Citizens and Free Expression
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Citizens and Free Expression: Living Dangerously Under Tyranny by Inday Espina Varona
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Citizens and Free Expression
- 1. Photo from Ilocos Homeboy website
- 2. The government and its propagandists labor hard to drive a wedge between professional journalists and citizen journalists. DON’T FALL FOR IT.
- 3. • Most media outfits are owned by families or individuals that wield political and economic powers • The social media platforms so indispensable to our lives today are owned by capitalist companies that tweak algorithms and other aspects of technology to improve their bottom line.
- 4. Philippine journalists face some of the worst working conditions • No security of tenure • Lacking social benefits • Dearth in operational support • No resources for training and professional improvement
- 5. Filipino NETIZENS reflect country’s demographics: • Poor (dependent on free data or promos with low data cap) • Young (victims of a poor educational system that values technical skills over critical thought) • Captive audience of social media algorithms geared to profit companies and clients
- 6. A FLOOD OF LIES, ATTACKS ON TRUTH-TELLERS The first year and a half of President Rodrigo Duterte's government has seen a flood of attacks on press freedom and freedom of expression. Duterte himself has led the assault, aided by a well-oiled machinery of disinformation peddlers and digital storm troopers.
- 8. Freedom of Information? • Redacted Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth • CHR told Duterte needs to give green light before release of data on ‘Tokhang’ killings • Efforts to withhold spot reports from media or sanitize these before release
- 9. “Pia Ranada does not only represent Rappler or its readers. She represents every Filipino’s right to information and a free press. The repressive acts against Pia, Rappler and other members of the press are an attack on OUR rights. It is our duty as citizens to denounce and protest such actions.” - Teddy Casiño
- 10. WHAT HAPPENS TO US, HAPPENS TO YOU
- 12. PEDDLING LIES IS THE FAVORITE PASTIME OF THE GOVERNMENT
- 13. MANUFACTURED NOISE IRRESPONSIBLE INFLUENCERS SIGNS OF PANIC?
- 15. Best safeguards for all other rights Article III, Section 4: “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.”
- 16. CHA-CHA UNDER DUTERTE DRASTICALLY NARROWS THE EXERCISEOF CIVIL LIBERTIES, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO PRESS FREEDOM AND FREE EXPRESSION, FREE ASSEMBLY AND THE RIGHT TO SEEK REDRESS AGAINST UNJUST STATE ACTIONS AND POLICIES
- 18. Article VIII, Sec. 1 x x x Judicial power includes the duty of the courts of justice to settle actual controversies involving rights which are legally demandable and enforceable, and to determine whether or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch or instrumentality of the Government. Tyrants fear accountability
- 20. “In a free and democratic society, all artists should be unrestrained in the making of their art… Those who feel threatened by the power of art should not be allowed to repress human creativity. We have the right to create work that pushes boundaries and promotes discussion of controversial topics. We need the freedom to offend without fear.” -- BENCAB
Editor's Notes
- From the outset, I’d like to highlight some things I’d like you to take away from today’s event. PRESS FREEDOM AND FREE EXPRESSION GO TOGETHER. ONE CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT THE OTHER. A CRACKDOWN ON ONE IS AN ASSAULT ON THE OTHER. 2) PRESS FREEDOM AND FREE EXPRESSION ARE ALWAYS LINKED TO OTHER BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES. A CRACKDOWN ON THESE RIGHTS ALWAYS COME WITH ATTACKS ON ALL OTHER RIGHTS. 3) WE CANNOT FIGHT FOR PRESS FREEDOM AND FREE EXPRESSION AND IGNORE OTHER RIGHTS. Human rights are interrelated. We cannot choose and pick among them. We cannot demand freedom of expression on Facebook and shrug off attacks on people’s right to live. The apologists of President Rodrigo Duterte claim democracy cannot be under siege because we are one of the world’s social media capitals, with dissenters given free rein in expressing grievances. THAT IS A LIE. More than 100 activists have been slain in the era of Duterte. The President has just threatened to treat dissenters, including legal personalities, as terrorists. He has threatened to bomb Lumad schools. He has threatened human rights workers. The government is trying to impeach the Supreme Court Chief Justice and the Ombudsman. It has jailed one senator. Whatever democratic space we enjoy today is not a gift from Duterte. It is the space created by hard won struggle. And it is under seige
- We live in the age of social media. In the world of digital technology, the first thing to remember is: YOU ARE MEDIA, TOO. The government and its propagandists labor hard to drive a wedge between professional journalists and citizen journalists – that’s all of you. They want to create the impression that traditional media has become irrelevant to national life, that social media users are now the main arbiters of TRUTH. Yet they claim that ethics and independent thought have no place in social media. That dangerous world view extends to the belief that those who do not follow their obscene pied pipers are fair game to attacks.
