving the community still shaken by the experience. If this can happen to ABS-CBN, then it can happen to any of the others. 

The counter-insurgency campaign pursued by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) has used red-tagging which has included journalists. The unit is chaired by the president himself. 

The practice – the quick labeling of individuals or groups as supporters of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People’s Army (NPA) and National Democratic Front (NDF) – endangers victims, including journalists, of being hauled to court on trumped up charges such as illegal possession of firearms and make them vulnerable to harassment or worse.

We have not counted as a threat or attack but flag the role of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) which in 2019 held forums for community media where media members were asked to  sign on to a “Manifesto of Commitment” a declaration of their “wholehearted support and commitment to the implementation of President Rodrigo R. Duterte ‘s  regional task force to end local communist armed conflict. In this kind of situation, asking journalists to sign makes the act “compelling.”  

The state of the community press reveals where and how journalists are most vulnerable, as police and military actions can occur with less national attention, delaying all kinds of assistance and protection. Also with the level of familiarity in the community, it is also easier to intimidate without too much force.  

For this reason, we are hoping to work with NUJP members to invigorate the reporting on these attacks and threats which have evolved all kinds of actions, given the changing environment of PH journalism. 

With the two years of lockdown and quarantine, some of the practices adopted because of the pandemic may become ingrained. The Reporters sans Fronteres (RSF) Secretary General Christophe de Loire summed up the warning: “What will freedom of information, pluralism and reliability look like in 2030? The answer to that question is being determined today.” 

Self-censorship, the wariness of other owners of news organizations holds up the dark clouds over the prospects of press freedom in the Philippines. 

Even before the pandemic, CMFR had begun to track numerous issues left un-investigated, stories un-told that the people have a right to know. The effect overall is government’s control of the news agenda. CMFR’s media monitor counts government officials as the predominant sources in the news. They set the news narrative and are generally given more space and time than those opposing them. 

As other international media watchdog organizations have pointed out, the pandemic has exacerbated the crisis of limited information and government control which had been going on with democratic decline. 

From the CMFR data base, 223 incidents were recorded as reported from June 30 2016 to April 30 2020: these included various levels of harassment, verbal and physical assault, intimidation, libel charges and the  banning of journalists from coverage. 

CMFR started its data base on the killings of journalists in 1992, verifying the reported 32 cases which at the time already ranked as high as those killed in countries at actual war and battle zones.  Our killings map has been upgraded to include more information about the cases. 

The FMFA exercise on press freedom day has involved both CMFR and the NUJP whose members report from the ground to evaluate cases together for more enhanced verification.

Nineteen journalists were killed in the line of work from June 30, 2016 to April 30, 2021. All male victims. Four were killed in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Cornelio Pepino on May 5, two days after the World Press Freedom Day celebration; Jobert Bercasio on September 4; Virgilio Maganes on November 8; and, Ronnie Villamor on November 17.

Thirteen worked in radio, five in print and one online. Nine of those killed were from Mindanao, seven from Luzon and three from Visayas. Five from the Bicol region, four from SOCCSKSARGEN, three from Central Visayas, two each from Western Mindanao and from Caraga, and one from Davao region

CMFR notes the increase in the number of intimidation and libel cases in 2020.

Intimidation includes red-tagging, surveillance and other kinds of harassments including threats to file cases against journalists, doxing and extortion.

Of the 51 cases of intimidation from June 30 2016 to April 30 2021, 30 were incidents of red-tagging. 

• Paola Espiritu, Northern Dispatch correspondent, was accused as a communist and otherwise maligned publicly by military officers in a manner that forced her to seek refuge and withdraw from her work.

• Red-tagging has led to arrests in some cases. Journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio of Eastern Vista was arrested on February 7, 2020 in the Eastern Vista staff house for illegal possession of fire arms. Cumpio remains in prison as of press time. 

• On December 10, CIDG members arrested Manila Today Editor Lady Ann Salem for illegal possession of fire arms along with six others in separate raids in Metro Manila. Salem was released on March 5, 2021 after the court cleared her and another for the charges. 

Five incidents of surveillance were also recorded. Surveillance includes police visits and vehicle “tailing.”  

22 or 43 percent of these incidents were recorded during the pandemic.

There were 37 cases of libel and oral defamation recorded from June 30, 2016 to April 30, 2021. Eighteen of these were online libel. Eight of 37 cases involved actual arrests.

20 or 54 percent of these libel cases were recorded during the pandemic.

The database shows that 114 cases were linked to state agents. CMFR already has already called attention to the increased involvement of state agents as perpetrators with 114 out of 223 cases. LGU 38, police 34, NGov 34 military 8. This is a notable increase that indicates the position that government officials have taken in dealing with the press. 

CMFR has also noted the increased reporting of other attacks and threats under the Duterte administration. This may be out of a greater sense of danger for media and journalists that they have begun to report these incidents – some of which they may have tended to ignore in the past. 

We should make the effort to find hope and strength in the global solidarity expressed by World Press Freedom Day. It is not an easy thing to do.

The landscape of press freedom has long been darkened by the endemic violence seeded by the “gun culture” evident in so many aspects of public life.  This aspect of our national culture should be a understood as a major deterrent to democratic practice. The latter promotes dialogue and debate, talk and conversation. It prescribes for those involved in disagreements, in fights and feuds to come to the table and settle these differences peaceably. 

Since 2016, the Duterte administration has deepened political as well as cultural differences highlighting and encouraging hate speech and all kinds of hostility on all communication platforms.  

He has unleashed the forces of hate and violence, first through the indiscriminate killings as part of the drug campaign, through the bombing and destruction of Marawi, through the overzealous punishment of those failing to comply with curfew or other measures. 

Take the example of the barangay tanod wanting to punish a youth who may have simply stepped out for a breath of fresh air and found himself having to run for his life. 

Once our keepers of the law lose their way, violence, guns and weapons become a way of life. 

And so today, we must pledge ourselves to use the news as a way out of this dark place. Let us shine our light on the goodness that Filipinos have shown in the midst of so much suffering, the great capacity of the poor to share what little they have, the custom of our country, damayan, pakikiramay, bayanihan. Let there be no mistake about where the press stands when something like the “community pantry” is made to look bad or dubious in terms of its intent.  

Indeed, how else can we counter the forces of anger and hate – but to report the simplicity of doing good.

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Philippine journalists’ perspectives on press freedom: The impact of international media campaigns

• Rachel Khan University of the Philippines-Diliman, Quezon City

Legally, press freedom in the Philippines is protected by the 1987 Constitution. However, media laws in the country, especially those referring to freedom of the expression and the press, tend to be inconsistent and volatile. In fact, the country continues to be low ranking in the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. In response to attacks on press freedom, international media organisations have stepped up to defend and support the Philippine press. Drawing from data gathered through 20 semi-structured indepth interviews with Filipino journalists, this study sought to examine the effect of the government hostility against media on journalists’ perception of press freedom and their attitude towards interventions from international media organisations and coalitions. More specifically, it looks at the impact (or lack thereof) of global media coalitions and foreign media organisations in the country. Findings show that local media are appreciative of the support given by international media organisations in promoting media freedom in the country. However, journalists also noted that when only one segment of the media is targeted, it can lead to divisiveness among local media practitioners.

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Tandoc, E. (2017). Watching over the watchdogs. Journalism Studies, 18(1), 102-117. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1218298 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1218298

Westerman, A. (2019). Journalist’s arrest in Philippines sparks demonstrations, fears of wider crackdown. NPR. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://www.npr.org/2019/02/15/695062771/journalists-arrest-in-philippines-sparks-demonstrations-fears-of-wider-crackdown

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In the Philippines, free press won’t go down without a fight

• Deep Read ( 4 Min. )
• By Mark Saludes Contributor

July 25, 2022 | MANILA, Philippines

The Philippines is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist, with reporters regularly enduring verbal abuse, online attacks, libel charges, and physical harassment. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines reports that at least 23 journalists have been killed since 2016.

