Seares: Why some journalists don’t get riled over arrest of Rappler’s Maria Ressa

MARIA Ressa, chief executive officer of the news website Rappler, was voted by Time magazine as one of the “Guardians,” journalists who were killed, persecuted or hounded in 2018 by allegedly repressive governments. Hers was among the faces that graced Time’s cover for Persons of the Year.

Not every Filipino cheered. No poll has been conducted and one cannot tell how many agree with Time’s choice and support Ressa’s advocacy. “We’re in this together.” Or “This is not about me or Rappler.” That pitch, along with the call to defend press freedom, has not roused a number of people.

Reasons for criticism

Not even in the media community that is expected to rally behind one of its own and condemn the “oppressive” moves of government against her and Rappler. Criticisms of Ressa and her news outfit now and then break out from some newsroom to land in print and on the internet. Ressa and Rappler are not without critics among journalists who were hurt by its stories, turned off by its manner of reporting, envied the recognition heaped on her by much of the rest of the world, or just didn’t like the way Ressa looks or speaks. And there are those, of course, who clash with her views on government conduct, anti-Ressa sentiment genuinely driven or induced by fear or favor.

So when Ressa was arrested by NBI agents towards the close of office hours of last Wednesday (Feb. 13), not all condemned the obvious move to make her spend a night of detention. Actually, an old trick to make the arrested person suffer, pulled by a complainant with the clout to arrange it. The businessman who filed the libel case against Ressa probably didn’t have to spend anything for the timing of the arrest. The president made no secret that he hates Rappler.

She had to pay bail of P100,000, thanks to the 2018 adjustment of fees and fines and the higher penalty for cyber libel. Her news outfit can afford it but one briefly pauses to think that if she worked for a small community newspaper that didn’t have cash to cough up for the bond premium, she would still be in jail.

Picking targets

Which leads to one explanation why some community journalists don’t sympathize with Ressa’s plight.

The Palace doesn’t pick on the small news outfits in the countryside. As in the Marcos era, with the might of martial law, the central government didn’t care much about the rural and regional press. Same priorities this time. Strong-arm tactics on local media? They just send out PCOO chief Martin Andanar to turn on his charm on the “probinsyano” media.

In the crosshairs of Malacanang’s guns are ABS-CBN, the Inquirer, and, yes, Rappler: the giants of industry. Their audience reach and capacity to whip up dissent nationwide make them the logical targets for assault.

Ostensibly legal

Then there’s the other thing that has not helped turn on the pro-Ressa sentiment: the government uses ostensibly legal means to go after her and other critics. It uses the law, the courts, the agencies, though the law may be stretched. And there are bases, though facts may be garbled and have to be threshed out in litigation . It isn’t like the state dragged out Ressa from her office. The arrest was under warrant; she was granted bail; and she can defend herself and Rappler all the way to the Supreme Court.

The odds are stacked against Ressa and others whom the administration considers a threat or an annoyance. Heads of departments and agencies obey orders, express or tacit, from higher officials. Courts, supposedly independent, often take cue from the President’s pronouncements. It must be the “weaponizing” of the law Ressa talks about. But, except for her accusation, the moves against her are outwardly lawful, making the assault more insidious.

Rethink the strategy

Journalists, in local or national media, are supposedly more perceptive than most consumers of news. They are expected to see through the façade of regularity that covers the assault on “enemies” of those who govern.

If they fail on that and clam up about the attack, the propaganda must be working more on most other citizens.

A hope-giving note: dissent in the country is still loud enough to tell the world there is cause for concern. Media organizations here and abroad have made themselves heard. And the foreign press extensively reported the event, which from the drubbing may prompt a rethinking of Palace strategy.

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph