Investigative journalist Maria Ressa accepted the 2018 Tully Award for Free Speech for her coverage of Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte during a Wednesday ceremony at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

About 100 people gathered for the ceremony, which is held every year to honor a journalist who has faced “significant turmoil” in their reporting endeavors. Ressa is a co-founder and the current CEO of Rappler, an online news website in the Philippines that uses technology to build “communities of action,” she said.

In 14 months, the Filipino government filed 11 cases against Rappler, Ressa said. She has been arrested twice, has posted bail eight times and has been detained once — all as a result of her reporting.

One of Ressa’s arrests took place in February, on the charge of “cyber libel,” according to Time Magazine. The cyber libel law took effect in 2012, after Rappler published an article that Ressa was arrested for.

“Frankly the only thing I’ve done is be a journalist, and every time the government arrests me I sit there and think about ‘what do I want to say?’” Ressa said.

The country has been embroiled in a drug war since July of 2016, which Ressa defined as the cornerstone of Duterte’s governance. The president has promised to eliminate all drug dealers, according to Al Jazeera.

The United Nations estimates that about 27,000 people have been killed in the war on drugs, Ressa said. One of the first attacks against journalists was directed toward those who reported on the death toll, which she said the government intentionally underestimates.

Duterte is similar to United States President Donald Trump in that both are seen as refreshing leaders who say what other politicians don’t, Ressa said.

“Unlike the United States, though, where your institutions kick back, our institutions caved in,” she said.

Ressa’s journalistic career blossomed in the backdrop of tension and political oppression in eastern Asia.

Initially hired as a reporter for CNN, Ressa became Manila bureau chief in 1987. There were seven coup attempts that year, she said. In 1995, she served as CNN’s bureau chief in Jakarta, one year before the Megawati riots took place after the Indonesian government attacked the head office of the Indonesian Democratic Party. She was chief of both the Manila and Jakarta bureaus for seven and ten years, respectively.

Ressa said her journalism career began by accident. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English from Princeton University, Ressa returned to the Philippines, where she received her master’s. Ressa’s family had left the country in 1973 after then-President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972. But after she graduated from Princeton, she wanted to find her Filipina roots.

A friend from Ressa’s childhood in the Philippines worked as a news anchor in a government station, and she invited Ressa to observe. She began directing the newscast— something she had never done before— when she noticed the director falling asleep. She became a journalist when she was allowed to direct the newscast, she said.

That moment in time was an exciting one, she said.

“There were infinite possibilities for what could happen in the Philippines, and I remember in 1986 saying, ‘my gosh, in 20 years this country is going to be incredible,” Ressa said.

Now, as she faces government persecution, Ressa said she isn’t scared, but she knows the risks. She said she currently feels like Alice in Wonderland, and the Mad Hatter is in charge.

“The only thing I hope I can do is keep walking until I come out the other side, and hopefully the world is right-side up,” she said.

She has asked herself if she’s mentally prepared for the worst to occur. She always tries to touch whatever she’s afraid of to take away its power, she said.

Ressa also has the support of her newsroom. When the government tried to revoke Rappler’s license to operate in January 2018, every journalist stayed with Rappler after she called a general assembly to announce the publication was going to fight back.

“The sense of purpose inside our newsroom has never been sharper,” she said.

Published on April 24, 2019 at 9:25 pm

Contact Emma: esfolts@syr.edu