Experts say the new administration could be worse. President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sarah Duterte both come from political families that are hostile toward journalists. A few days after Mr. Marcos assumed the presidency on June 30, the Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa for cyber libel, marking the latest in a series of blows to the acclaimed journalist, who now faces nearly seven years in prison.

Why We Wrote This

The Philippine government has a history of targeting adversarial journalists. Until press freedom is fully protected, experts say it’s the public that loses out.

In courts and newsrooms across the country, journalists such as Ms. Ressa are fighting for their right to work freely. Danilo Arao, an associate professor journalism at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, says the magnitude of harassment and intimidation is producing a “chilling effect” and hinders the Philippine press from doing its job.

“If this continues, you’ll end up with docile and servile people who favor political power, rather than adversarial journalists,” he says.

Freedom of press is guaranteed by the Philippines’ Constitution. Yet the island nation has become one of the most dangerous places in the world to exercise that right.

Journalists endured verbal abuse, online attacks, libel charges, and physical harassment for years under the strongman rule of Rodrigo Duterte. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines reports that at least 23 journalists have been killed since 2016, and many expect the new administration will be worse. 

Both President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., son and namesake of the famous dictator, and Vice President Sarah Duterte, daughter of Mr. Duterte, come from political families that are openly hostile toward journalists. It remains to be seen whether they will build on their parents’ legacies of cracking down on press freedom, but the past few weeks haven’t been encouraging. A few days after Mr. Marcos assumed the presidency on June 30, the Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa for cyber libel, marking the latest in a series of blows to the acclaimed journalist and her embattled publication Rappler. She now faces nearly seven years in prison.

It’s one thing to enshrine a freedom in the constitution – it’s another to ensure that freedom in practice. In courts and newsrooms across the country, journalists are fighting for their right to work freely. Still, experts worry about how the press would fare under six more years of persecution, and the impact this all has on Philippine democracy.

Danilo Arao, an associate professor of journalism at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, says the magnitude of harassment and intimidation is producing a “chilling effect” and hinders the Philippine press from “performing the highest normative standards of journalism.” 

Defending press freedom in court

Ms. Ressa, who is also a U.S. citizen, is facing seven active cases before the Philippine courts, all filed during the time of Mr. Duterte. 

She says she hasn’t given up “hope that these next six years will be slightly better,” because the Marcoses “are more sophisticated [than the Dutertes] in some ways.” But she’s ready to fight if things get worse. Despite losing her recent appeal against the cyber libel conviction, Ms. Ressa’s legal team considers the ruling an opportunity for the Supreme Court to examine the constitutionality of cyber libel and the continuing criminalization of libel. 

In a statement , Ms. Ressa’s lawyer Amal Clooney said she hopes the high court will “restore the country’s constitutional commitment to freedom of speech. And I hope that the new Marcos administration will show the world that it is strong enough to withstand scrutiny and allow a free press.”

Ms. Ressa says the string of cases against Rappler and the onslaught of attacks against the Philippine media aimed to “make us voluntarily stay quiet, to voluntarily give up our rights.” 

“We’re not going to do that in Rappler. I’ve said this repeatedly over the last six years – and apparently, for another six years: We’re not going to go away,” she says.

Alternative news site Bulatlat.com, one of 27 websites that were blocked by the National Telecommunications Commission during Mr. Duterte’s final weeks in office, has also brought the battle to the courts.

“The memorandum order clearly violates our constitutional freedoms of the press, speech, and expression,” says Ronalyn Olea, managing editor of Bulatlat.com. “It does not just constitute censorship; it also deprived us of due process of law.” 

The site is still blocked, but Ms. Olea hopes the court will rule “in favor of press freedom and the public’s right to information” at a preliminary injunction set for Aug. 2.

In peril: public’s right to know

News organizations in the Philippines face a plethora of threats that make it difficult to deliver information to the public. Several outlets including CNN Philippines and Rappler have been targets of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, a form of internet censorship in which attackers crash a website for hours or days by flooding it with traffic. 

Last year, DDoS attacks on Bulatlat.com and Altermidya.net – another alternative news site blocked in June by the National Telecommunications Commission – were traced to an IP address assigned to the Philippine army. No one has been held accountable.

Experts say alternative and community publications, which are small and scattered in nature, are especially vulnerable to “red-tagging,” in which authorities open up specific reporters or publications to harassment by linking them to communist or rebel groups. Rhea Padilla, national coordinator of Alternative Media Network, says the government has tagged journalists “for publishing stories that depict the people’s struggle and stimulate critical public discourse.”

Jonathan de Santos, president of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, calls these attacks “a disservice to the Filipino people.”

“They want people to become blinded followers,” he says.

Search for solidarity

Over the past six years, there is a growing solidarity among journalists amid the intensifying attack on press freedom. Mr. de Santos says many individual journalists, especially the young ones, “are setting aside competition to strengthen the fight against disinformation and confront all kinds of attacks on press freedom.” 

“However, we still have to translate this kind of solidarity among newsrooms and media organizations. We need to push back as one industry,” he says. 

For Ms. Ressa, winning the war against media repression requires winning the trust and confidence of the Filipino public, who shaped the foundation of press freedom in the country. 

When Ferdinand Marcos Sr. imposed martial law in 1972, he immediately ordered the military to seize major media outlets’ assets. The closure of trusted news outlets and murder of adversarial journalists eventually gave birth to the “mosquito press,” a collective name for alternative publications that criticized the dictatorship. They were said to be “small, but have a stinging bite.” Later, the 1986 People Power Revolt that ousted the senior Mr. Marcos also helped restore press freedom, enshrining the right in the 1987 constitution. It’s a history that Ms. Ressa hopes Filipino people will remember going into this new era.

“The point is, if only one stands up, it’s easy to slap them down. But if a thousand stand up, then it becomes harder. So it’s not just journalists you have to turn to. It is also Filipinos,” she says. “This is a time when we have to stand up for our rights.”

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Press freedom under attack: why Filipino journalist Maria Ressa’s arrest should matter to all of us

Professor of Journalism and Communications, The University of Queensland

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In a scene right out of a thriller, agents from the Filipino National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided journalist and editor Maria Ressa’s Manila office at 5pm on Wednesday February 13, after most courts had closed. They took her from the Rappler newsroom where she is editor, to a police watch house and threw her in a cell.

Ressa’s lawyer bagged up enough cash to post bail and rushed to the only available judge who was presiding over the night court. The judge refused bail, forcing the journalist to spend the night in prison before another judge finally released her the following day.

Ressa’s crime? According to the NBI, she had been arrested on charges of “cyber-libel” – online defamation – for a story alleging a prominent businessman was involved in criminal activity.

Why it matters

Maria Ressa’s case is important not only because a government used a crime statute to intimidate and lock up a journalist for what should have been treated as a civil dispute, but because of what it says about the way governments are increasingly using the “rule of law” to silence the legitimate work of journalists.

“As a journalist, I know firsthand how the law is being weaponised against perceived critics,” Ressa told CNN .

“I’m not a critic,” she continued. “I’m a journalist and I’m doing my job, holding the government to account.”

Ressa is one of the world’s most decorated reporters. A former CNN correspondent, she set up the news website Rappler.com early in 2012 with a group of colleagues. Since then, it has won numerous awards and become one of the most respected news organisations in the Philippines, fearlessly covering the Duterte government and the consequences of its war on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives.

Last year, TIME Magazine named Ressa a “Person of the Year” – among several journalists including the recently murdered Jamal Khashoggi – for her courageous defence of press freedom.

