1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:03,733 JUDY WOODRUFF: One week ago, a court in the Philippines convicted one of the country's 2 00:00:03,733 --> 00:00:07,366 most prominent journalists of cyber-libel. 3 00:00:07,366 --> 00:00:12,133 Press freedom advocates quickly called the trial unfair and part of a larger crackdown 4 00:00:12,133 --> 00:00:17,133 by Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte on critical media, and his political opponents. 5 00:00:18,766 --> 00:00:21,500 Nick Schifrin picks up the story of Maria Ressa. 6 00:00:21,500 --> 00:00:26,500 NICK SCHIFRIN: Maria Ressa is a Filipina-American journalist who was once "TIME" magazine's 7 00:00:29,033 --> 00:00:31,800 person of the year and used to be CNN's Manila bureau chief. She founded Rappler, an independent 8 00:00:33,233 --> 00:00:35,866 news site that investigates Duterte without fear or favor. 9 00:00:35,866 --> 00:00:40,833 In 2012, Rappler published an article linking a businessman connected to Duterte with illegal 10 00:00:43,266 --> 00:00:45,966 drugs and human trafficking. Since then, Ressa has been charged with multiple crimes that 11 00:00:45,966 --> 00:00:50,933 her lawyers call politically motivated. All of those charges add up to as much as 100 12 00:00:51,566 --> 00:00:52,900 years in prison. 13 00:00:52,900 --> 00:00:55,566 And Maria Ressa now joins me from Manila. 14 00:00:55,566 --> 00:00:57,933 Maria Ressa, what's the state of press freedom in the Philippines? 15 00:00:57,933 --> 00:01:02,900 MARIA RESSA, CEO, Rappler: It's death by 1,000 cuts, not just of press freedom, but essentially 16 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,000 over the last four years of our democracy. 17 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:11,966 But, certainly, what we have seen just in the last two months, the largest broadcaster 18 00:01:11,966 --> 00:01:16,966 - - imagine, if CBS or CNN were shut down by decree, right? So, the largest broadcaster 19 00:01:18,933 --> 00:01:22,700 here, ABS-CBN, is shut down. The last time that happened was when martial law was declared 20 00:01:22,700 --> 00:01:25,533 in the '70s, and it was shut down for 14 years. 21 00:01:25,533 --> 00:01:29,266 They're still trying to fight it. And then less -- a little over a month later, here's 22 00:01:29,266 --> 00:01:34,266 my conviction. It is the first of eight criminal cases that I face for being a journalist. 23 00:01:36,266 --> 00:01:39,466 NICK SCHIFRIN: We haven't only seen attacks on journalists. We have seen attacks on the 24 00:01:39,466 --> 00:01:44,300 Supreme Court chief justice, on prominent legislatures, and, of course, the war on drugs, 25 00:01:44,300 --> 00:01:49,266 which the U.N. calls a murderous crackdown that's killed more than tens of thousands. 26 00:01:50,433 --> 00:01:52,566 Is this part of a trend in the Philippines? 27 00:01:52,566 --> 00:01:55,366 MARIA RESSA: Absolutely. And it's two. 28 00:01:55,366 --> 00:02:00,233 The first is really, when we saw in 2016, the weaponization of social media. So the 29 00:02:00,233 --> 00:02:05,166 attacks are coming exponentially bottom up. And then it comes top down by weaponizing 30 00:02:07,300 --> 00:02:12,300 the law. The law is the tip of the arrow that is used to attack perceived critics. 31 00:02:14,300 --> 00:02:17,833 I'm not a critical journalist, in the sense that I didn't set out to criticize President 32 00:02:17,833 --> 00:02:21,366 Duterte. I just set out to do my job, to hold power to account. 33 00:02:21,366 --> 00:02:25,700 NICK SCHIFRIN: And what the president says is that there's a lot of crime that he needs 34 00:02:25,700 --> 00:02:30,333 to crack down on, and that's his defense. And the president's allies also point out 35 00:02:30,333 --> 00:02:34,966 that there is a commission now to investigate some of the murders against journalists. 36 00:02:34,966 --> 00:02:39,900 MARIA RESSA: Of the tens of thousands -- this is the U.N.'s estimate -- of people killed 37 00:02:39,900 --> 00:02:44,900 in the drug war, there's only been one conviction of a case that's been brought to court of 38 00:02:45,366 --> 00:02:47,566 police. 