Maria Ressa’s Dangerous Battle for the Truth

The US Constitution is what keeps Donald Trump from behaving like the dictators he admires. We must protect it.

Many parts of this story are eerily similar to what is happening in the U.S. with Trump, his family members, and his cronies. The murders aren’t part of the American story, unless you consider the killings of thousands of Kurds who stood with our troops to be murders, all under Trump’s direction. Hmmm...maybe Trump is more like Duterte than I initially thought. And the dissection of Facebook and its part in disseminating harmful and untruthful information is deadly wrong on many levels. Frightening times in this world.

All of you left-wing hate mongers will be so disappointed when President Donald Trump is re-elected in a landslide next November.

I have lived and worked in a couple of countries with brutal dictators: Franco's Spain and Chile's Pinochet. Both men enjoyed huge support from people in the street. And I've spoken with working-class Filipinos who support Duterte. What the non-elite people of these countries share is a desire for personal safety. Freedom of the press, individual rights...these things mean little to them. They want to be able to walk around in the evenings without fear. Period.

As I recall, The Rappler was a publication with which Lord Acton (Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.) had something to do. Ressa’s rapping the ripples of the rivers of bullies and their bold lies rocks our world of mayhem today. I’m pleased to learn that she spent some of her early formative years in New Jersey, my home state. How about Bruce Springsteen doing a concert for Ressa and her colleagues persecuted for speaking truth to power?

Ressa for the Noble Peace Prize!

How do you kill something that is already dead?

Will this be us soon, or is it us now?

The only way to reshape this rotten country into a normal, prosperous home for millions, is a total revolution.

Duterte and Trump are soulmates.

When I first arrived in the Philippines, Benigno Aquino was very publicly murdered on the tarmac as he arrived back home. I didn't know anyone who didn't see Marcos' fingerprints all over the murder. A message was CLEARLY sent to the Filipino people that day - dissent will be punished. A few years later, after decades of rule & fleecing the Filipino public, Marcos was finally drummed out. It's been a long time since I've been to the PI, but I see little has changed. There's still a dictator in charge. Said dictator uses violence to control his country without respect for the rule of law. Only time will tell whether or not Duterte is as big of a crook as Marcos was.

“Reporting on a President Who Wants to ‘Kill Journalism’” was the title I saw online. I thought the article was about Trump.

Trump loves Duterte, and has taken some pages from the Duterte playbook. Note that like Trump, Duterte brags about his crimes, including murder. Duterte is also engaged in genocide and ecocide, destroying Mindanao. I have friends who live in the Philippines, and they're frightened, because Duterte runs a nationwide secret police and surveillance network, and they kill journalists, activists, etc. This is the kind of guy Trump admires!

Let's not forget that Trump is buddies with Duterte, part of his love of authoritarian, homicidal strong men. I'm sure he fantasizes about having the same power over his enemies. We can't vanquish this man from the White House soon enough, he is a stain on America!

I am a retired American, living in the Philippines. A thing to remember is that, unlike Trump, Duterte is a popular president. The primary reason is that he has successfully eliminated a lot of the corruption that effect people in their everyday lives. For example, before Duterte, dealing with the equivalent of the DMV used to be an ordeal that could take days even for something as routine as registering your car. The reason was simple. Fixers. To get to the head of the line you had to hire someone connected with the officials. You had to pay them and they would bribe the officials to expedite your transaction. If you didn't have the money you just had to wait and wait and wait while those with fixers went ahead of you. No more. He cracked down on this. Now, though still annoying, your business is handled reasonably efficiently. This matters to a lot to people.

Philippines president should consult POTUS as he practices "Basic" Democracy through enlightening rallies. There is some kind of glow of love and friendship.

I hope all concerned will understand the desperation with which the Philippine president must be operating. We have a drug crisis in our own country wrought by completely legal distribution of opioid drugs that have killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. Quite frankly, the manufacturer+distributor organization of our completely legal drugs should be stripped of fortunes and imprisoned--their punishment WILL NEVER BE METED OUT. The consequences will continue through at least 2-3 generations of Americans, and is now fanning out to the very same third world countries as Philippines, meaning after the drug dealing now punished, there is Oxycontin and its offspring to follow! In a third world country with even less rule of law, what is to be done? Please advise.

Excellent reporting, thank you NYT. I look forward to reading many follow-ups on Ressa’s situation. She’s an inspiration to journalism - and championing women reporters to boot. I do hope she won’t suffer the same fate as Aquino in 1983. One cannot underestimate Duterte and the friends he installed in government.