Read more: Four journalists, one newspaper: Time Magazine's Person of the Year recognises the global assault on journalism

Rappler published the disputed story in May 2012, four months before the government passed the cyber-libel law. (Under the Philippines’ constitution, no law can be retroactive .) The law also requires complaints to be filed within a year of publication.

The NBI said Rappler had updated the story in 2014 (it corrected a spelling error), and argued that because the story was still online, the website was guilty of “ continuous publication ”.

The cyber-libel charge is the latest in a long string of legal attacks Rappler is fighting off. Ressa told CNN she is involved in no less than seven separate cases, including charges of violating laws that prohibit foreign ownership of media companies and tax evasion.

She vehemently denies all the allegations, and to date there has been no evidence to support them. Instead, the legal assault has widely been condemned as a blatant attack on press freedom.

After the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – responsible for registering companies in the Philippines – warned it was revoking Rappler’s license to operate because of breaches of the ownership laws, Philippines Senator Risa Hontiveros tweeted this was “a move straight out of the dictator’s playbook. I urge the public and all media practitioners to defend press freedom and the right to speak truth to power.”

The Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines expressed “deep concern” over the SEC decision, saying it was “tantamount to killing the online news site”. And, the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines said the decision

will be remembered in Philippine press history infamy. It is the day that a government built on democratic principles struck a blow on one of the pillars of Asia’s most vibrant democracy.

The SEC has allowed Rappler to continue operating while the case is pending, but the threat of closure remains.

In its defence, the country’s justice department denied it was an attack on press freedom, arguing free speech did not give licence to engage in libel. That is true of course, but the way the authorities in the Philippines have been twisting the law to suit a blatantly political purpose should be troubling to all of us.

Read more: Maria Ressa: journalists need protection in Duterte’s Philippines, but we must also heed the stories they tell

How governments silence journalists

The Duterte administration isn’t the first to do this. It happened to my two colleagues and I in Egypt, where we were charged and convicted for terrorism offences after we spoke to the Muslim Brotherhood - the group who had six months earlier been ousted from power as the first legitimately elected government in Egypt’s history.

As responsible journalists, we had a duty to speak to all parties involved in the political crisis, and for doing our jobs, we were sentenced to seven years for “promoting terrorist ideology”.

Turkey is the world’s most prolific jailer of journalists, with 68 in prison . Yet all are there on terrorism charges.

And the problem is not limited to authoritarian regimes. As much as former US President Barack Obama spoke out in our defence while we were imprisoned in Cairo, his administration used the Espionage Act (passed in 1917 to deal with foreign spies) more than all his predecessors combined.

The act was applied against government workers leaking information to the press. If the leaks exposed genuinely sensitive information, this would be understandable, but in almost every case it was to go after journalists or their sources revealing politically embarrassing stories.

Read more: United States will stay on the Greste case, Ambassador says

In Australia, a slew of laws have come in that, in their own way, choke off journalists’ ability to hold the government, courts and individuals to account. Whether it is the data retention law that makes it almost impossible to protect sources, or the chronic overuse of suppression orders that restrict journalists’ capacity to report on court cases, or defamation laws weighted heavily in against the media, all make the our societies more opaque without providing protection for legitimate journalistic inquiry.

As Maria Ressa said after she was released on bail :

Press freedom is not just about journalists. This is certainly not just about me or Rappler. Press freedom is the foundation of every Filipino’s right to the truth. We will keep fighting. We will hold the line. This has become more important than ever.

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Griffith Asia Insights

Posted by Griffith Asia Institute | Published 13 July 2020

Reflections on press freedom as a pillar of democracy

Image credit: The STAR/KJ Rosales

STEFAN ARMBRUSTER |

The news isn’t great for journalists and democracy in the Asia-Pacific region right now, with existing pressures on media freedom amplified as the COVID-19 pandemic rages and coinciding with government attempts to stifle critical voices. While parliaments are partially suspended due to the coronavirus, laws have been introduced not just to lockdown populations to prevent infection but also on the pretext of state security. The role of the media to independently inform citizens and hold governments to account is now more critical than ever before. 

The 2020 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index  is just the latest to highlight “converging crises affecting the future of journalism”, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region “that saw the greatest rise in press freedom violations”. 

In “ Holding the Line: A Report into Impunity, Journalist Safety and Working Conditions ”, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reported media workers were increasingly being targeted by authorities and enmeshed in “debilitating legal maelstroms” with one objective: to “silence the media and shut down the truth”.

For the Griffith Asia Institute (GAI)’s next Perspectives Asia event, three eminent journalists from the region – Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Australia – will discuss the “Role of press freedom as a pillar of democracy”.  

Director of GAI Professor  Caitlin Byrne  invites you to join a forthright discussion by these brave and respected champions of press freedom in the Asia-Pacific region on the right to speak truth to power.

“A free press plays an essential role in our democratic societies – holding governments to account, highlighting corruption, injustice and abuse of power while enabling societies to be more informed and engaged in the decisions and policies that affect them. The  World Press Freedom Index 2020  reports a fairly gloomy picture of press freedom worldwide, but makes particular note of the worrying trends at play in the Asia Pacific. Increasing forms of government intimidation, censorship and oppression of journalists and media outlets in Australia and across the region threaten to undermining the very nature and resilience of our democracies. How we address this issue in the next decade will be decisive.”

The conviction of Maria Ressa, CEO of Philippines website Rappler , and former researcher Reynaldo Santos for “cyber libel” is the first of a string of charges the Philippines authorities brought against this independent news organisation that has been successfully prosecuted. Current editor-at-large Marites Vitug warns her country is “losing its grip on democracy, courtesy of an autocratic president who is using state agencies to weaken the media”. Ms Vitug joins the panel as international condemnation grows of what the European Parliament’s Media Working Group this month described as an “ orchestrated campaign of legal harassment .”

President Duterte came to power in 2016 with a blood-curdling warning : “Just because you’re a journalist, you are not exempted from assassination, if you’re a son of a bitch.” Ten years on from the Ampatuan massacre that claimed the lives of 32 media workers, the Philippines is still considered one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist.

“The Philippine media are under siege and the greatest threat to media freedom is President Duterte himself. He has broken the rule of law in the country, he doesn’t brook dissent. His rule is vengeful and punitive,” Ms Vutig comments.

“The recent passage of the Anti-Terror Act (during the pandemic) opens the floodgates for law enforcement authorities to tag perceived enemies of the state as ‘terrorists’ including journalists,” she added.

In Australia too, new national security laws are before parliament and come as a chill was sent through the media community by federal police raids targeting colleagues over public interest reportage that embarrassed the government. Search and seizure operations against the national broadcaster the ABC and the home of a major newspaper’s journalist saw charges recommended against one reporter. RSF reports Australia “used to be the regional model but is now characterised by its threats to the confidentiality of sources and to investigative journalism”. 

On the panel is Professor Peter Greste, a foreign correspondent for 25 years with Reuters, CNN, BBC and Al-Jazeera and co-founder of the Alliance for Journalists Freedom . His reportage in Egypt saw him spend 400 days in jail and face court on terrorism charges in a case that was internationally condemned as a politically motivated show trial .

“In Australia, we have seen more than 80 separate pieces of national security legislation pass through the Commonwealth  many of which seriously limit press freedom,” he said.

“The War on Terror has given governments the freedom to draft loosely-framed national security legislation and related technologies that they have then used to spy on journalists and their sources.

“The effect is to expose journalists to overbearing investigations, criminalising otherwise legitimate inquiries, and silencing their work.”

In Papua New Guinea last year there was a glimmer of hope with the installation of Prime Minister James Marape for greater media freedom after what RSF describes as almost a decade of “dictatorial tendencies marked by press freedom violations, including intimidation, direct threats, censorship, prosecutions and attempts to bribe journalists”. 

However, Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) in its forthcoming Media Trends report, the “first to provide an objective basis to evaluate claims of whether the media in PNG are fair”, suggests little has changed. 

