Listen this is the moment to stop all military action this is the moment to concentrate on fighting we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter 0. I am for the ok and you are in the story the journalist noir west sachs executive editor of a very Popular Online publication of. She has just been found guilty of the light bill with one of her former colleagues Ray Santos Jr look just like tell us about what is going on in the philippines today i am sure you have a point of view you may well even have questions so the way to do that is the each child is now jumping to the chat and you can be part of the conversation. My name is very sad to see you on your i am a former doctor employee and i am one of the defendants in be a cyber labor hes the philippines and youre watching history. Youll hear more from ray in just a little bit the 1st of all i have say welcome back maria to the stream it is good to have you back unfortunately just over a year ago we were talking about your last and now it to us out a guilty verdict. Could your capture a little out of what happened were talking 8 years ago what landed you and your former colleague ray in the courts in the philippines what was that story wow a lot. A lot of legal acrobatics i mean you know just to even get the case to court. The statute of limitations on libel had to completely be changed from one year to 12 years and then a kind of obscure law was what was brought up and the concept a Novel Concept of republication essentially we could go to jail because someone in rappler in 2014 decided to change one letter of one word and this is where we wind up i think we talked about a year ago i think youre right and you know the other part that was interesting to me is how. Fast this case happened i mean how fast we got to a verdict my lawyer ted who is a former Supreme Court spokesman actually was a you know wow this is like maybe the fastest in d. C. But. You know its been a lot of 4 years attacks so this is also not unexpected. And just looking here that the story is Still Available if you go on to wrap my laptop c. J. Is in s. U. V. S of controversial businessmen and that is the chief justice a former chief justice written by renates sentence jr he saw just a little bit early on look at this published 70 9 am maybe 2522 out so you only go up dated and its the day just that little i know that is why you and perhaps ray may well face uphill struggle to stay out of prison. Right the woman in journalism found a kid a nasty and she had a take on this update lets have a listen to her press freedom is going through something. Really challenging it was always challenging but it has been it is the much more difficult for journalists to do their job or her. Around the world however i do want to mention that i dont think that these view corrupt but powerful corrupt governments are really always good at their job look at marias case for example i maria we have undocumented in this case for the last a year and a half to 2000 when our several years 112000 thats a geisha against maria ressa and rappler and the only way they could manage to send her to prison was over a title. Because what happened was the sign 7 libel law came after that story was published so you in the clear and it was only the update but someone corrected a spelling error right that is left to you being where you are now thats extraordinary im just wondering the Bigger Picture cyber libel your what is satsang about where the philippines is right now and journalism freedom of speach. Well you know i guess what happened to me and to rappler actually in my my heels a little bit to what happened to the Largest Television network in the philippines just a month ago im a fish to a. B. S. E which is the largest broadcaster it is a news group of about a 1000 people total the entire network employs about 11 or 8 this network was shut out and there is similar to what had interrupt were in 2018 minor Regulatory Agency gave shutdown notice except in the case of a. B. S. E the within a few hours they went black the last time that happened was it in 1972 when president reagan that marcos declared martial law and a. B. S. C. B. S. Was dark for 14 years so for me this is you know a sign of our times its unthinkable that this would happen and then followed now by the my conviction its not unexpected as i told you this case was filed against me a month after the government tried to shut rutland out in 2182018. 00 is a banner year you heard 11 cases and investigations against us in 20 i have 8 criminal charges against him but i i have 8 arrest warrants that i had to post bail 8 times in order to be free and yet i was still arrested twice last year and detained once so these new experiences since we used to work together. To do this this takes weeks to i cant mkhize i come occur on the cheap right now and why is maria ressa making a drama in international media. Why. Are you. Well 1st of all thats thats the normal narrative whats been pushed our what i call the Propaganda Machine but i would love her to i would love to still switch places with her and have her face 11 cases the investigation id love to see what drama really looks like. Staying with the chips a net says i would like to ask if you seen a different pattern of attacks tools women journalists in the philippines and say that says we know to tell to uses lots of profanities and the philippines is not on the forefront when it comes to womens rights. I wonder if its a net effect but its a net nice to nice to me too women are attacked online at least 10 times more than men this is what our data shows us and the attacks like our president you know are sexist that such an ist are worse ive been called every ad of well you can think of. And very violent inciting to poke straights so having said that this is just the top its just the top of the iceberg we could tip of the iceberg you know this is the exponential attacks on social media is actually meant to change the way people think about it it does 2 things it just sirens takes out a narrative makes you doubt yourself and then the 2nd thing is it creates a fake bandwagon effect it makes people think that that that this week we call it manufactured can set but that you know another phrase that weve used as astroturfing it makes people a lie told a 1000000 times becomes a fact. An opinion expressed a 1000000 times becomes a fact so this is really an interesting time because weve never lived through anything like this. You are not facing. The side verdict by yourself a fool mccully cohen a dell and. Santos genia is also in the coke case with you he loves to stay out of the limelight so we tracked him down and he was happy