WEBVTT 00:02.000 --> 00:03.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: One week ago, a court in the Philippines convicted one of the country's 00:03.733 --> 00:07.366 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% most prominent journalists of cyber-libel. 00:07.366 --> 00:12.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Press freedom advocates quickly called the trial unfair and part of a larger crackdown 00:12.133 --> 00:17.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% by Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte on critical media, and his political opponents. 00:18.766 --> 00:21.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% Nick Schifrin picks up the story of Maria Ressa. 00:21.500 --> 00:26.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: Maria Ressa is a Filipina-American journalist who was once "TIME" magazine's 00:29.033 --> 00:31.800 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% person of the year and used to be CNN's Manila bureau chief. She founded Rappler, an independent 00:33.233 --> 00:35.866 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% news site that investigates Duterte without fear or favor. 00:35.866 --> 00:40.833 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% In 2012, Rappler published an article linking a businessman connected to Duterte with illegal 00:43.266 --> 00:45.966 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% drugs and human trafficking. Since then, Ressa has been charged with multiple crimes that 00:45.966 --> 00:50.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% her lawyers call politically motivated. All of those charges add up to as much as 100 00:51.566 --> 00:52.900 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% years in prison. 00:52.900 --> 00:55.566 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% And Maria Ressa now joins me from Manila. 00:55.566 --> 00:57.933 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% Maria Ressa, what's the state of press freedom in the Philippines? 00:57.933 --> 01:02.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MARIA RESSA, CEO, Rappler: It's death by 1,000 cuts, not just of press freedom, but essentially 01:04.000 --> 01:07.000 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% over the last four years of our democracy. 01:07.000 --> 01:11.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But, certainly, what we have seen just in the last two months, the largest broadcaster 01:11.966 --> 01:16.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% - - imagine, if CBS or CNN were shut down by decree, right? So, the largest broadcaster 01:18.933 --> 01:22.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% here, ABS-CBN, is shut down. The last time that happened was when martial law was declared 01:22.700 --> 01:25.533 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% in the '70s, and it was shut down for 14 years. 01:25.533 --> 01:29.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% They're still trying to fight it. And then less -- a little over a month later, here's 01:29.266 --> 01:34.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% my conviction. It is the first of eight criminal cases that I face for being a journalist. 01:36.266 --> 01:39.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: We haven't only seen attacks on journalists. We have seen attacks on the 01:39.466 --> 01:44.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Supreme Court chief justice, on prominent legislatures, and, of course, the war on drugs, 01:44.300 --> 01:49.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% which the U.N. calls a murderous crackdown that's killed more than tens of thousands. 01:50.433 --> 01:52.566 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% Is this part of a trend in the Philippines? 01:52.566 --> 01:55.366 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% MARIA RESSA: Absolutely. And it's two. 01:55.366 --> 02:00.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The first is really, when we saw in 2016, the weaponization of social media. So the 02:00.233 --> 02:05.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% attacks are coming exponentially bottom up. And then it comes top down by weaponizing 02:07.300 --> 02:12.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% the law. The law is the tip of the arrow that is used to attack perceived critics. 02:14.300 --> 02:17.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I'm not a critical journalist, in the sense that I didn't set out to criticize President 02:17.833 --> 02:21.366 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% Duterte. I just set out to do my job, to hold power to account. 02:21.366 --> 02:25.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: And what the president says is that there's a lot of crime that he needs 02:25.700 --> 02:30.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to crack down on, and that's his defense. And the president's allies also point out 02:30.333 --> 02:34.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% that there is a commission now to investigate some of the murders against journalists. 02:34.966 --> 02:39.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MARIA RESSA: Of the tens of thousands -- this is the U.N.'s estimate -- of people killed 02:39.900 --> 02:44.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% in the drug war, there's only been one conviction of a case that's been brought to court of 02:45.366 --> 02:47.566 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% police. 02:47.566 --> 02:51.800 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% It is impunity. And then on the second front, in terms of journalists, we have seen exponential 02:53.833 --> 02:58.