Joining the panel is Scott Waide who is a PNG investigative journalist and Lae Bureau chief at commercial broadcaster EMTV . He has repeatedly stared down attempts to stifle his reporting. As a member of the Melanesia Media Freedom Forum (MMFF) he warns of a “dangerous downward trend” in PNG and the region.

“Corruption is normalised and legalised, politicians feel that government policy should not be questioned, and critical thinking is largely absent in public debate,” he said. 

“Journalists are threatened, abused and ridiculed, editors, CEOs and board members are put under pressure, you are excluded from events or deliberately not informed. Politicians feel invincible. They want us to report the facts but not report the why and how.”

“As well as the steady exit of senior journalists, taking with them years of accumulated institutional knowledge, younger journalists leave after an average of five years, there is always a constant void that needs filling in newsrooms and (results in) the absence of critical debate driven by the media.”

Join us on July 16 (5 pm AEST) to hear more from our panel members and be part of this critical and very timely conversation. Register for the next Perspectives Asia Event .

Stefan Armbruster is SBS correspondent for Queensland and the Pacific. He is an Industry Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute

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A 'Fraught Time' For Press Freedom In The Philippines

Sheila S. Coronel

College students protest to defend press freedom in Manila on Wednesday, after the government cracked down on Rappler, an independent online news site. Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

College students protest to defend press freedom in Manila on Wednesday, after the government cracked down on Rappler, an independent online news site.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte does not like the press. Stung by critical media reporting, he has in the past months called some of the country's largest media organizations "bullshit," "garbage," "son of a bitch." Journalists, he said, have no shame. They are corrupt fabulists and hypocrites who "pretend to be the moral torch of the country."

But Duterte does not just get mad; he gets even. This week, the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission revoked the corporate registration of Rappler , an online media startup that has reported aggressively on Duterte's troll army and police abuses in the government's war on drugs. If the order is confirmed by an appeals court, the company may have to shut down.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, shown here on Dec. 20 at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the military, became president as the Philippine media were losing prestige and market power. Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, shown here on Dec. 20 at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the military, became president as the Philippine media were losing prestige and market power.

Threatening as this crackdown is, it's only one arm of a pincer-like assault on the press. Duterte is drawing from the Modern Autocrat's Field Guide to Information Control. The aim is complete encirclement so as to drown out critical and independent voices. Like Vladimir Putin, Turkey's Recip Tayyip Erdogan and Hungary's Viktor Orban, he has launched a two-pronged attack.

One prong is media muzzling through government regulation. In Russia, Turkey and Hungary, autocratic leaders have shut down critical news outlets or transferred their ownership to friendly proprietors. In all these countries, government regulators have hounded recalcitrant media owners with spurious allegations like tax evasion and failure to obtain licenses.

More insidiously, populist leaders have tried to de-legitimize independent and critical media by ridiculing their editorial standards and their claims to a moral high ground. The press, said Dutere , "throw[s] garbage at us ... [but] How about you? Are you also clean?"

Demonization by government — something President Trump also deploys against media outlets he dislikes — is just one tactic. The other is letting loose an army of trolls , bloggers on the state's payroll , propagandists and paid hacks who ensure the strongman's attacks against the press are amplified in newspaper columns and on the airwaves, on social media and fake news sites.

In 1972, when Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, he closed down all newspapers and broadcast stations and hauled dozens of journalists to jail. When the presses and broadcast networks reopened, they were all owned by Marcos kin and cronies and were censored by the presidential palace. The flow of information was strictly controlled: There were only three daily newspapers and a limited number of TV and radio stations.

Employees of Rappler, an online news outfit known for its critical reporting on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, continued to work in their office in Manila on Tuesday. The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission revoked Rappler's corporate registration this week. Aaron Favila/AP hide caption

Employees of Rappler, an online news outfit known for its critical reporting on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, continued to work in their office in Manila on Tuesday. The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission revoked Rappler's corporate registration this week.

Duterte is an admirer of Marcos, but he is using a 21st century playbook for media control. The strategy is no longer restricting information flows, but flooding the information space with disinformation and propaganda while also attacking legitimate purveyors of the news.

Last year, the president launched blistering assaults against two news organizations that reported allegations he had stashed millions in secret bank accounts. As he turned up the heat, the owners of the Philippine Daily Inquirer , the country's second largest newspaper, announced they would sell the daily to a businessman chummy with the president. Duterte also tightened the screws on the top television network, ABS-CBN, threatening to block the renewal of its franchise and to sue its owners for failing to air campaign ads that he said he had already paid for.

Rappler was investigated supposedly because it violated the ban on foreign media ownership. The pioneering startup issued $1 million in securities, called Philippine depository receipts, to the Omidyar Network, the philanthropic arm of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.

Other companies, including a giant telecommunications firm and two broadcast networks, have similar arrangements with foreign investors. But only Rappler's registration has been revoked — tellingly, six months after Duterte accused the news site of being U.S.-owned.

During the Marcos era, Filipino journalists and citizens used innovative ways to skirt censorship. There was a robust underground press and above-ground media used allegory and allusion to evade restrictions.

The new media landscape requires new strategies for ensuring that genuine news evades encirclement by poisoned information. More cautious news outlets have taken the path of self-preservation through self-censorship. Rappler, for one, has said it will not stand down, and it has the support of major journalist groups in the Philippines and overseas. In the past, journalists, with the support of outraged citizens, have successfully resisted gagging.

But the Philippine press has never been weaker. Media influence and market power soared after Marcos fell in a 1986 popular uprising. There was a hunger for news and uncensored information and crusading journalists and newspapers were feted for their role in the democracy movement. Before long, powerful families bought newspapers and broadcast networks, using their media clout to advance their interests. Sensationalism ruled in a crowded and competitive media market.

Like elsewhere, technology has disrupted the media business in the Philippines: Revenues have fallen, and audiences have moved online, gravitating toward Facebook, which has become the de facto news source for most Filipinos.

Duterte became president as the media were losing prestige and market power. He attacked the press where it was most vulnerable: His tirades against sensationalist journalists and elitist media owners resonated among many Filipinos.

This is a fraught time for the Philippine press. In the past, journalists and citizens have stood together to defend the right to know. They may do so again, but they need a clear vision, an ark that will see them through the Duterte era's deluge of disinformation.

Sheila S. Coronel (@sheilacoronel) is Director of the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and Dean of Academic Affairs at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She co-founded the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

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Freedom Of The Press Is An Old Issue In The Philippines. What Will Marcos Jr. Do Now?

The fatal shooting of Filipino radio broadcaster Percival Mabasa in Manila earlier this month has heightened concerns that the media will remain under attack during the new administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.

The 63-year-old host of the “Lapid Fire” show was known for his sharp critiques of both Marcos Jr., the son of a dictator ousted in a pro-democracy uprising in 1986, and the previous president, Rodrigo Duterte, who oversaw a deadly crackdown on illegal drugs.

The Philippine police and a presidential task force on media security are still investigating the case but presume that the killing was work-related.

Mabasa, who used the broadcast name Percy Lapid, was the second j ournalist killed since Marcos Jr. took office at the end of June. According to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, nearly 200 journalists have been killed since the late Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown and went into exile in Hawaii in 1986.

Mabasa’s killing stood out because it took place in the capital of Manila, while most other attacks against journalists have been outside of the capital. Another Filipino radio journalist, Renato “Rey” Blanco, was killed last month in the Negros Oriental province in the central Philippines.

Mabasa was killed when two men on a motorcycle approached the vehicle he was driving and shot him twice in the head on Oct. 3 in suburban Las Pinas City, The Associated Press reported, adding that the attackers escaped.

He was on his way to work, his brother, Roy Mabasa said on social media.