- THAT WE ARE A FLAWED, IMPERFECT INSTITUTION HAS TO DO MUCH WITH THE POWER STRUCTURES OF THE SOCIETY WE SERVE. Most media outfits are owned by families or individuals that wield political and economic powers and who do as much as they can to defend these interests or attack their enemies by using their media companies.
- MORE THAN ___ MURDERS. VERY FEW CONVICTIONS. NO MASTERMIND BROUGHT TO JUSTICE. MURDERERS OF JOURNALISTS IN MAGUINDANAO ARE OUT ON JAIL.
- THE ATTACKS ARE MULTI=PRONGED, OFFICIAL AND UNOFFICIAL. TWO MAIN TRACKS – THE SPREAD OF DISINFORMATION AND ATTEMPTS TO INTIMIDATE A CRITICAL PRESS AND CITIZENRY. THE FIRST THING HE DID, EVEN BEFORE ASSUMING OFFICE. – hindi ka papatayin kung mabuting journo ka ALWAYS, IT’S THE WORLD VIEW. IT’S TOTAL CONTEMPT FOR DUE PROCESS. IT’S LOGICAL CONCLUSION WOULD BE ‘TOKHANG’ AND ‘DOUBLE BARREL’ – A CRACKDOWN ON NARCOTICS WHOSE MAIN FEATURE IS JUDGING PEOPLE GUILTY UNTIL THEY CAN PROVE OTHERWISE AND THE RELEGATION OF DRUG ADDICTS INTO SUBHUMAN STATUS – WITH DUTERTE BEING THE LAST MEDICAL WORD ON THE TOPIC . NOT JUST MEDIA BUT THE CHURCH, HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS, CONSTITUTIONAL BODIES…. SERENO AND OMBUDSMAN CARPIO MORALES The goal – to wipe out or intimidate any opposition to the strongman’s vision.
- SLIDE 6: CALCULATED, CALIBRATED President has threatened to file plunder charges against Inquirer, a private company. He has openly threatened to derail ABS-CBN’s application for renewal of franchise. He has heaped verbal abuse at Pia Ranada, the Palace reporter of Rappler. Malacanang announced it would strip Pia and Rappler of accreditation as journalists and place them, as bloggers, under the tender mercies of Asec Mocha Uson, she who insists bloggers do not have an obligation to vet the information they share. Vera Files, another troll magnet, experienced a massive denial of Service attack on its website within half an hour of publishing its analysis of alleged hidden wealth of Mr Duterte and his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte. Kodao, recently, was also attacked. More than 200 citizens have been slapped with cyber libel charges – though the complainants come from various political persuasions. This year, our sectors and the entire citizenry face even worse threats to civil liberties, including an unjust charter change proposal that would sweep away most rights enshrined in the Philippine Constitution. The Constitution gives much weight to freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Its framers recognized these two rights as safeguards for all other rights: to seek redress for grievances, due process, free assembly, travel, association, and the exercise of religious and political beliefs. The government realizes as much, which is why it has unleashed a flood of attacks, with Duterte himself leading the assault. Their aim is clear: to silence opposition to mounting human rights violations, illegal attempts to consolidate power and do away with checks and balances in government, and to hide the ugly truth of charter change
- PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said the police could not provide the human rights body with copies of the entire case reports as many are still under investigation.