enough to talk to me and i sent him a little bit early in fessing i asked him if he ray how he doing this is what he told me. Im just trying not to think about that yeah. Im just thinking that you know its just its just a normal to be without without shoes i you know i know in the entire course of the year i never daily im thinking about the easy way i just reminded about when they start looking at social media when i when my friends are messaging me thats only when im reminded that. Most signed a libel case thats happening in the philippines right now what does that tell you about the for the pain sed and journalism in another way to stand back from john because youre not in the media any more yes yes yes. I think i think it it is the case were its happening with us now show us how how being sure was the case is not just for for those who are currently working in media but basically for everyone. I mean. Just like me was no longer part of media. And. No i am still drive in the in the issue. The timing in the dining actually of the keys is very interesting because if it seem in a line when there are red and there are string of p. C. s in actions against media and it shows that there are groups that are really wanted to prevent. Rappler and other media organizations from from doing their jobs so. Its really difficult and even given the advent of social media you know its not just it its not just the traditional or online media that is it could be affected by but everyone whos in social. How infamous. In the philippines right now to people run up to you. Recognize me. When i. When im no mary you know my very high profile personality. And. When i was there when i was leaving media. I actually. You know people people just know me by by my byline and by my shirt theyre on the website so. Im just i was just a low profile journalist back then low profile writer. And im actually very shy of so. Actually during the hearings before or. During the hearings i was even trying to. Escape the camera. Because. I was just an off the boil with with that said we is nothing. To be here. Anymore given the margin how other people are who his or her job. And he listened. To her have a verdicts where youve been decided by the judge the you work you know tests of cyber libel and youre not sure whats going to happen next and it is a possibility that you could go to prison if you could. What would you say. Well i needs to be on the city honestly until until the day. I cannot fully describe how how how it feels to be in this position and. Mostly scared. Because a smart ass as much as there is an assurance from from from my former edwards and from the lawyers that everything would be ok that sure enough theres or it. Well i just dont know given the given the Current Situation here and its and its very scary for a need because. Because i really dont know what will happen. But i think more than me. I i really feel for 80 feet from a former colleagues. Are not just for them but also for my former colleagues in media because i know that. I think they also go. You know we just wanted to do our jobs and. You know this things like this happened so i just hope that you know given this thing that or you support journalists more than ever reinvent a sense hes cant he doesnt know whats going to happen next and hes very fearful how you handling the uncertainty. Well the 1st twists for me you know when we were there together and the physical distances otherwise i would have held him because i could see i could see and of course. There was a certain point when when the when the verdict was being read out that hour i was taking notes and then at a certain point i put it aside as i do what the verdict was going to be. How do you handle this you know i feel like its not just me and ray and rappler on trial the Justice System is on trial right. Acrobatics to actually get this case to court which were never really discussed in the verdict and to convict us you know you know even if even if you say that you are guilty of something you would also have proportionality in terms of giving it 6 its i i wasnt actually describing it this way but when i started reading what everyone wrote kafkaesque is actually not even the right word unbelievable it takes us to a whole other dimension where i dont know what the law means but having said that it is also a great challenge to us because think about it like this our constitution is very clear on freedom of the press on the rights of of filipinos under the bill of rights right and yet here it is in practice. Pushing us abusing our rights so how do you respond to that do you give in and give up accept the abuse that seems to be what they want. And then when you look at it in in in totality the number of cases putting me in jail for a night. Its im shocked its not the philippines that i know its not a very for me as much as it is it makes me angry. In fact when i talked to earlier this week and i said would you be on the stream again maria just said yes to all caps im so angry maria this isnt just about you thout and he is the editor of media asia he spoke to us earlier and this is what he told us there are so many other facts not go under the border one example is that over engineer. Peace and restart she remains intervention because she suspected to be communism but id say there is also random he is not going to dispatch to wash up fortunately hes all right both of them are members of the alternative media and blogging about other of the media let us not forget the Cyber Attacks that we went through last year and their results were brought down by a suspect the elements of this the. Summer there is a Bigger Picture here that you keep bringing us back to as as as you a target of a journalist a target which is really about platforms like facebook ass issue media platforms and the ability they have to share misinformation thats a film that youve been involved in court a 1000 times which could be a little clip and we speak of up because of the back of that lets have a look at 1000 cuts policy on critical media and there you go you are an element of not the only thing you hit it big on but i love going to the new probably the yellow but youre going to begin to get. The journalists we dont know what happened after that rule. What were seeing is death by a house and cocked little coxcomb the body of philippine democracy. When was the story youre telling them and why should we be concerned about facebook. Because its happening everywhere around the world writing the tax so let me let me put it this way the narrative now even as foreigners were speaking the attacks that i receive on facebook on social media are meant to it its a whole