LAST time I saw my brother #PercyLapid alive in person was about 2 weeks ago. Percy was ambushed Monday night while on his way to his #lapidfire studio in Las Piñas. I'll always remember him for his deep faith in God & his undying love for his country. #JusticeForPercyLapid pic.twitter.com/ZWwlW3XgkH — ROY MABASA (@roymabasa) October 5, 2022

Local and international advocacy organizations condemned the killing and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists called on Philippine authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice. The organization also said it had emailed Marcos Jr.’s office and the presidential task force for comment.

Decades of killings, institutional corruption, legal persecution, false labeling as communists or terrorists and disinformation campaigns have rendered the Philippines one of the most hazardous places for media workers. The Southeast Asian nation also is plagued by private armies controlled by powerful clans and weak law enforcement.

One of the worst journalist massacres occurred in 2009 when 32 reporters were killed in Maguindanao province. A decade passed before any of the killers faced justice .

Threats to the Philippine media received global attention when Maria Ressa, CEO of the online Filipino news platform Rappler, won the Nobel Peace Prize last year alongside Russian journalist Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov. She has since been fighting a cyber libel conviction in the Philippines .

Carlos Conde, head Philippines researcher for Human Rights Watch, said that over half of the journalists killed had worked in radio, a medium in which reporting and commentary blur together in efforts to stand out in an industry of competing voices. He said that demonization of the media was just one of the human rights challenges aggravated under Duterte’s term.

“The killing of journalists is not something that occurs in a vacuum,” he said in a phone interview from his hotel room in Geneva, where he attended the 51st session of the U.N. Human Rights Council on Oct. 5.

Attacks against journalists reflect the poor quality of law enforcement institutions in the country as well as widespread corruption, Conde said.

“It’s been so commonplace and nobody’s shocked anymore – they’ve been inured to the violence,” Conde said.

Meanwhile, social media has facilitated the faster and easier spread of false narratives by government officials, journalists and citizens alike. And so-called red-tagging — the practice of harassing, threatening or blacklisting somebody by accusing them of being a communist or a terrorist — has bled over from the Duterte era.

“Troll armies” in the service of politicians make powerful accusations that become magnified among people who can no longer discern between real and fake news, Conde said. The problem is exacerbated in radio and broadcast journalism because of the selling of air time to the highest bidders, who can say whatever they want.

“This distinction really needs to be highlighted, especially for people outside of the Philippines: the fact is that a lot of this disinformation is put out by those with money to do that. It’s not some organic thing that happens,” Conde said.

He said such disinformation campaigns contributed to Marcos Jr.’s victory over former Vice President Leni Robredo in the presidential election.

The escalation of international attention on the human rights struggle in the Philippines started when Duterte took office in 2016 and began his war on drugs that drew international condemnation for widespread human rights abuses.

“It could be many years before the attitude towards the media changes.” — Journalists’ Union Chair Jonathan de Santos

The new president has vowed that journalists would be protected under his administration, and he reiterated that commitment in a speech after Mabasa’s killing.

“Under my lead, we will support and protect the rights of the media as they efficiently perform their duty. Whatever difficulties we may encounter from this point on, the government will always be ready to lend an ear and to listen to your concerns and to answer all that you may want to know,” he was quoted as saying in the Manila Times .

The signing of the  first national U.N.-Philippines Joint Program for human rights on July 22 also gave activists hope that there would be more accountability to commitments institutionalized in the international arena.

The last episode of Mabasa’s radio show , which aired Sept. 27 on DWBL 1242 AM railed against the institutional red-tagging that had flared up during the outgoing Duterte administration and, according to the host, was continuing with impunity under Marcos Jr. 

The night following Mabasa’s death, the national journalists’ union organized a candlelit rally in Quezon City to pay tribute to the radio journalist and call for government action against his killers. 

“The biggest thing (journalists) can do now is watch out for each other, track the progress and lack of progress of cases, and keep them in the public attention. Another way is to look at the issues that the journalist was talking about and amplify them,” journalists’ union chair Jonathan de Santos said.

Early in the new administration, journalists and local civic organizations welcome Marcos Jr.’s words but express skepticism that change will happen fast.

“It could be many years before the attitude towards the media changes, but t here’s so much more to gain from solidarity within the communities of the public. We have to reach out more to the community – be more relatable, I suppose, to make people feel that they’re heard, that they’re seen,” De Santos said.

The Civil Beat Editorial Board Interview: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa

Maria Ressa To Speak On ‘Press Freedom Under Fire’

The national journalists’ union has pr o g rams  that support the digital and physical safety of journalists, ranging from a media safety office that tracks harm toward media workers to a fund for orphans of slain voices. The organization is expanding its outreach efforts to provide media ethics training and media literacy events showing why journalism is crucial for the public good and to help promote accountability.

“Being critical doesn’t mean you want the government to fail,” De Santos said.

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Reflecting on the importance of press freedom

May 3 is World Press Freedom Day — a timely opportunity for reflection on the crucial importance of media freedoms and the vital role of journalists in our democracies.

This year, Uruguay is hosting the World Press Freedom Conference, under the theme “Journalism Under Digital Siege,” to underscore impacts of surveillance, threats, and safety of journalists on digital platforms and spaces.

Media freedom is a cornerstone of all democratic societies and essential to the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. A free media is essential to hold elected leaders to account. The decision by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee to award two brave journalists from the Philippines and from Russia also underlines the relevance of an independent media and press freedom for peace and stability. Yet, around the world, the ability of citizens to speak truth to power is under attack.

The readiness of malign actors, including some states, to suppress media freedom and weaponize misinformation and disinformation, and to use digital tools to manipulate, harass, and suppress citizens should be a source of concern for all. Russian efforts to spread falsehoods, intimidate and suppress free media, restrict their own citizens’ access to information, and subvert Ukrainian sovereignty stands out in this regard.

A brief survey of the global landscape illustrates the urgency for action. The Committee to Protect Journalists recorded at least 27 journalists killed over their work in 2021 alone, including two in the Philippines.

Authoritarian regimes have redoubled efforts to control narratives, as well as circumvent norms and institutions meant to uphold fundamental liberties.

Some have seized on crises like the COVID-19 pandemic to promote hatred and division, undermining trust in public institutions including the media. The escalation of gender-based violence and harassment of women journalists are of particular concern.

Much of this occurs in the digital domain, where malign actors have leveraged social media tools to flood feeds and inboxes with misinformation and disinformation, to undermine public confidence in democratic institutions, and to subvert democratic processes.

Rights to free speech and free expression, too, are under pressure. In many countries, government efforts to control and censor information deny citizens the ability to inform themselves, and to fully participate in democratic decision-making.

The Philippines is no stranger to the misinformation and disinformation phenomena. Since as early as 2010, academics and experts have been tracking its explosive growth in the Philippines. That World Press Freedom Day should fall just six days before millions of Filipinos will go to the polls is auspicious, and provides opportunity for reflection.

In a country where most citizens access news via digital platforms, the impact of false and manipulated information is amplified. In addition, reduced choice in sources of information, reliance on social media platforms as a primary vehicle for sharing of information, deliberate attacks on the credibility of media institutions, intimidation and censorship of independent media voices, and attacks on the credibility of essential government and democratic institutions have been observed and are being criticized.

The 2022 elections are unprecedented as they take place during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time where there is an even greater need to protect and promote the crucial role of independent media. In these exceptional times, their work serves to keep Filipinos worldwide informed, to amplify factual information and to counter false or misleading narratives.

Despite these challenges, growing civic awareness and the vibrant and dynamic civil society found across the Philippines offer hope. The emergence of independent fact-checking organizations, of civic education groups, the tireless and courageous work of human rights defenders, and the devoted efforts of free media and investigative journalists have done much to help reinforce and protect democracy in the Philippines.