- REPERCUSSIONS FOR CITIZEN JOURNALISTS. EVEN NOW…
- Slide 7 – PRESS FREEDOM AND HUMAN RIGHTS ARE NOT PRIVILEHES It is not just Press Freedom that is under seige. It is Democracy itself that is under fire. Netizens and activist groups experience the same barrage of verbal abuse and attacks on their internet assets as media groups. (Gabriela, Bayan, MAT) Press freedom is NOT a privilege. It is a right enshrined in the Philippine Constitution. President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest claim either stems from ignorance or megalomania. It is most probably the latter. Duterte is a lawyer. Even high school students are taught the Bill of Rights. That Duterte and his machinery intend to heighten attacks on media is clear. The media and artists alliance, Let’s Organize for Democracy and Integrity (LODI), sees this as a prelude to the regime’s frenzied efforts to ram through an overhaul of the Constitution and pave the way for an indefinite period of dictatorship. THAT PROPOSED CHARTERS WOULD WIPE OUT CIVIL LIBERTIES. FOR ONE THING, IT WILL GIVE THE JOKERS IN CONGRESS THE POWER TO DECIDE ON RESPONSIBLE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, RE-NEGOTIATE ALL DEALS CURRENTLY BANNED UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. DUTERTE CAN’T EVEN WAIT FOR CHA-CHA. HE RECENTLY ABROGATED THE RIGHT TO DECIDE ON BEHALF OF THE LUMAD, TO DECIDE HOW TO EXPLOIT THEIR ANCESTRAL LANDS – NOTWITHSTANDING CURRENT PROTECTION GIVEN BY THE CONSTITUTION AND OTHER LAWS. The regime can no longer mask its nature. Presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo defends the planned constituent assembly but noting that Filipinos are largely uneducated and not capable of deciding their fate. Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has even threatened to starve all local government units of funds should they not bow to the dictates of the regime. Without going into the merits of Rappler’s corporate case, let me stress that Duterte cannot feign a lack of influence there. The complaint was filed by his Solicitor-General, an alter ego who reports directly to him
- FAKE NEWS Harry Roque, CHECK YOUR DATA 1) The Aquino administration gave the finalizing and approval of contract to YOUR administration, because it did not want to be charged with a midnight deal. 2) Defense Sec Delfin Lorenzana, as Duterte's defense secretary, approved the contract. THE CONTRACT WAS SIGNED IN OCTOBER 2016 -- https://www.rappler.com/…/193931-navy-chief-relief-frigates… 3) Any self-respective administration will REVIEW any contracts left for it to FINALIZE. Duterte administration had FOUR MONTHS to do this. So how can you blame other people?
