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Reporter Without Borders
Philippine Government to Charge Rappler Founder Maria Ressa
The Philippine government has announced it will charge veteran journalist Maria Ressa and her online news start-up Rappler with tax evasion. The move is the latest attack on media from the regime of President Rodrigo Duterte. The announcement comes just one day after the International Center for Journalists honored Ressa for outstanding journalism.
You can watch a video of Ressa accepting the award in the window below.
She told attendees that the website had “written a lot about out two battle fronts, a brutal drug war with tens of thousands killed, and the exponential lies on social media that incite hate and stifle free speech.”
A New York Times article details the tax evasion case, which stems from a 2015 investment in Rappler by an organization owned by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay.
In January this year, the government revoked Rappler’s license, so the site moved its operations overseas.
Ressa is a veteran journalist, former CNN bureau chief and head of national broadcaster ABS-CBN. She launched Rappler in 2012.