MANILA (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Authorities in the Philippines have once more commanded the closure of an investigative news website that Maria Ressa, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, created.
One of the few media sites in the Philippines that criticises President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration is Rappler.
Just before Duterte leaves office and is succeeded by Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his ally who won the May election, the regulator issued its decision.
According to Rappler, it wouldn’t be closing and will contest the ruling in court.
Ms. Ressa said that they would carry on with business as usual and keep working. They would adhere to the legal procedure and keep defending their rights. They would hold the line.
According to the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission and the courts, Rappler’s funding mechanism is unconstitutional, hence the decision to cancel the company’s operating licence was upheld after an appeal.
The first order against Rappler was issued by the regulator in 2018, revoking the credentials of the news organisation because, according to the regulator, the company had sold control of itself to a foreign corporation in violation of the foreign ownership limits in Philippine media.
Since then, Rappler has been challenging the decision. It denies that the cash it receives from US investors is illegal.
Rappler acknowledged receiving funds from the Omiydar network in 2015—a charitable investment firm founded by Pierre Omiydar, the wealthy founder of Ebay—but said that no foreign influence had been given up. Three years later, it gave the investment to Rappler’s Filipino workforce as evidence that it did not own a majority interest in the company.
Ms. Ressa claimed on Wednesday that the SEC’s decision was the most recent setback in a six-year campaign by the government in reaction to Rappler’s scathing reporting.
The “spurious” action by the SEC, according to Human Rights Watch, was an attempt to “shut up Nobel laureate Maria Ressa and shut down Rappler, by hook or by crook.”
Rappler has written extensively about President Duterte’s deadly drug war as well as critically examining misogyny, human rights abuses, and corruption issues.
About seven criminal and civil charges that Ms. Ressa, who co-founded the website in 2012, is politically charged, she says. She is appealing her 2020 libel conviction, which is viewed as a test of journalistic freedom in the Philippines.
For her reporting for Rappler, she and a Russian journalist shared the Nobel Peace Prize the previous year. Her exercise of her right to free speech to highlight misuse of power, use of violence, and rising authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines, earned her praise.
The decree against Rappler coincides with mounting worries about what the new Marcos administration would be like.
Marcos Jr is the son of the former dictator of the country, Marcos Sr., who punished political opponents, journalists, and human rights advocates during his many years in power.
Concerns over free speech and media repression have already been expressed by activists.
Philippines officials only recently advised internet service providers to remove websites that support left-wing activists.
In the nation, journalists who criticise the government frequently face abuse. There have been numerous reports of “troll farms” used to threaten and harass political opponents and journalists.
On the Press Freedom Index, reporters without borders (RSF) ranks the Philippines 147th out of 180 nations, a drop of 9 places from 2021.
