Fake news
The 2018 Media Freedom Report published by the International Federation of Journalists has just been released. In it, it identified the Philippines as the worst place in Southeast Asia for journalists. This is a very serious indictment against a country that, contrary to the bleak picture painted by the IFJ, has one of the freest and most vibrant presses in the world.
Worse, the IFJ made very sweeping conclusions based on nothing more than incidents cited for their occurrence but not for why they occurred at all. It said the Philippines was tops in impunity, accusing the government of doing nothing against cyber-attacks, low wages, violence, and harassment in the workplace.
It made specific mention of the online news site Rappler, whose license to operate was revoked over constitutional foreign ownership issues, and whose CEO Maria Ressa was sued over tax matters. The report focused on the fact that Rappler is a news organization and that Maria Ressa is a journalist.
Nowhere in the report was there the slightest mention of the possibility, however remote, that there might in fact be some basis for the foreign ownership charge, or that the tax issues against Ressa may have a ring of validity to them. What can be inferred from the report is that just because those involved are members of the press, they then can do absolutely no wrong.
No proposition can be more preposterous and ridiculous than that. The press and its members may perform some very vital duties as global citizens. Upon their shoulders may rest some very awesome responsibilities. But that being so does not make them a band of angels. They are still human and human institutions, subject to human failings just like the rest.
Just because Rappler is Rappler and Maria Ressa is Maria Ressa does not make either infallible. In fact, for Rappler and Maria Ressa to insist on belly-aching about being victims of government harassment solely on the basis of their being the press instead of answering the very specific charges made against them tends to give away the weakness of their position.
The report also accuses Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte of sponsoring trolls to launch cyber-attacks against journalists. While there is no ruling out that possibility, it is shamefully remiss and inefficient for an international media group like the IFJ to woefully fail to cite even one bit of evidence to substantiate the charge. It just made the sweeping allegation and that was that.
As to the murders, IFJ cited a number but again that was that. No checking to determine if the killings were work-related. Unless a journalist is proven to have been killed in relation to his work, his being a journalist must be seen only as circumstantial. For IFJ to gloss over this requirement is malicious and makes it nothing more than a panderer of fake news.
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