News just broke that Rappler CEO Maria Ressa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This is an astounding demonstration of the extent to which Ressa had managed to hoodwink an entire profession into lapping up her dishonest narrative of “attacks” on “press freedom” being supposedly perpetrated by the Philippine government. Al Jazeera reports that Ressa, along with Russian Dmitry Muratov “were given the prestigious award ‘for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia,’ Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said on Friday.”
One wonders if this Norwegian Nobel Committee actually did their homework. It seems all they did was consult members of a vast echo chamber that envelopes much of Western Big Corporate News Media. Indeed, if they had, in fact, used “journalists” as resources in their “research”, it all the more makes Ressa’s win quite suspect. Across a large swathe of this community seems to be a common denominator — eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. In their article “How One of America’s Premier Data Monarchs is Funding a Global Information War and Shaping the Media Landscape”, Alexander Rubinstein and Max Blumenthal write…
With offices in Washington, Silicon Valley, and six foreign countries, the Omidyar Network propagates the neoliberal ideology of its billionaire namesake through “impact investing” and a “property rights” initiative. Outside the U.S., the Omidyar Network funds an array of foreign media outlets, like Ukraine’s Hromadske and the Philippines-based Rappler, that have participated in pro-Western information warfare-style campaigns against rogue governments. In Zimbabwe, where the Omidyar Network supports a series of oppositional youth organizing initiatives through the Magambe Network, an Omidyar employee was arrested, accused of attempting to stir up a revolt through online organizing, and ultimately released (the incident is detailed later in this article). This February 12, Rappler editor-in-chief Maria Ressa was arrested as well, accused of “cyber-libel” by the Filipino government for a 2012 article. The Omidyar Network and the Omidyar-funded Committee to Protect Journalists have set up a $500,000 legal defense fund for Ressa.
Back in 2019, under intense grilling by Ezra Levant, “Rebel Commander” at The Rebel in a conference on “media freedom” hosted by Omidyar, Ressa inadvertently admitted that she had received $4.5 million in funding from Omidyar.
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Interestingly, Levant’s question was initially directed to Nishant Lalwani, Director of Investments of the Omidyar Group challenging the sense of his hosting such a conference when, Levant points out, “no one here is not on your payroll”.
Lalwani then categorically stated, “we gave some money to Rappler…” after which he was abruptly cut off by Ressa who then proceeded to hijack the rest of the response to Levant’s initial query.
Watch the video…
Indeed, Ressa behaved really badly there. She had been discussing an ongoing case she had with the Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a public forum. To Ressa’s claim that she was “winning” this case, Levant pointed out that “Omidyar gave up his stock,” suggesting that Omidyar had, perhaps, recognised then the risk in his exposure to Rappler.
At some point, Ressa was forced to point out that the amount involved was “only” $4.5 million.
Only.
After a few more minutes of Ressa carrying on in her usual shrill manner, Levant finally reminded her that the question was not originally addressed to her — perhaps recognising the disproportionate defensiveness she had just exhibited.
Clearly Maria Ressa was being absolutely dishonest in her so-called “advocacy” to “protect” whatever “press freedom” was, she insists, “under threat” in the Philippines. The truth is, this was, even then, a time-wasting sorry excuse of an advocacy manufactured by a discredited thought leader to whitewash the utterly failed venture called Rappler.
Earlier that same year, no less than the Associated Press (AP) itself fell victim to Ressa’s lies. The AP had to delete a tweet it posted and implied that it was misled by statements provided by Ressa…
The AP deleted a Wednesday tweet on journalist Maria Ressa’s arrest. It incorrectly said she was arrested for criticizing Philippine President Duterte. Authorities said she was arrested over a libel complaint, but Ressa argues the government misapplied the law to target her.
This was a landmark retraction by a major news media organisation as many others continued to “report” misleading information about Ressa’s arrest on charges of libel.
Erstwhile respected “journalist” Christiane Amanpour, for example, seemingly stood by the very significantly slanted take on the matter that the AP now distances itself from…
You know a government is desperate when they arrest a journalist.
President Duterte: FREE @mariaressa NOW.
@UNESCO
@pressfreedom
#MariaRessa
#PressFreedom
Evidently, Amanpour needed to be reminded of the most relevant fact of this matter — that only a Philippine court can decide on that which she called for.