The international community stands with Filipinos in this effort. Through forums like the Media Freedom Coalition and the Freedom Online Coalition, the G7, and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, efforts to support media freedom, reinforce democracy, combat misinformation and disinformation, and support human rights online are being pursued, in close partnership with government, media networks, advocacy groups, nongovernment organizations, academia, and the private sector. These efforts contribute help to improve fact-checking, build civic literacy, build capacity of media and democratic institutions, combat corruption, enhance transparency, and ensure accountability.

The struggle to protect democracy and fundamental rights and freedoms online and offline requires constant vigilance and perseverance. The cost of complacency is the subversion of a democratic way of life.

As the Philippines transitions into a new administration, we hope to see these challenges addressed and for a renewed commitment to defending and protecting press freedom in the country in the coming years.

On this World Press Freedom Day, we reconfirm our commitment to help protect a vibrant and independent media. We look forward to peaceful, truthful, and healthy conduct of the elections, and we extend our fondest wishes to the Filipino people as they participate in this important democratic exercise.

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This article was jointly signed by the ambassadors of Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines, and the chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of the Netherlands.

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Makoi Popioco

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The Philippines is Asia’s first democracy. A country where freedom of expression and of the press are constitutional rights.

Although the Philippines is not a war-torn country,   with 77 journalists killed in the last 20 years, it is the world’s third-deadliest country for journalists , behind Iraq and Syria, and worse than even Russia. Such a baffling paradox for a democratic country.

Worst attack against journalists

This month marked the start of the filing of Certificate of Candidacy for next year’s national elections in the Philippines. A time reminiscent of a horrendous incident six years ago when 32 defenseless journalists were massacred.

In November 2009, Esmael Mangudadatu, gubernatorial candidate from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, sent a convoy that included his wife, lawyers, and some relatives to file his certificate of candidacy in Sultan Kudarat. Journalists joined them to cover the story.

The convoy was stopped at a hilltop in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao by more than a hundred armed men. All 57 people, including the 32 journalists, in the convoy were brutally killed. Some were beheaded, and the women were reportedly raped. A state-owned backhoe was used to bury bullet-riddled corpses, in an attempt to clean up the crime scene.

The rival political clan of Ampatuans was believed to have plotted the ambush. The clan’s patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. was the incumbent governor. His son, Andal Jr, was running against Mangudadatu at the time. Both were declared prime suspects.

The carnage in Maguindanao was the most horrific election-related violence in the history of the Philippines, and also the world’s worst-recorded attack against journalists.

Flawed Democracy

The Maguindanao massacre changed the landscape of freedom of the press in the Philippines. It also exposed the many flaws in Philippine democracy, which become even more evident during elections.

In the Philippines, especially in the rural regions, local governments are disguised feudal systems. Political families have been ruling towns and provinces for decades. Government seats are their family’s heirloom. The government’s money is their clan’s wealth.

These political families splurge on luxury while the greater population suffers poverty.

Local journalists who investigate and expose corruption in the government suffer a wide range of harassment. Worse yet, many of the hard-hitting journalists were killed.

Culture of impunity

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists,   68 of the 77 murder cases of Filipino journalists remain unresolved . Those reporting on politics and corruption accounted forthe highest number of death.

For years, perpetrators of crimes against journalists enjoy shameful impunity in the Philippines.

In the six years that have passed since the Maguindanao massacre, none of the more than 100 suspects has been convicted. A number of witnesses and loved ones of the victims were bribed into silence. Several witnesses were killed.

One of the witnesses, Dennis Sakal, a former driver of Andal Ampatuan Jr, was killed in an attack on his way to meet a prosecutor in November last year.

The prosecution is inching its way through the Philippine judicial system. To date, the case is still in the bail petitions phase. Families of the victims and civil society organizations have continually criticized the government for the slow process of justice.

Several families of the murdered journalists reported threats and intimidation. Many were also suffering financially, as most of those killed were breadwinners.

In March, Sajid Islam Ampatuan, one of the suspects, also son of Andal Sr.,   was ordered temporarily release   after posting a  whopping PHP11.6-million ( $250,000)   bail. Now, he is back in politics, running for mayor of town Sharif Aguak in Maguindanao. Sajid Islam is running against his cousin and sister-in-law.

Andal Ampatuan Sr. died of a heart attack in July, asserting his innocence until he slipped into a coma, according to his lawyer.

Despite the massive outrage, Ampatuans still enjoy high positions of power.

Getting away with murder

Philippine media is among the most progressive in the world. Backed up by   a nation known as a social media powerhouse , the media in the Philippines is also among the most innovative.

Despite all this, it is baffling that Filipino journalists remain among the most vulnerable to threats and violence.

A close analysis of these murders reveals that most of those killed are working in rural regions. This also exposes the gap between the national media and the community-based media in the Philippines.  A system where the national media, especially the celebrity presenters, are much glamorized, popular, and highly paid, while those working in rural communities are paid less but subjected to more threats and violence, and have marginalized access to training and other opportunities.

The combination of a very slow justice system, poor forensic technology, and a predominantly feudal system of local governments equates to an alarming culture of impunity–where for perpetrators of crimes against journalists, getting away with murder is child’s play.

Makoi Popioco is a journalist and the current Hurford Youth Fellow with the World Movement for Democracy at the National Endowment for Democracy

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It has been described as the most severe attack on media freedom in the Philippines . 

President Rodrigo Duterte has filed a Supreme Court petition to shut down ABS-CBN, the country’s  largest television network, accusing it of committing “highly abusive practices”.

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What is press freedom and why does it matter? 

Every May 3, the world celebrates press freedom. The celebration is important for a country like the Philippines, where journalists and media organizations continue to be on the receiving end of various forms of attacks, online harassment, and red-tagging. 

Now ranking 138th out of 180 nations, the country recently dropped two more places in the Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) World Press Freedom Index. 

RSF cited the continued attacks of the administration on the media and the government-backed shutdown of the country’s largest broadcaster, ABS-CBN. On top of this, RSF also cited the online harassment and red-tagging of journalists and perceived enemies of the Duterte administration.

Among those who were red-tagged by the government is  Frenchie Mae Cumpio, a Tacloban journalist who remains jailed  after more than a year. She was arrested at the Eastern Vista staff house during a series of raids on what the military claimed were “identified Commmunist Terrorist Group safe houses.” From 2018 up to her arrest in 2020, she reported on a wide variety of human rights issues, such as the killings of farmers in Northern Samar.

Advocates have said this in various ways and forms: Freedom of the press is fundamental to a democracy. Without it, all other freedoms are diminished. 

You can support journalists and media organizations by learning more about the fight for press freedom and by expressing your support. Here are a few ways to do so:

Follow and read independent media sources

Media organizations are among the top casualties of the attention economy that social media platforms have spurred. So, one of the easiest ways to support press freedom is to actively follow, read, and share from independent media sources in the Philippines. 

Join campaigns to defend press freedom 

On social media, you can show your support for Filipino journalists by posting your views with the hashtag #DefendPressFreedom. 

You can also participate in the campaigns organized by groups like the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines . NUJP is among the organizations at the forefront of defending press freedom in the country. They have a series of programs and campaigns aimed at supporting journalists who are being red-tagged or harassed, and who are affected by the pandemic.

Watch ‘A Thousand Cuts’ 

One way to fight for press freedom is to understand what journalists and media organizations have to go through to defend it. You can watch the award-winning documentary about Rappler and the fight for press freedom in the country – A Thousand Cuts by Filipino-American filmmaker Ramona Diaz – which is now accessible for free in the Philippines.

O rganize a watch party 

We believe in the power of small ripples to start a movement. You can organize an online watch party of A Thousand Cuts, starting within your network of friends and family. All you need to do is set a date, establish your Zoom meeting, and invite your network. Let us know if you’re organizing a watch party in your area so we can support and amplify your event! 