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% lies, just my case alone. I don't have to go very far. All I have done is to do my job. 03:00.600 --> 03:04.500 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% This case should have been thrown out of court, because the law we allegedly violated wasn't 03:06.466 --> 03:10.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% even in effect at the time that that story was published. The kind of legal acrobatics 03:11.600 --> 03:14.633 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% to bring this to court and to have a conviction are mind-boggling. 03:14.633 --> 03:18.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: What the government says is that the article was edited after the law 03:18.366 --> 03:23.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% came into effect, and that the cyber-crime law specifically has no statute of limitations, 03:24.533 --> 03:26.533 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% and that's what you were convicted of. 03:26.533 --> 03:31.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MARIA RESSA: Both are wrong, essentially, because, in 2014, someone in Rappler fixed 03:32.666 --> 03:36.466 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% a typographical error. They fixed one letter of one word. It's a typo. 03:38.466 --> 03:41.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And, for that, myself, I and one of my former colleagues can go to jail for six years. That's 03:42.433 --> 03:44.500 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% the first. 03:44.500 --> 03:47.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The second is the statute of limitations for libel -- the Constitution is very clear on 03:47.400 --> 03:52.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% this -- it's one year. Our laws are clear. And yet, to convict us, it was changed. The 03:53.833 --> 03:56.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% judge, Judge Montesa's court says, it's now 12 years. 03:56.500 --> 04:00.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: The issues of press freedom in Asia are larger than in the Philippines. 04:00.966 --> 04:05.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The day that you were convicted, I talked to Steven Butler, the Committee to Protect 04:05.600 --> 04:08.566 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% Journalists' Asia coordinator. And this is what he said. 04:08.566 --> 04:11.866 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% STEVEN BUTLER, Committee to Protect Journalists: You have seen it across the board, in Cambodia, 04:11.866 --> 04:15.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% in Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand. India has been terrible. 04:15.466 --> 04:20.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% So this is part of a broad trend that -- and that has forced press freedom further into 04:21.866 --> 04:23.366 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% retreat from what we have seen in recent years. 04:23.366 --> 04:26.200 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: Why is that retreat happening, do you think? 04:26.200 --> 04:28.666 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% MARIA RESSA: I think of two reasons. 04:28.666 --> 04:32.733 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% The first is that our information ecosystem has fundamentally changed with the power of 04:34.666 --> 04:38.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% technology. So, starting in 2016, we pointed out that these cheap armies on social media 04:39.966 --> 04:42.933 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% are literally changing the facts, right? 04:42.933 --> 04:47.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And it's not just in the Philippines. It's in the United States. What we -- what has 04:47.333 --> 04:52.333 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% happened here is happening to you. So, when facts are debatable, then you have no integrity 04:55.633 --> 04:57.600 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% of anything. 04:57.600 --> 05:02.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The second reason is because there's almost like a dictator's playbook that we're seeing 05:04.400 --> 05:08.066 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% all around the world. They're using the vulnerability of the information ecosystem, social media, 05:11.133 --> 05:16.133 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% and they -- what we thought would be an enabling and empowering tool has now turned into a 05:17.833 --> 05:20.300 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% despot's tool. 05:20.300 --> 05:23.766 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: You mentioned the United States. The U.S. State Department did release a statement 05:23.766 --> 05:26.800 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% the day after you were convicted decrying the case. 05:26.800 --> 05:28.900 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% Has the U.S. done enough? 05:28.900 --> 05:32.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MARIA RESSA: We would like to see more of the ideals of the United States. The rest 05:34.733 --> 05:39.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% of the world has felt a little bit of its absence in terms of press freedom issues. 05:41.600 --> 05:46.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Having said that, no matter what the U.S. or any other country says, this is a Filipino 05:48.200 --> 05:51.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% problem. And Filipinos must step up and demand their rights. Otherwise, we're going to lose 05:52.700 --> 05:54.100 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% it. 05:54.100 --> 05:54.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: Maria Ressa, thank you very much.