On reflection, it would have been a reasonable ask at the time that the rest of the global “journalism” community get a grip and step back from all the misleading emotionalism kicked up by Ressa in her desperation to sidestep the task she was being taken to back then. It could have been an opportune time for the community to revisit the core values of the journalism profession and understand the root cause of the crisis of relevance and credibility that the corporate news media industry suffers today.
Respected Filipino columnists were already on to Ressa even further back. In his January 2018 Inquirer column, Oscar Franklin Tan pointed out the dishonesty in the public statements Rappler had been publishing about her case after the Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a shutter order to Rappler for violation of constitutional provisions banning foreign control of media businesses in the country. Notable among these was the idea that the SEC move was the start of some sort of “assault on press freedom” being mounted by the government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. According to Tan, this was not consistent with the SEC position which was very clear on the specific items in regulation surrounding the issuance of the types of funding agreements in question. The SEC report pointed out that clauses that extend “veto rights” are provided in Rappler‘s agreement with its foreign funder Omidyar Network. These rights are not found in similar instruments issued by ABS-CBN and GMA to their respective investors.
Indeed, the SEC order did not, in any way, present a future threat to any other news media network. This was all about Rappler‘s violation of the Constitution. And the threat to “press freedom” was all in the minds of Ressa and her Rapplerettes.
If there had been any actual threat to “free speech”, it could be found in how Rappler went about reporting about its own predicament at the time. Rather than highlight the true facts surrounding its case which all pointed not just to Ressa’s negligence as CEO but to a seemingly deliberate effort mounted by her company to circumvent corporate regulation, Rappler‘s reporters put up mere strawmen.
Ressa and her henchwomen were actually the ones abusing their freedom by baldly misleading the public. Tan put it quite succinctly: “Free speech cannot justify Rappler’s misleading coverage of Rappler”. Ressa should heed the words of the venerable Oprah Winfrey: Time is up. So is the jig.
Rappler had, at many times since it sprung up seemingly out of nowhere in 2012, been all but exposed as a non-viable business venture and, worse, a channel out of which dishonest journalism is served to an unwitting Filipino public. Norway is a long way from the steaming Philippine political and business scene both culturally and geographically. If the trustees of the venerable Nobel Foundation value the brand equity of their hallowed “Peace Prize”, they should revisit their decision to award it to Maria Ressa. Do a bit of homework. Talk to real Filipinos. It really can’t be that hard.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Never mind. Nobel Prize has been riddled with a lot of scandals and controversies over the past few years (or decades). The Philippines and the whole world already know how big of a joke it is along with its conceited recipients. Maria Ressa will always go down in Philippine history and Filipino memory as the convicted cyberlibelist plagiarist who invented the 30,000+ EJK victims whose names and bodies could never be found; and Rappler will be remembered as the iNvEsTiGaTiVe nEwS oUtLeT that the legendary investigative journalist Julian Assange will forever insult and despise.
whats the latest on flat earth theory and loch ness monster?
You tell me. You’re the one who believe in idiotic conspiracies of Maria Ressa.
Honestly, this Nobel Peace Prize win given to Maria Ressa is a complete slap to the face, a dishonor and a total disgrace to the Philippines. Clearly, Maria Ressa DID NOT TRULY deserve the Nobel Prize for Peace, for she’s a biased journalist that engaged in pure fake news, lies, and phony stories. Worse of all, the goddamned biased, dishonest, lying s**t company that she founded known as “Rappler” (or f**kpler to be described with, whatever the f**king hell that is) is a foreign-owned company, of which foreign-owned companies are banned on the tenets of the 1987 constitution and Rappler violated that tenet, and to make matters worst, it doesn’t even pay taxes to the Philippine government, of which a s**t media company like Rappler had committed tax evasion.
Also, there are more worthy and suitable candidates to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize rather than Maria Ressa. Like, this Nobel Peace Prize is truly disappointing and pathetic.
on the contrary she brings honor to the country that we produce people like this. like manny pacquiao and lea salonga. its just funny that people on this blog who havent made much of their lives attack her hehehe pathetic
You really don’t get the goddamned motherf**king point, do you?? Clearly, you’re acting like a goddamned shilling SJW liberal dumb motherf**king son of a bitch that you really f**king are. Clearly, Maria Ressa DOES NOT bring honor to the country, and rather, she brings DISHONOR and DISGRACE to the country in more ways than one.