After the watch party, we advise that you schedule a debriefing session with your network so you can discuss and reflect on the significance of press freedom on your own rights as an individual. 

Learn how to fact check 

Lies, disinformation, and propaganda are among the top things journalists have to fight on a daily basis. You can support press freedom by learning how to fact-check. 

Rappler is one of the many fact-checking organizations verified by the International Fact-Checking Network-Poynter. As part of our program, we continuously hold webinars to train individuals on the methodology and basics of fact-checking . 

D onate and join Rappler+

It is no secret that news organizations are challenged to remain sustainable in an industry besieged by declining revenues. Rappler launched its membership program in 2018 as a way of innovating its business model and going back to its community of supporters. You can show your support by joining Rappler+ today in celebration of World Press Freedom Day – Rappler.com

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Philippine press freedom is worth fighting for: ABS-CBN shutdown reignites the voices of journalists

by Stanley Buenafe Gajete, NUJP National Capital Region chapter

MANILA — Just two days after the celebration of World Press Freedom Day, the Philippine government ordered the closure of the country’s largest broadcast television network after its congressional franchise expired, putting the jobs of nearly 11,000 people at risk.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) — an agency responsible for the supervision, adjudication, and control overall telecommunications services issued on May 5, a cease-and-desist order against ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., the first in the network’s history after 65 years of service.

ABS-CBN’s 25-year franchise to operate TV and radio broadcasting stations under Republic Act No. 7966 expired on May 4, 2020.

The NTC directed the TV network to stop operating its various TV and radio broadcasting stations nationwide “absent a valid Congressional Franchise as required by law.”

It also gave the company ten days to respond as to why the frequencies assigned to it should not be recalled.

The Radio Control Law, Act No. 3846, as amended, provides that “(n)o person, firm, company, association, or corporation shall construct, install, establish, or operate a radio transmitting station, or a radio receiving station used for commercial purposes, or a radio broadcasting station, without having first obtained a franchise therefor from the Congress of the Philippines.”

Eleven bills seeking the renewal of franchise of ABS-CBN remains pending before Congress, the earliest was filed in July 2019.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) immediately held a candle lighting and an online rally using the #NoToABSCBNShutdown hashtag to condemn the NTC’s order.

While waiting for the result of House hearings for a new franchise, some ABS-CBN programs continued to air through ABS-CBN News cable channel, social media platforms, digital terrestrial box, and via a mobile app.

However, two months after the cease-and-desist order, the House panel on legislative franchises on July 10 formally rejected the bill for a new franchise for ABS-CBN,  effectively keeping the network from broadcasting for the duration of the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Seventy members of the panel voted yes to a resolution denying the network’s application, only 11 voted to pursue the franchise renewal.  Two members inhibited, and one abstained from voting.

The House committees on legislative franchises, along with good government and public accountability facilitated 13 joint committee hearings, which spanned over a month.

Twelve bills were filed with the 18th Congress for the renewal of the TV network’s franchise but the franchise committee only started discussing the pending bills of ABS-CBN after the shutdown order.

Hearings mostly focused on the complaints against the media giants, and news coverage unfavorable to some members of the house.

While hearings were ongoing, the network received an “alias” order from NTC last June 30 directing ABS-CBN to cease-and-desist from operating digital TV transmissions in Metro Manila using Channel 43.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said the decision was reminiscent of the dark pages in the history of the Philippine press in 1972 Martial Law.

“Democracy thrives when there is free press and when journalists can exercise complete freedom to do their mandate of reporting facts without fear. But with what happened to ABS-CBN, it has shown that the ‘sword of Damocles’ can be unleashed any time,” Drilon said.

NUJP said that, with the vote to reject the franchise, the chamber lost all claim to represent the people and our interests.

“Today, not only have more than 11,000 people been stripped of their jobs, millions of Filipinos have been deprived of their right to know and their right to choose how to access the information they need to decide on their futures as well as the entertainment that allows them a respite from the hardships of life,” NUJP said.

The Freedom for Media, Freedom for All coalition said that the closure of the broadcast giant will affect the delivery of news, information, and entertainment as some audience are having difficult access to these in time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Early in 2020, various media organizations, celebrities, and other concerned groups conducted weekly rallies to protest the government’s plan to close the broadcasting company, saying such action will adversely affect press freedom in the country.

But amidst all odds, there is hope.

As they said, there is a rainbow after the rain.

PIRMA Kapamilya

One source of hope is moving for a franchise through a people’s initiative

ABS-CBN could resume its free TV and radio airing if it wins in a national referendum after collecting at least 7 million signatures from across the country showing support for ABS-CBN to get back on air.

The people’s initiative requires the verified signatures of at least 3% of registered voters in each legislative district, and at least 10% of total registered voters in the Philippines.

The Commission on Elections will have to verify each signature. The move or the petition will spark the referendum, where the Filipino citizens will vote on the proposed measure.

The law will be published and will immediately be effective if it passes by a majority vote.

To get the campaign rolling, NUJP set up a booth in front of ABS-CBN’s headquarters in Quezon City to gather signatures.

The said petition can also be accessed and downloaded from www.pirma.ph and PIRMA Kapamilya social media pages.

Through these collective efforts, we can still voice our rights to express, and our rights to speak.

We could reach the finish line, but for now, these small steps are giant leap for everyone.

One step at a time. But the most important move is…

We will never be silent, no matter what.

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Comms sec emphasizes academe, youth role in responsible information sharing

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Currently viewed by: Marcus Rosit

• by Irene Joy Dayo
• Mar. 26, 2024 11:45 am in News

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA) – Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil stressed the importance of the role of academe and Filipino youth in disseminating accurate, relevant and timely information. 

The secretary delivered a video message during the conduct of PCO Community Campus Caravan held in University of Science and Technology of the Southern Philippines (USTP), Cagayan de Oro City.

“Bilang kalihim ng PCO, ako ay nagagalak na maging bahagi ng pagkilos na ito na naglalayong palakasin ang ugnayan natin bilang bahagi ng komunidad. Naniniwala tayo na malaki ang bahagi ng akademiya at mga kabataang Pilipino sa adhikain natin na mapalaganap ang tama, maayos at napapanahong mga impormasyon hinggil sa mga programa ng pamahalaan sa ilalim ng pamumuno ni Pangulong Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Magsisilbing bagong paraan ng PCO ang caravan na ito upang makapagbigay kaalaman sa taong-bayan ukol sa mga adhikain at hangarin ng ating ahensya, bilang pangunahing communications arm ng pamahalaan," the secretary said.

(As the secretary for PCO, I am glad to be part of the movement that aims to strengthen our linkage being members of the society. We believe that the academe and Filipino youth take a great role in our vision to disseminate only the accurate, relevant and timely information regarding the government programs implemented under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. This caravan will serve as another medium of the PCO to inform the public about the goals and aspirations of our agency as the primary communications arm of the Philippine Government).

The PCO Community Campus Caravan brought together offices under the umbrella of the PCO, such as PIA, People’s Television Network, Inc., Presidential Broadcast Staff-Radio Television Malacañang, Presidential Broadcast Service-Radyo Pilipinas, News and Information Bureau-Philippine News Agency, and Bureau of Communications Services, to showcase their services and key functions.

Garafil said the caravan was formed to give value to government communications and showcase how the PCO can be a bridge between the government and the people.

Moreover, the PCO official said that education extends beyond four corners of the classroom as she expressed gratitude over the participation of students in the caravan.

“ Ang edukasyon ay hindi lamang limitado sa silid-aralan, kundi, pati na rin sa malawakang pamayanan. Ito ay isang proseso ng pag-aaral at pagsusuri sa nagaganap, hindi lamang sa loob ng silid-aralan, kundi pati na rin sa ating buong komunidad. Kaya naman, nais nating ipabatid ang kahalagahan ng government communication effort, at paano nakikipagtulungan ang PCO sa iba’t ibang sector upang mapalaganap ang tamang impormasyon at mensahe ng ating pamahalaan," she said.

