Can journalism survive an authoritarian ruler?

09/30/20 • 33 min

Within journalism circles, Maria Ressa is a hero. She is a veteran journalist, as well as the co-founder, executive editor and CEO of Rappler , a popular online news website in the Philippines. Ressa is celebrated for her critical coverage of President Rodrigo Duterte and for enduring legal challenges to her site’s reporting.
She has experienced first-hand how hard it is for journalists to hold the line against an authoritarian leader when press freedoms are threatened. In June, Ressa and her former Rappler colleague were found guilty of “cyber libel.” She is currently fighting the government’s move to revoke Rappler’s license and faces up to 100 years in prison for her work as a journalist.
Ressa is the subject of a recent PBS documentary, “A Thousand Cuts,” about the fight between the government and the press in the Philippines. She was named Time Magazine’s 2018 Person of the Year, was among its 100 Most Influential People of 2019, and has also been named one of Time's Most Influential Women of the Century. She is the author of two books: From Bin Laden to Facebook: 10 Days of Abduction, 10 Years of Terrorism; and Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda's Newest Center.
Our host spoke to Ressa about the rise of misinformation, the role of tech in
misinformation and, of course, her battles with Duterte. The interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
Additional credit: Suzannah Gonzales provided producing assistance, Zoe Denckla provided research assistance and Miranda Shafer provided production assistance.

Is that a fact? is a production of the News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan education nonprofit building a national movement to create a more news-literate America. Our host is Darragh Worland, our producer is Mike Webb, our editor is Timothy Kramer, and our theme music is by Eryn Busch.

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How can the press serve our fractured country?

Michael Luo is the editor of the newyorker.com. We spoke to him about a piece he wrote on The Hutchins Commission which was formed during World War II to decide how the press could serve democracy during a period of intense political strife and distrust in the media. At the time tribalism was fueling division in the country, and the press was seen as further sowing discord. The piece was written for The New Yorker’s series on “The Future of Democracy” We spoke about the role of journalism in American democracy, the need for viewpoint diversity in media, and the future of media.

This is episode two of our ten-part series, Is that a fact? In each episode we’ll bring in an expert to discuss an aspect of our current information environment that is threatening the promise of American democracy. Visit our website for more information and find additional links on our guests.
Additional credit: Zoe Denckla provided research assistance and Miranda Shafer provided production assistance.

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Kara Swisher on why Facebook is a threat to democracy

Our guest is Kara Swisher, one of the premiere tech columnists in the country. Our host spoke to Swisher about how social media platforms have affected our ability to talk to one another. Have platforms like Facebook contributed to the rise of misinformation. Do social media platforms have a responsibility to police certain content? Swisher has been a long-time critic of the power of tech companies, their use of personal data and the industry’s lack of accountability. In our interview she said, “We are cheap dates to the data companies.”

Swisher has been chronicling the rise of Silicon Valley since the early ‘90s. In 2003, Swisher launched the D: All things Digital Conference with Walt Mossberg, and later co-founded the website Recode with him, which was acquired by Vox in 2015. Swisher has written for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, and she is currently an editor-at-large for New York Media and a contributor to the New York Times, where she recently launched a new podcast called “Sway: A Podcast about Power.” She is the author of two books, AOL.com (1999) and There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future (2003).