continuum the 1st ones came out in 26 soon after president detective became president and it was 1st attack people who challenge this brutal drug war one of the 1st narratives inserted then is journalists equals criminal maria ressa is not a journalist you knew what it what the kind of work that ive done ive been a journalist for a very long time but when you have someone a narrative being pounded a 1000000 times journalists equals criminal right then 20162017 president detect i will say the same thing a week later the floodgates open and the 1st subpoena all of 2811 cases and investigations 21000 arrest warrants arrests trials 2020 it just took 4 years but that he didnt message journalists is now the court. That at giving a verdict say journalists equals criminals while we fight it in the real world the exponential speed of propaganda of repetition just tears creates cool new narratives makes you doubt makes you or it erodes trust that institutions and here we are it makes it so much harder to be a journalist to be a news group today not just in the philippines but everywhere around the world. I am seeing that maria in the comments on the web people are questioning your integrity questioning if you are a journalist but let me share something i feel is really important which is the idea about well press freedom in the philippines will teach you about that now and she. About that and and right now with press freedom in the philippines and she has to say that since a detective administration came into power 3 things happen i called it the 3 seats corrupt coerce coop if you dont do any of these you become a cautionary tale so in businessmen there was a man very early on president to check to attack a publicly listed company. And it collapsed the stock price it was sold for politicians it was a woman senator a liar the lima shes the cautionary tale because she was jailed in february 27000. 00 and has is still in prison today its 3 years and then i am a cautionary tale because you stand up against these attacks you dont youre not you know do any of the 3 cs this is what happens to you well i think that press freedom is the foundation of every right of every for the peanos and this fight this were still here you know and we will be here and we will continue doing accountability journalism. There is nothing else you know sparks so much conversation about what is happening in the philippines about journalism about the media people are very engaged let me share this with you from Jordan Jordan on twitter on you tube says why is the case of the cyber libel situation your situation why is that connected to the president of the philippines where in fact the person who sued you is a private individual. Except its a criminal case and in order to actually make it to court the government had to actually say 2 things straight and this affects every filipino that they changed the period of prescription or the statute of limitations for libel from one year to 12 years that a lowered many will say its unconstitutional and since we have appeals coming up we will we will question this decision thats the 1st the 2nd one is this concept of republication you know thats a kind of its actually an an idea that this government as you said many Different Cases continuous crime it justifies a lot of acts that abuse the spirit of the law obviously in this one changing one letter and one word doesnt weaken doesnt cause it to republication and yet thats barely discussed at the verdict so this is actually about the government last is this case was thrown out by the governments own lawyers the Cyber Crime Division of the National Bureau of investigation and miraculously a week or so later it pops up again and the department of justice pushes it there you just named 2 narratives that are part of the Propaganda Machine i suggest you read other media read traditional media the a. B. S. G. M. A. Enquirer star i think you need to get off the blogs for a little while that also show me. I have nothing to do if i had to get all social media i was also she really early on today as well you move me as im calling you out here and the foul label he thank you thank you rapley its healing that and after you put must it be light to to possibly have to go to prison and you say at best action keep doing our jobs hope power to account coverage on a final sentence maria in this conversation that were having right now how do you want to leave us. Be careful of social media it is a behavioral modification system and much as war there you have to be aware and the 2nd is we are living a time when we are going to have to defend our democracy this generation will have to create its own democracy with social media so you can be careful and be part of what were going to create nets in the u. S. Or thank you for sharing your story thank you for the update. Thank you for joining the conversation as well see you next week as. This underwater treasure is a risk of disappearing due to coral bleaching caused by rising temperatures. The great. Training area the Cultural Heritage its iconic and the Tourism Industry based assets we will instantly if we have another bleaching event of the magnitude if this continues just well no opportunity for the corals to recover in between those magic. Side to supporting full strong Climate Policy from the government to reduce emissions without this the situation on the get worse. Canyon journalists in pursuit of press freedom and justice i have seen very desperate situations someone says about the culture going up for being clean and investigating government corruption and the National Health care system some of the transactions espionage and the collapse. Of money that is unexplained to africa on some sites and publish will see that some people dont want to publish many of the doesnt like the oscar whos truth is it anyway on aljazeera does the play tricks of them taras always. Just park right there they really out there and you pass them by like pull up monster and wagon here and back there in the car a filmmaker takes the f. B. I. To court to find out the tax money 33120 pages of records and in the process mobilize his her community as well his people are. Saying there is no check against the feeling of being watched on aljazeera. Yemens truthy rebels say theyve launched their biggest operation against saudi arabia Saudi Coalition says it intercepted one ballistic missile. Blow im sam is a band this is live from the hole so coming up Arab League Leaders are set to discuss the worsening conflict in libya as egypt threatens military intervention leaflets verses loudspeakers propaganda war and
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