It's an infectious disease, reversing the truth and calling the truth fake. Without a literate and observant public, we are stuck with those who are confused and choose their tribe/team instead of looking for people who will do their best for their constituents. What a hero, great reporting. One more thing -- So Facebook will take down posts for "coordinated, inauthentic behavior" but won't give up it's profits on fake ads for candidates in the US? Really? It's a worldwide epidemic, going into advanced stages with campaigns to kill. Trump envies rulers who can jail, torture, and kill their opponents. Those are his BFFs abroad: MBS, Kim Jong Un, Duterte, Erdogan, el-Sisi, et. etc.

This piece illustrates perfectly how activist journalism has replaced straight news reporting..portending to help democracy. This mouth piece can be no more trusted than Duarte controlled media sources., both cherry picking to bolster their narritive. Was looking forward to learning of conditions of Manila politics,,and got smothered in virtue projecting activists posing as reporters bather.

Excellent journalism. Thank you.

Maria Ressa is a hero for our times, a woman of formidable intelligence and courage. The parallels between Duterte's and Trump rhetoric are chilling, as is his "respect" for multiple bloody tyrants, and denial of the facts of their abuses. The extent to which Trump's anti-democratic rants have been tolerated and defended by the GOP and supporters suggests that it may not be such a long way down the path to silencing of the press -- of any opposition - if someone with these tendencies is left in power. .2

It is enlightening to see another country with similar experiences as our own - parts of which are now happening in many European countries, too. History is also full of examples, most notably Nazi Germany and their control of the media and propaganda. Those who don't learn from history.....

What's the difference between Duterte objecting to this investigation and Donald Trump, whose twitter has featured a video in which an animated Trump beats up CNN? Trump - who refused initially to condemn an animated video that showed him murdering President Obama? Trump - who calls reporters 'the enemy of the people' and 'the deep state' - as does his Secretary of State. Trump - who won't hold his dictator buddy MBS accountable for chopping up WaPo journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Trump - who adores his hero and BFF Vladimir Putin - a thug who's murdered journalists. Trump - whose National Security Adviser called an aspect of his foreign policy being handled in secret by his Chief of Staff and his personal attorney "a drug deal." Donald Trump has made the United State of America a banana republic. Somebody help us, please!

When I scanned the headline about a president who wanted to kill journalism, I initially thought that the article related to the ‘gag’ video played at Trump’s Doral resort. Interesting times.

"Reporting From the Philippines When the President Wants to ‘Kill Journalism’" How about, Reporting From the United States When the President Wants to ‘Kill Journalism’?

Maria is a courageous truth teller. Great journalism, NYTimes. This story is an echo of our own. We are watching.

Trump wishes he could do to American journalists what Dutetre is doing to journalist there. Truthfulness is something Trump fears in the news so much he had Murdoch get rid of Sheppard Smith on Fox News. Trump prefers ENTERTAINERS such as Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Fox and Friends that repeat his many lies and propaganda to their viewers. Mind as well call that station what it is --Trump's Deep State Fake News Channel...A station where facts and truthfulness means nothing!

“I had assumed that there were people in government who would say, ‘Stop.’ ” Yeh. Me too. This worldwide movement favoring thuggish ‘mavericks’, hard-line ‘cowboys’ and right winging autocrats points to a transformative movement around the planet. It may be a few novelty acts like Duterte or Trump today but a decade from now I suspect other leaders, dictators, presidents-for-life Et al will create a planetary sea of political islands, existing for no other purpose but to laud every various dear Leader with bowing, scraping and a lot of personal treasure. With a world population nearing 8 billion these emperors and popes and petit gods aren’t encouraging free thinking troublesome countrymen. More, it kind of looks like each and every one of them believe they own their country and their teeming populations are merely so many personal servants. The craziest extension of this new religion is how much these same populations positively yearn for a lord and master to rule over them. It’s just plain weird.

Is it sad that, especially in light of recently surfaced violent videos made by Trump’s allies and friends, I thought this headline applied to the American President?

“Extrajudicial killing is surely just murder, at least legally speaking. A leader who is above the law and “breaks” it to help himself or harm some of his people is a tyrant. Right? Am I missing something?

This is both a very interesting and very depressing article. It shows the problem with population growth, and especially where that population is desperately poor, and also largely uneducated, and when that is then combined with a recent and large scale spread of a cheap social media, the opportunity for a demagogue is almost unavoidable. Hitler was also charismatic, and he had his rallies at Nuremberg, and was able to parlay economic grievances, which were real, into a virulent racism which resulted ultimately in the death of millions and the destruction of much of Europe. In the case of both the Philippines and post-Weimar Germany, weak political institutions were unable to prevent a descent into catastrophe. In the case of the Philippines the notorious corruption of the elites has undoubtedly contributed to the attraction of Duterte as an alternative for a resentful people. Corruption is often overlooked as to its importance, but it is too often the Achilles heel of developing nations, and even the soft corruption which plagues our own country - the expectation of our elites that they are not subject to the same rules as the rest of us- has extremely negative consequences for good governance.

