GINAWARAN ang CEO at executive editor ng Rappler na si Maria Ressa ng 2018 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award nitong nakaraang Miyerkules, Nobyembre 21 (Manila time) sa New York City ng Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Ang Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award ay ipinagkakaloob sa “individual who has shown extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom.” Princeton University graduate, mas pinili niMaria Ressa na umuwi ng Pilipinas upang dito mag-ambag ng kanyang talino at kakayahan.

Sa halos 30 taon nang pagkober sa entertainment/news industry, isa si Maria sa nakakapanayam ng inyong lingkod na tuwiran naming matatawag na visionary Lubos na nangangailangan ang mundo ng mga katulad niya, naninindigan sa pinaniniwalaang prinsipyo.

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Pero sa iba’t ibang bahagi ng mundo, mayroon ding apat na masisigasig na journalists na natagpuan at pinarangalan ng CPJ ng 2018 International Press Freedom Awards, sina Amal Khalifa Idris Habbani ng Sudan, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh ng Vietnam, Luz Mely Reyes ng Venezuela, at Anastasiya Stanko ng Ukraine. Naririto ang acceptance speech ni Maria Ressa na pinagpapasa-pasahan ngayon ng communicators at cultural workers. “What a humbling experience—and an incredible honor to be here tonight.

Thank you, Committee to Protect Journalists. This comes at a time whenRappler and I need your attention and support. “This is an existential moment for global power structures, turned upside down by technology. When journalists globally are under attack. When power structures are shifting.

Our problems are partly caused by yours, American social media technology platforms, once empowering, now weaponized against journalists, activists, and citizens, spreading lies across borders; and, a president so much like ours whose attacks against the press and women give permission to autocrats, like ours, to unleash the dark side of humanity and extend their already vast powers with impunity, especially in countries where institutions have crumbled. “We at Rappler fight impunity on these two fronts: the Philippine government and Facebook, essentially our Internet.

Both seed violence, fear, and lies that poison our democracy. “Those lies on social media form the basis of the government’s legal cases against us—planted and seeded for a year before the cases were filed. “ T h i s l a t e s t t a x e v a s i o n c a s e reclassifies Rappler as a ‘dealer in securities’, I’m obviously not a stock broker.

Because I’m a journalist, I’m now labeled a criminal and can go to prison for 10 years. “With this announced indictment, my government has bent the law to its breaking point. It has perverted the rule of law—and used it against journalists and perceived critics. Weaponized— like social media. “Facebook connects more than 2.3 billion people around the world, and because of that, national boundaries have collapsed. There is a global playbook, and autocrats are learning from each other.

The most compromised accounts during Cambridge Analytica were in the U.S., the second—the Philippines. “When President (Donald) Trump called CNN and The New York Times ‘fake news,’ a week later, President (Rodrigo) Duterte called Rappler fake news. When President Trump took away the accreditation of CNN’s Jim Acosta, he was following what President Duterte did earlier this year to our reporter, Pia Ranada.

He also banned me from the Palace, even though I haven’t reported during his administration. “I’d like to share six lessons and appeals for action: First,the time to fight for journalism, for our Constitution, is now. “Second, don’t stay quiet when you are attacked. The exponential lies on social media, coupled with the President’s words, manufacture truth.

Silence is consent. “Third, we need to continue reporting without fear or favor. And - you heard these words here last year from my former colleague Christiane Amanpour: ‘we need to be truthful, not neutral’. “Fourth, we need to build global alliances because information is the currency of power, manipulated by global players. You have the Mueller investigation here: well, if Russia is doing B to C; China is doing B to B.

Check out Freedom House’s report released this month which shows how China is exporting its digital authoritarianism to other governments. “Fifth, we need to hold tech platforms to account. They need to move away from just business growth... they are now the world’s largest distributor of news so they have to take on the responsibilities journalists had as gatekeepers.

They cannot allow lies to spread. They need to protect the public interest... and the public sphere where democracy happens. “Sixth, finally, for multinational businesses and investors: I’m being attacked not just as a journalist but as the founder of a company that successfully and legally raised money to make an idea a reality.

Let my government know that you do not agree with its draconian measures and the signal it sends to investors - that the Philippines is not ready for innovation or investment. “ F o r e a c h o f u s , i t ’ s about values and principles. “Our mission is very clear: Patricia Evangelista, who dedicated her life the past two years to the drug war and our impunity series, she is here—please stand up.

For the women and men of Rappler who have learned to live with these attacks—and who show up every day to fight back, this is for you. “You don’t really know who you are until you’re forced to fight to defend it. “Then every battle you win—or lose... every compromise you choose to make... or to walk away from... all these struggles define the values you live by, and, we did not duck, we did not hide. “We are Rappler, and we will hold the line.”