2024 – When democracy ‘falls off the cliff’?
Social media platforms are helping us to create our worst selves, says Nobel laureate Maria Ressa (above). We know – in 2018, MIT said that lies spread faster than facts,… Read more »
Category: Philippines
The Revenge of Power: How malign 3P power made the world safe for autocracy
Savvy autocrats have deployed the three P’s of populism, polarization and post-truth to cultivate ‘stealthocracy’ – maintaining liberal democracy’s institutional architecture while gutting the substance of such norms as accountability,… Read more »
Nobel laureate Maria Ressa takes on ‘gendered disinformation’
A prominent journalist in the Philippines and vocal advocate for press freedom globally, Rappler’s Maria Ressa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, The Post reports. In awarding the… Read more »
‘Ticking time-bomb’ threatens bedrock of democracy, Nobel laureate warns
Independent media are “the bedrock of democracy,” said President Joe Biden in his opening remarks to the Summit for Democracy. His administration will launch an effort to sustain independent media… Read more »
‘A constant light in dark times’ – Chito Gascon, R.I.P.
Democracy and human rights advocates are mourning the passing of Jose Luis Martin “Chito” Gascon, chairman of the Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights, who succumbed to COVID-19 at the age of… Read more »
Southeast Asian illiberals using pandemic to consolidate power
Even before the coronavirus emerged, growing political polarization, illiberal populism and sectarianism, the legacy of authoritarian rule, and the continuing influence of militaries in politics were undermining democratic politics in… Read more »
When China’s sharp power fails
Beijing’s influence operations provide conclusive evidence that the United States faces a struggle with two “revisionist” powers, Russia and China, former National Security Adviser HR McMaster argues in his new… Read more »
A Thousand Cuts: Maria Ressa’s Fight for Press Freedom in the Philippines
“First they came for the journalists. We don’t know what happened after that,” says journalist Maria Ressa, quoting a solemn line from a Philippine newspaper, inspired by Martin Niemöller’s postwar poem… Read more »
Illiberal leaders targeting media freedom
On Monday, a court in Manila convicted Filipino American journalist Maria Ressa of something called “cyber libel.” Her case will have severe ramifications for press freedom not only in South Asia… Read more »
Philippines’ ‘lie machine’ at work: Maria Ressa found guilty of cyber libel
High-profile journalist Maria Ressa has been found guilty of libel in the Philippines’ in a case seen as a test of the country’s media freedom, the BBC reports. The former… Read more »