Duterte's rhetoric is certainly familiar to journalists in the United States. At what point do American voters make the connection? At what point do they understand that among the first targets of dictators is the press? At what point do American voters recognize that being a buffoon is transparent camouflage for more sinister ambitions. At what point do we say, "enough?"

This is what journalism looks like. I sympathize with Ms. Ressa and I had been a fan since her CNN days. The massive ordeal she is going through with all these drummed up charges and trials is what authoritarians do to a free press. If they can't kill you outright they will silence you with a barrage of fake charges to stifle your voice. It is classical textbook repression of the free press. Keep fighting Ms. Ressa and all the Rappler journalists. Your country needs you.

It is impossible to miss the ominous parallels to what Trump has been trying to do here in the U.S. And his efforts here have also been embraced by people that have been fed a steady diet of lies and misinformation. I shudder to think that our country now exists in such a reduced state of democracy, and it all happened in such a very short time.

Despots and would-be-despots have learned that an informed citizenry is antithetical to their interests, fostering methods to keep them in the dark. The despots control the media, using propaganda 1984 style to brainwash citizens. The would-be-despots, lacking power of absolute control, engage in multiple strategies to cripple legitimate journalism. Strategies include controlling one or more outlets to spread propaganda while working to discredit legitimate journalism with baseless attacks and name calling. Amazingly, it is the liars who try to pin the label of "fake News" on the honest journalists. Even more amazing, a large percentage of the public does not realize they are being duped by the propaganda. In democracies the bigger picture, though, is the rich capitalist controlling the process for the primary purpose of protecting no-holds-barred capitalism. The men with the gold work to control the political process to protect their wealth and the golden goose capitalism making them wealthier. These men buy media to control propaganda, fund "independent" research and policy institutes to legitimize their ideas, and contribute heavily to candidates to directly influence legislators and legislation. The industrial-political conspiracy dwarfs the military-industrial one. Voters complain of partisan politics and an ineffective Congress, but the real blame lies with them. Voters have ultimate control but keep returning the same poor performing members to Congress.

Dictators and authoritarian regimes hate Free Press, Free Speech and want to destroy journalism to keep their actions from the public. The same is true for would-be dictators such as Trump and any leader that doesn’t want to be held accountable, who doesn’t follow the ‘rule of law,’ and doesn’t want themselves, their bad decisions and bad policies criticized. If they can’t destroy the Press, they attempt to minimize its impact by de-legitimizing it, marginalizing and denigrating it. Lesley Stahl said that Off-camera, but still on-record, Trump said, “You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.” https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/05/23/leslie_stahl_trump_told_me_he_uses_term_fake_news_to_discredit_the_media.html Trump didn’t invent the current journalism environment in the US of post-truth, post-fact, post-evidence, but he did/does take advantage of it……

“Reporting on a President who wants to kill journalism” could just as easily have been an article about Trump. Trump and Duterte share a deeply concerning opposition to, and desire to crush, negative publicity. Free and fair journalism has seldom been more important. Keep doing what you’re doing, journalists with integrity. The world needs you.

I read the title of this article and immediately thought it was about Trump and the extremely violent video of him murdering media and political adversaries.

How sad is it that when I first glimpsed this headline I thought this piece was about DJT.

For more than 20 years, I lived 4 hours south of Metro Manila among the every day people. I learned not to make any disparaging comments particularly people that had any type of connection. Reporters that angered a powerful had hired killers kill them for a negative article against them. Also, reporters telling facts sometimes get a criminal libel case to silence them. I met then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte more than 26 years ago and even at time, he was scary. I was visiting Davao City with my late wife who also visited her 1st cousin that was a high ranking PNP Officer. Duterte, the former state prosecutor, was known to use methods that were questionable. He hasn't changed. He is worse and with 6600 plus people killed. He has not done anything substantive except to kill! On June 30, 2022, his single term ends and he will be prosecuted for his crimes. In the Philippines, they do go after former presidents for criminal matters. Until then, the people have to tolerate this monster.

Thank you for this reporting, focused on Philippines but global in implication. Social media has intensified the power of propaganda, perhaps as nukes are to guns. Our moves towards human rights ideals are fragile; en mass we repeatedly choose perceived safety and clannish belonging over law and liberty. Journalists rely on an educated populace with sufficient resources and motivation to see beyond either day-to-day self-interest or authoritarian appeal. I must sound like an educated, idealistic elite myself, seemingly safe in the USA. I fear for both my countries, and the world.

This is absolutely terrific journalism! Not only is it a great description of what has happened with politics and government in the Philippines, it is also a wonderful depiction of the power and formation of social media campaigns. With the latter focus , it has importance beyond the local of the Philippines. It has particular potential in the US as we head into the 2020 campaign and for those readers who do not understand the workings of social media. Thanks to Joshua Hammer and the New York Times.