39 00:02:47,566 --> 00:02:51,800 It is impunity. And then on the second front, in terms of journalists, we have seen exponential 40 00:02:53,833 --> 00:02:58,066 lies, just my case alone. I don't have to go very far. All I have done is to do my job. 41 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:04,500 This case should have been thrown out of court, because the law we allegedly violated wasn't 42 00:03:06,466 --> 00:03:10,066 even in effect at the time that that story was published. The kind of legal acrobatics 43 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:14,633 to bring this to court and to have a conviction are mind-boggling. 44 00:03:14,633 --> 00:03:18,366 NICK SCHIFRIN: What the government says is that the article was edited after the law 45 00:03:18,366 --> 00:03:23,366 came into effect, and that the cyber-crime law specifically has no statute of limitations, 46 00:03:24,533 --> 00:03:26,533 and that's what you were convicted of. 47 00:03:26,533 --> 00:03:31,066 MARIA RESSA: Both are wrong, essentially, because, in 2014, someone in Rappler fixed 48 00:03:32,666 --> 00:03:36,466 a typographical error. They fixed one letter of one word. It's a typo. 49 00:03:38,466 --> 00:03:41,833 And, for that, myself, I and one of my former colleagues can go to jail for six years. That's 50 00:03:42,433 --> 00:03:44,500 the first. 51 00:03:44,500 --> 00:03:47,400 The second is the statute of limitations for libel -- the Constitution is very clear on 52 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:52,400 this -- it's one year. Our laws are clear. And yet, to convict us, it was changed. The 53 00:03:53,833 --> 00:03:56,500 judge, Judge Montesa's court says, it's now 12 years. 54 00:03:56,500 --> 00:04:00,966 NICK SCHIFRIN: The issues of press freedom in Asia are larger than in the Philippines. 55 00:04:00,966 --> 00:04:05,600 The day that you were convicted, I talked to Steven Butler, the Committee to Protect 56 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,566 Journalists' Asia coordinator. And this is what he said. 57 00:04:08,566 --> 00:04:11,866 STEVEN BUTLER, Committee to Protect Journalists: You have seen it across the board, in Cambodia, 58 00:04:11,866 --> 00:04:15,466 in Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand. India has been terrible. 59 00:04:15,466 --> 00:04:20,466 So this is part of a broad trend that -- and that has forced press freedom further into 60 00:04:21,866 --> 00:04:23,366 retreat from what we have seen in recent years. 61 00:04:23,366 --> 00:04:26,200 NICK SCHIFRIN: Why is that retreat happening, do you think? 62 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:28,666 MARIA RESSA: I think of two reasons. 63 00:04:28,666 --> 00:04:32,733 The first is that our information ecosystem has fundamentally changed with the power of 64 00:04:34,666 --> 00:04:38,833 technology. So, starting in 2016, we pointed out that these cheap armies on social media 65 00:04:39,966 --> 00:04:42,933 are literally changing the facts, right? 66 00:04:42,933 --> 00:04:47,333 And it's not just in the Philippines. It's in the United States. What we -- what has 67 00:04:47,333 --> 00:04:52,333 happened here is happening to you. So, when facts are debatable, then you have no integrity 68 00:04:55,633 --> 00:04:57,600 of anything. 69 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:02,133 The second reason is because there's almost like a dictator's playbook that we're seeing 70 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:08,066 all around the world. They're using the vulnerability of the information ecosystem, social media, 71 00:05:11,133 --> 00:05:16,133 and they -- what we thought would be an enabling and empowering tool has now turned into a 72 00:05:17,833 --> 00:05:20,300 despot's tool. 73 00:05:20,300 --> 00:05:23,766 NICK SCHIFRIN: You mentioned the United States. The U.S. State Department did release a statement 74 00:05:23,766 --> 00:05:26,800 the day after you were convicted decrying the case. 75 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:28,900 Has the U.S. done enough? 76 00:05:28,900 --> 00:05:32,800 MARIA RESSA: We would like to see more of the ideals of the United States. The rest 77 00:05:34,733 --> 00:05:39,700 of the world has felt a little bit of its absence in terms of press freedom issues. 78 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:46,233 Having said that, no matter what the U.S. or any other country says, this is a Filipino 79 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,600 problem. And Filipinos must step up and demand their rights. Otherwise, we're going to lose 80 00:05:52,700 --> 00:05:54,100 it. 81 00:05:54,100 --> 00:05:54,500 NICK SCHIFRIN: Maria Ressa, thank you very much.