Philippine journalist Maria Ressa warned Thursday that the main challenge for journalists in the Asian country is to «survive» in the face of a business that is «metaphorically dead» after six years of the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, whom she described as a «digital authoritarian leader».
In an interview granted to Europa Press as part of the ‘Metafuturo’ conference organized by La Sexta at the Ateneo de Madrid, the founder of the news portal Rappler and Nobel Peace Prize 2021 has ventured that in the Philippines «everything depends on the economy and power».
In this sense, she has affirmed that «all citizens of a democracy must value the right to freedom of expression» and take into account «all those freedoms that will not be missed until they begin to be lost». «Journalists cannot defend democracy alone: this is not the Old World, we do not have the power we used to have,» he stressed.
In the Philippines, he has said, «our business is dead.» «Advertising is dead and the way technology companies operate now is much more sophisticated and cheaper. You can’t compare it to how advertising used to be done,» he has recounted.
«We have to survive and understand that the kind of journalism that is successful on distribution platforms is the worst journalism there is,» he has pointed out, before explaining that «if you spend a month working on an investigative piece you are not going to achieve the same reach through social networks (…) because you are not trying to sell a lie or looking to promote hate.»
Thus, he has argued that words «are losing their meaning» due to the technology we use. «Democracy does not mean the same thing when Spain uses this word as when the United States or China uses it», he reaffirmed before insisting that «now more than ever, (freedom of expression) is about the fear of saying what you think».
«A lot of this is due to politics, to the way social media platforms are designed, which divide us. Politics has become a life and death struggle between gladiators,» lamented Ressa, 59, who specified that «it should never have been like this.»
For her, this causes societies «to be unable to make the right decisions for democracies», a «cascading failure» that has put on the table the ability of journalism to adapt in a democracy. «If the bad guys win, how do we plan to recover?» she stressed.
ADVANCE OF DISINFORMATION Ressa, who admitted that performing journalism involves a great risk, stressed the need to continue informing and warned of the dangers of disinformation in a globalized world facing numerous conflicts, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On this issue, he accused Russia of using disinformation precisely as a «tactical tool» and stressed that this type of hoax «is part of Russian military doctrine».
For this reason, he has put the focus on the idea of achieving a change in the current business model. «We cannot do it alone (…) Legislation is needed to deal with the money-making machines that are the platforms», he claimed, while alluding to citizen participation.
Thus, he has addressed the idea of a participatory journalism where the journalist «continues to expose the corrupt» and has clarified that the idea of legislating «is limited to algorithms, to make technology companies accountable for the ideas they help to build».
«In the United States there is a big lobby that has about 70 million dollars behind it and is in charge of pressuring congressmen to make this look like a press freedom issue when in fact it is not,» he has criticized. «It’s not a question of expression or censorship, it’s a question of how the distribution platforms are designed; they are designed to spread lies and not facts,» he clarified.
JUDICIAL PROCESS On the judicial process against her and the persecution to which she and her team have been subjected for years, she has recalled that Duterte «was afraid of the truth, of difficult questions being asked.» «There were corruption scandals and we had no idea how many Filipinos had been killed in the war on drugs,» she has stressed. «It is the poorest who have been most affected, those who have died,» he added.
«One of the things I realized when I was first arrested is that I had done nothing and yet I had been arrested. I thought that if I was a poor kid and the Police caught me I would have no recourse. It’s a question of impunity. And I talk about Rodrigo Duterte’s impunity like I could talk about (Facebook founder) Mark Zuckerberg’s impunity. He got away with it too,» he said.
On the idea that the former Philippine president gained a lot of support among the people during the 2016 elections, he has highlighted the role of social networks within the framework of the election campaign. «Eighty percent of the decisions we make in our lives have to do with how we feel and not what we think, and social networks capitalize on precisely this. That’s why we have so many digital authoritarian leaders around the world,» he continued.
The head of Rappler, who also worked as a CNN correspondent in Southeast Asia, said that the difference between men like Duterte and former President Donald Trump is that «Duterte kills» and insisted that «we are being manipulated individually, person by person, through our phones, by the powers that be, and that should be illegal».
That is why he has advocated for «an end to surveillance for profit» and pointed out that «journalism is the antidote to tyranny.» «We have now elected President (Bongbong) Marcos, who has spent 100 days in office and has been elected for two reasons: the information operations that have helped clear his name and the existing feudal dynasties,» he said.
However, with more than thirty years of journalistic career behind him, Ressa has been optimistic despite everything and has defended giving him the benefit of the doubt. «The question is whether (Marcos) will work to make our country a better place. He has said he defends human rights and freedom of the press. It remains to be determined (…) We have to give him a chance, and if not, we will write about it,» he said.
Regarding the legal process against him, he pointed out that «the case is moving», something that has «surprised» him. «One of the cases is already before the Supreme Court (…) I hope that wisdom and the spirit of the rule of law will triumph,» he stressed in relation to the appeal filed before the court after being convicted of cyber-defamation in a historic trial that has been branded by many as a new attack against freedom of the press.
