We beg to differ.
According to the latest Western media feature, “popular” Filipino blogger Jover Laurio worked for an Australian call centre before her rise to “fame” as blogger and “thought leader” of the Philippine Opposition. This is particularly relevant to me as Laurio had some time ago used information she had somehow obtained about my private residence and…
With the revoking of Rappler’s license to operate as a business, “opposition” were hopping mad about it being a dictatorship move and suppression of freedom of speech. But those are not what happened. What happened is that one of the real threats to press freedom and freedom of expression was brought to account. I’m not…
Read More “The Real Threats to Press Freedom in the Philippines” »
It would seem, indeed, that Rappler was “targetted” by the Philippine government when it was singled out for shut down through action channeled via the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on charges of accepting foreign funds in exchange for some degree of control. Some “journalists” have incorporated that notion into the “assault on free speech”…
Read More “Rappler CEO Maria Ressa is a FAKE VICTIM because she is a crime SUSPECT” »
As the outrage fad surrounding the shuttering of Rappler by the Philippines’ Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) rages on, we have so far observed a couple of things: (1) CEO Maria Ressa has been attempting to spin this as a “press freedom” issue to distract the public from her failures as CEO and (2) the…
Though difficult to tell for sure, the Opposition led by the Liberal Party (the Yellowtards) gained some measure of success in spinning what was primarily a citation of lapses in corporate compliance on the part of “social news network” Rappler into an issue of “press freedom”. Led by its embattled CEO Maria Ressa, the Yellowtards…
Read More “Duterte overthrown by a revolt led by Rappler CEO Maria Ressa: a scenario analysis” »
The game is up for Maria Ressa. As CEO of embattled “social news network” Rappler, she should have been on top of her company’s risk exposure to the business environment — including the regulatory framework in the country within which her business operates. She and her cheering squad used the argument that the Securities and…
As I mentioned in my previous article, “press freedom” is the only defense Rappler and its cheerleaders have been issuing since it got its knuckles rapped for offenses against the constitutional bar on foreign ownership of media businesses in the Philippines. But is “press freedom” really under threat? It is if the people who make…
John Nery makes a good point in his Inquirer piece today where he writes, that the decision of the Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to shutter Rappler for offenses against laws limiting foreign ownership of media companies is “grossly disproportionate” when given the bigger context of “press freedom”. But Rappler is a news organisation…
Read More ““Press freedom” is Rappler’s only argument, and it will fail to move Filipinos” »