See recordings of Speakers’ events in full: www.fcchk.org/events
A Press Freedom Fighter in the Philippines – A Conversation with Maria Ressa
‘We can’t buckle because if we do it’s your kids who will feel it’
Maria Ressa opened her conversation with then FCC President Florence de Changy while setting up her own live stream of the event to the Philippines. A self-confessed tech geek, Ressa’s use of social media as CEO and executive editor of online publication Rappler has jangled Philippines’ president Rodrigo Duterte and his government enough that she’s had 11 charges filed against her so far. “They have all gone to court, charges so ludicrous I’ve run out of synonyms for ludicrous,” she said at a Club lunch on May 17. She had been arraigned in two courts three days before coming to Hong Kong. “Worse case scenario, I could go to jail for a century.” She had to ask permission from the courts to travel, and paid a 500,000 pesos (US$9,650) travel bond. She has already paid six times that amount in bail, saying: “I pay more in bail than Imelda Marcos [former First Lady of the Philippines] ever did.” However, she added: “It’s so nice to be able to walk around without security [in HK]. You have your own problems, but it could be worse.” Ressa was speaking as mid-term election results were still coming in at home in the Philippines. “For the first time since 1938 no opposition member for senator has won a seat. The election is overwhelmingly in favour of Duterte, it
was a referendum on his leadership. Our best defence is to keep telling the story and you guys to keep shining the light on the Philippines and our descent into tyranny.” Ressa made the decision to go home when she was 40, after 20 years with CNN. “I was doing breaking news for CNN, I was telling other people’s stories, living on adrenaline.” After six years at ABS-CBN in the Philippines, she decided digital was the way to go. Rappler was born, with a team of 12 which grew to 75 within a year. News organisations, journalists, activists and lawyers are on a list, published in The Manila Times on April 22, called the Oust-Duterte Plot; Ressa is on the list. She also recently joined another list, the TIME 100 Most Influential People of 2019, but she said: “I would give all my awards back to have a fully functioning democracy.” Ressa is now building the tech platform she wanted in 2017, when legal fees ate up her money. “It’s death by 100 cuts in our democracy. Everything is a ‘new normal’ for President Duterte.” During the Q&A session, AFP’s Eric Wishart asked: “You seem to have a dual role: on one hand you are an icon, on the other hand you have a news network to run at home. How do you place yourself?” She said: “I grew up with reporting the news, I do not want to be the news. The handcuffs came off when my rights were violated … I didn’t want being a journalist to get in the way of my own voice.” Her voice breaking with emotion, she added: “We jumped off the cliff and it is a faith that a parachute will open and you guys provide that. Journalists, our only weapon is to shine a light; the only thing that makes me emotional is the next generation. We can’t buckle because if we do it’s your kids who will feel it.” De Changy, wrapping the session up, asked: “How does Duterte react to your international status?” “I think it’s the reason I’m not in prison. Part of me wants to duck, but in the Philippines we can win this fight.” (See also Human Rights Press Awards, page 18) Lunch, May 17, Sue Brattle
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Then President Florence de Changy puts questions to Rappler CEO Maria Ressa in the Main Dining Room
THE CORRESPONDENT
JULY 2019
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