- Rappler study on weaponizing social media showing thousands and thousands of sudden, immediate response – traced to a few dozen accounts … that then “command” hundreds of accounts. Trolls that serve to disrupt discussion of issues by baiting us into losing our tempers and succumbing to discussion of OTHER ISSUES. THE NEW YORK TIMES REPORT ON HOW TWITTER HAS ALLOWED THE PROLIFERATION OF FAKE ACCOUNTS, REPRESENTING 15% OF ITS USER POPULATION DOES NOT TOUCH ON FB BUT THERE, TOO, WE SEE A FAMILIAR PICTURE. THEY HAVE GAMED FB ALGORITHMS – AND THERE IS A SUSPICION THEY ARE IN CONTROL OF THE FIRST-LINE GATEKEEPERS HIRED BY THIRD PARTIES. TAKE DOWN SA VERA FILES POST KO – SPAM? BUT MY COMPLAINT ON PIA RANADA … DISMISSED Pressed on disinformation spread by social media networks linked to President Duterte’s media office, Roque told journalists: “Without fake news we won’t know what’s true news. If we don’t what’s a lie, we also won’t know what’s the truth. Let there be a free marketplace of ideas.” The presidential spokesman refused to remark on controversies surrounding Assistant Communications Secretary Mocha Uson, a celebrity turned chief Duterte propagandist, but complained of supposed “fake news” by mainstream media. Uson, the country’s most popular blogger, has a Facebook page with millions of followers. She is at the center of government’s attack against Rappler, an independent digital news site, insisting that its journalists report to her office, which is charge of social media and bloggers. “Fake news today is no longer the work of pranksters or crackpots. It has become political propaganda. It uses what the pope in his message calls “snake-tactics. Monsignor Pedro C QuitoriO III , head of the CBCP Media Office
- RAPPLER: “From 2013 to 2015, online scams consistently topped the list of most common cybercrimes reported to the Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG). But in 2016 – a year of heated political debates that also took place in cyberspace – online libel emerged as the top complaint of Filipino internet users, with 494 complaints recorded compared to 311 recorded in 2015. It comprised 26.49% of the 1,865 cybercrime complaints for 2016. Meanwhile, online scam complaints came in at second place, with 444 complaints in 2016, up from the 334 complaints recorded in 2015. Rappler CEO Maria Ressa warned that the cyber libel complaint filed by businessman Wilfredo Keng against the social news network has "huge implications" on the press. "This is important for everyone of the journalists who publish, because this means that if you've had a libel case from a decade ago, they can say that if your story is online, you are again gonna be charged for it. If you won the case, it can be reopened," Ressa said Tuesday, January 23.
- Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are among the most important basic rights enshrined in the Philippine Constitution. These civil liberties are also the best safeguards for all other rights: due process; free assembly, travel, and association; and the exercise of religious and political beliefs. The first year and a half of President Rodrigo Duterte's government has seen a flood of attacks on press freedom and freedom of expression. Duterte himself has led the assault, aided by a well-oiled machinery of disinformation peddlers and digital storm troopers. These attacks have a clear aim: to silence opposition to mounting human rights violations linked to his crackdown on suspected drug addicts and dealers and various parties he has dubbed as enemies of the state, including activists and rights defenders. More than 10,000 have been killed in relation to his anti-narcotics crackdown. Rights groups have documented 143 political killings and more than a hundred illegal arrests. Duterte has just given soldiers the same reassurance he gave police implementing the crackdown against drugs – they can kill unarmed civilians and still enjoy his protection against justice
- NEW FACEBOOK GUIDELINES… HOW DO WE MANAGE THIS…. ON GROUND IS IMPORTANT. SOCIAL MEDIA IS IMPORTANT, but let us not delude ourselves into believing our noise represents the world. News … vetted … is import. Go beyond circle of friends. REKINDLE THE HABIT OF GOING TO NEWS WEBSITES. SHARE THIS WITH YOUR COMMENTS. TAG YOUR FRIENDS. BUT MOST OF ALL … GO TO THE COMMUNITIES WHERE REAL PEOPLE HAVE REAL LIVES… TELL THEIR STORIES… SOCIAL MEDIA BEST USED FOR THOSE WITH LITTLE OR NO ACCESS TO IT.
- Let us not allow democracy, however flawed it is, to die under a regime dedicated to kill all civil liberties of the people. Let us defend press freedom and freedom of expression. Let us defend all basic rights and civil liberties guaranteed by our Constitution. LODI has a simple message. We will not cede freedom and democracy to the forces of darkness. We will not just rage against the dying of the light. We will actively fight the evil regime that aims to snuff out the light of freedom. The regime is mighty. But the Word and the Spirit will triumph. Filipinos have faced the darkness before and emerged victorious. We shall overcome.