Authoritarian Media in the Philippines:
Even though we are living in what is considered to be evolved times in the world of media there are many places around the world where media isn't so easy to come by nor is total freedom of press. In 2016, Rodrigo Duterte was elected president in the Philippines. Back in September of this year two journalists in the Philippines spoke up on the many policies that are targeting the press under the leadership of President Duterte. Maria Ressa and Karen Davila brought these issues to the public eye in a recent webinar hosted by A Legacy of Equality Leadership and Organizing and Akbayan North America. The pair are award winning journalist who have been recognized by Time magazine and the Guardian. They described the many plans of Duterte to restrict and shut down media outlets. Maria Ressa discussed the fabricated tax evasion charges brought against her and accusations of political bias along with foreign ownership. She believes that the reason these instances occurred was an exposé she wrote back in 2016. Her work exposed President Duterte for his large group of social media trolls and the many killings related to his drug war. It is important to bring up how the President dealt with Covid-19 using military as a enforcer. This included multiple arrests and jailing of many for curfew violations which were mostly poor or homeless citizens. Back when the Philippines was under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos he shut down the ABS-CBN for 14 years which is the largest Philippine media company. Ressa and many others think that the Philippines is quickly heading to a time in media similar to when Ferdinand ruled the country.
A majority of the population in the Philippines relies heavily on social media for their news. Facebook is the most used social media by Filipinos and is full of fake news but is considered a major news source in their country. The country moving towards social media for news is at the fault of President Duterte who has attempted to make journalists appear as criminals forcing many to turn away from news outlets like ABS-CBN.
Back in 2009 there was a massacre that was considered by the
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization to be the most deadly attack on the press ever. The Committee to Protect Journalists believes that they may have jumped the gun with that statement. When the executive director of the Presidential Task Force for Media Security was asked about the status of press issues he stated that
"The so-called 'culture of impunity' against journalists in the country has finally come to an end." When this information was brought to the attention of the CPJ they were told that the
Impunity Index would dramatically improve through the assistance of the UNESCO. Many may not know of the Maguindanao massacre which resulted in the death of 32 journalists and 58 total were injured back in November in 2009. The Ampatuan political clan was guilty of this crime were they originally tried to hide bodies in a mass grave in a known crime province in the Philippines. Finally, in 2019 they made arrests in the case which took over 10 years for the government to be even heard and dealt with by the government. They eventually made 28 arrests in the case along with 15 others that were deemed as accessories to murder which the government deemed as major move to a positive light in the world of journalists but many say otherwise. Mainly because there is an estimated 80 massacre suspects are still roaming free. The Secretary-General of Justice Now, Grace Morales stated
"Those who are still at large are a threat to the victims' families, lawyers, witnesses and even those who keep on supporting our case until now, our case is not resolved yet." Although as I mentioned some arrests were made the UNESCO has backtracked their statement and changed it to a still ongoing investigation. However, working with Duterte's task force has drastically slowed the arrests of gunman and the masterminds behind the massacre.
Above is the Global Impunity Index for 2020 which covers and brings attention to countries where journalists are murdered and are set free. India is currently leading the world with 12 murders closely followed by Russia with 11. The Philippines is at seven which the President believes to be a drastic positive change to their numbers. However, many in the CPJ would disagree when bringing up the massacre. Even with this so called 'positive' change in the Philippines many journalists are still living in fear of losing their life or their job. I believe that here in the United States we take our media and access to information for granted. Having access to news sources and not having to rely solely on social media for our information. However, it is becoming more apparent that the world is constantly evolving in the world of media. Users continue to grow in numbers on many social media platforms and is changing the way many obtain their information. The main question that many are asking is if social media continues to evolve will this change the way of information and the world of journalists in a positive manner, or just make things worse.
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