(Education is not only limited to the classroom, but also to the wider community. It is a process of learning and examining what is happening, not only within the classroom, but also in our entire community. Therefore, we want to inform the importance of the government communication effort, and how the PCO collaborates with different sectors to spread the right information and message of our government).

The caravan also highlighted the Media Information Literacy learning session where USTP students, mostly of Technology Communication Management course, actively participated. The University allowed 900 students from TCM course to participate in the different activities during the two-day caravan in USTP.

The learning sessions educated the students about the Bagong Pilipinas coverage and using Modern Technology by the PCO Undersecretary Gerald B. Barca, covering the government from a private media perspective by former CNN Philippines Senior Correspondent Anjo Alimaro, and Media Information Literacy by Assistant Secretary Patricia Kayle S. Martin. There was also a discussion of Digital Tayo, Digital Literacy Workshop, and Freedom of Information, among others.

For his part, USTP System President shared his gratitude for the staging of the caravan in the University.

“The University of Science and Technology of the Southern Philippines, as a higher education institution, is committed to the pursuit of truth and advancement of knowledge. In fact, over the years, the university has taken significant steps towards the enhancement of digital and media literacy skills of our students. With the efforts of our media information literacy instructors, the media information literacy campaign among senior high school students was conducted, which helped foster student skills in media production activities, particularly in the areas of short film, photo essay and social media,” he shared.

The USTP President also shared that the students take active participation in this endeavor. The best example is the media literacy campaign of the Department of Technology and Livelihood Education, in partnership with the Future Educators Guild in the USTP Panaon Campus, Misamis Occidental, he said.

The PCO Community Campus Caravan in USTP was also a venue for the Philippine Information Agency to showcase its Puppet Theater, a development communication initiative tool aimed at promoting national transformation through values education among children and the youth. (PIA-10/IJBD)

• PCO Community Campus Caravan

About the Author

Irene Joy Dayo

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The Grim Reality of Banning TikTok

T he U.S. government, once again, wants to ban TikTok. The app has become an incontrovertible force on American phones since it launched in 2016, defining the sounds and sights of pandemic-era culture. TikTok’s burst on the scene also represented a first for American consumers, and officials—a popular social media app that wasn’t started on Silicon Valley soil, but in China.

On March 13, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell TikTok or else the app will be banned on American phones. The government will fine the two major mobile app stores and any cloud hosting companies to ensure that Americans cannot access the app.

While fashioned as a forced divestiture on national security grounds, let’s be real: This is a ban. The intent has always been to ban TikTok, to punish it and its users without solving any of the underlying data privacy issues lawmakers claim to care about. Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw said it outright : “No one is trying to disguise anything… We want to ban TikTok.”

But, as such, a ban of TikTok would eliminate an important place for Americans to speak and be heard. It would be a travesty for the free speech rights of hundreds of millions of Americans who depend on the app to communicate, express themselves, and even make a living. And perhaps more importantly, it would further balkanize the global internet and disconnect us from the world.

Read more: What to Know About the Bill That Could Get TikTok Banned in the U.S.

This isn’t the first time the government has tried to ban TikTok: In 2021, former President Donald Trump issued an executive order that was halted in federal court when a Trump-appointed judge found it was “arbitrary and capricious” because it failed to consider other means of dealing with the problem. Another judge found that the national security threat posted by TikTok was “phrased in the hypothetical.” When the state of Montana tried to ban the app in 2023, a federal judge found it “oversteps state power and infringes on the constitutional rights of users,” with a “pervasive undertone of anti-Chinese sentiment.”

Trump also opened a national security review with the power to force a divestment, something Biden has continued to this day with no resolution; and last year, lawmakers looked poised to pass a bill banning TikTok, but lost steam after a high-profile grilling of its top executive. (Trump has done an about-face on the issue and recently warned that banning TikTok will only help its U.S. rivals like Meta.)

TikTok stands accused of being a conduit for the Chinese Communist Party, guzzling up sensitive user data and sending it to China. There’s not much evidence to suggest that’s true, except that their parent company ByteDance is a Chinese company, and China’s government has its so-called private sector in a chokehold. In order to stay compliant, you have to play nice.

In all of this, it’s important to remember that America is not China. America doesn't have a Great Firewall with our very own internet free from outside influences. America allows all sorts of websites that the government likes, dislikes, and fears onto our computers. So there’s an irony in allowing Chinese internet giants onto America’s internet when, of course, American companies like Google and Meta’s services aren’t allowed on Chinese computers.

And because of America’s robust speech protections under the First Amendment, the U.S. finds itself playing a different ballgame than the Chinese government in this moment. These rights protect Americans against the U.S. government, not from corporations like TikTok, Meta, YouTube, or Twitter, despite the fact that they do have outsized influence over modern communication. No, the First Amendment says that the government cannot stop you from speaking without a damned good reason. In other words, you’re protected against Congress—not TikTok.

The clearest problem with a TikTok ban is it would immediately wipe out a platform where 170 million Americans broadcast their views and receive information—sometimes about political happenings. In an era of mass polarization, shutting off the app would mean shutting down the ways in which millions of people—even those with unpopular views—speak out on issues they care about. The other problem is that Americans have the constitutional right to access all sorts of information—even if it’s deemed to be foreign propaganda. There’s been little evidence to suggest that ByteDance is influencing the flow of content at the behest of the Chinese government, though there’s some reports that are indeed worrying, including reports that TikTok censored videos related to the Tiananmen Square massacre, Tibetan independence, and the banned group Falun Gong.

Still, the Supreme Court ruled in 1964 that Americans have the right to receive what the government deems to be foreign propaganda. In Lamont v. Postmaster General , for instance, the Court ruled that the government couldn’t halt the flow of Soviet propaganda through the mail. The Court essentially said that the act of the government stepping in and banning propaganda would be akin to censorship, and the American people need to be free to evaluate these transgressive ideas for themselves.

Further, the government has repeatedly failed to pass any federal data privacy protections that would address the supposed underlying problem of TikTok gobbling up troves of U.S. user data and handing it to a Chinese parent company. Biden only made moves in February 2024 to prevent data brokers from selling U.S. user data to foreign adversaries like China, arguably a problem much bigger than one app. But the reality is that the government has long been more interested in banning a media company than dealing with a real public policy issue.

There is legitimate concern in Washington and elsewhere that it’s not the government that controls so much of America’s speech, but private companies like those bred in Silicon Valley. But the disappearance of TikTok would further empower media monopolists like Google and Meta, who already control about half of all U.S. digital ad dollars, and give them a tighter choke hold over our communication. There’s already a paucity of platforms where people speak; removing TikTok would eliminate one of the most important alternatives we have.

Since it launched in 2016, TikTok has been the most influential social media app in the world, not because it affects public policy or necessarily creates monoculture—neither are particularly true, in fact—but because it has given people a totally different way to spend time online. In doing so, it disrupted the monopolies of American tech companies like Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and forced every rival to in some way mimic its signature style. There’s Facebook and Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Snapchat Spotlight, and every other app seems to be an infinitely-scrolling video these days.

Still, Americans choose to use TikTok and their conversations will not easily port over to another platform in the event of it being banned. Instead, cutting through the connective tissue of the app will sever important ways that Americans—especially young Americans—are speaking at a time when those conversations are as rich as ever.

The reality is that if Congress wanted to solve our data privacy problems, they would solve our data privacy problems. But instead, they want to ban TikTok, so they’ve found a way to try and do so. The bill will proceed to the Senate floor, then to the president’s desk, and then it will land in the U.S. court system. At that point, our First Amendment will once again be put to the test—a free speech case that’s very much not in the abstract, but one whose results will affect 170 million Americans who just want to use an app and have their voices be heard.

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