On top of that, as being repeated before: she’s a biased journalist that engaged in pure fake news, lies, and phony stories, and Rappler itself is a f**king foreign-owned company and Rappler violated the clauses of the constitution, that banned foreign companies like Rappler to operate in the country (which SHOULD BE Filipino-owned, ONLY), not to mentioned that it had numerous tax evasion cases committed of her and the entire Rappler company that are still pending.
At worst, this Nobel Peace Prize win of hers is beyond laughable and pathetic, for it’s also politically motivated and no doubt that the Nobel Prize committee are being goddamned bribed by s**t liberals for that bulls**t like that.
Like, think about that, you dumb SJW liberal motherf**ker.
true, does she even deserve to be called as a noble prize winner? Even her media outlet, the rappler has been one of the most biased news reports! She also spreads false information to the world that our government has to pay for! She’s not a real journalist in the first place!!!
because she doesnt agree with you shes biased?
Is there anyone in the prize committee connected in any way to Maria Ressa or Omdiyar Network?
She got the Times award because of Time’s connection to Omidyar.
imagine being so bitter and jealous over an award you’d never even look at in your lifetime…
And if you didn’t know that the founder of Nobel Prize is actually builds explosives which is NOT a very peaceful way to do a prestigious award.
What can I say but congrats for a job well done, Maria Ressa! Nobel Peace Prize 2021 awardee! (drop mic!)
Seriously, I would like this short post of mine to serve as a simple tribute to somebody whom I admire from afar for doing what she believes is her small contribution to the betterment of the country and its people. I’m aware of the ramifications of Maria’s accomplishments and functions for it is not easy to navigate the world of politics and expose the shenanigans in and around it. True, her reporting often ruffled the feathers of those in power but that is the nature of her profession. We can criticize or praise her for that but we cannot blame her for doing her job.
Like her, I truly believe that we should always uphold a free press to safeguard and protect our strong democracy.
Halata talaga kapag timang ang nagkokomento e kung ano-anong katangahan at ka-OA-han na nonsense ang pinagsasasabi. ? Trying-hard mema. Ano’ng Free Press ang sinasabi mo e numero uno ngang pasimuno ang Rappler sa pagpapatahimik sa platform ng mga journo na hindi nila kapanalig. Lalo na kina Jay Sonza at Bobi Tiglao na lagi nila pinapa-mass report sa FB.
Jay Sonza is not a journo. He’s a rumor-monger plain and simple. Go ask Julia Barretto. All I know about Jay Sonza now, aside from spreading rumors, is he’s the designated hitman for the administration. The attack dog who was once a decent comic-host of a tv show. Tsk, sayang. Nowadays, I often see his video on Youtube and find it disgusting for just attacking people for the sake of it.
I wonder, maybe the political losses he incurred in the past has rendered him a bit demented. I think the people’s rejection of him in the polls may have short-circuited his cerebrum. I know that’s a bit harsh but I really miss the Jay Sonza of the Mel & Jay show. When he was neutral – not taking a stand or position or when he was just an entertainer – he appears normal and descent and respectable. But after two failed attempt to run for public office, that’s when the sh@t hit the fan.
You said a lot but you made no point at all. Please don’t breed.
its much easier to just constantly sing the praises of the administration like one blog i know hehehe despite the threat of prison she just speaks truth and the world sees it.
Me and my good friend Juan Luna (uh, nvm greengrin who’s just some conspiracy nut) are one in congratulating Miss Maria Ressa for winning the universal, pure, and pristine Nobel Prize. Haters gonna hate, pero inggit lang sila because we two and Her Holiness belong to a special clade of individuals who can libel anyone who’s not to our taste and still be morally spotless. A free press for our class is much more important than whether you have poor roads, gnarly power and internet service, poverty wages, mugged family members, or petty floodwaters. You guys do not deserve clean beaches or nice bridges, but Juan Luna and I can escape and trip abroad anytime we want. Much better if you just accept it, if you Filipinos are poor and miserable, then that’s just your DESTINY! Just be proud that at least a 100% born Filipino citizen has been Endowed with the favors of a superior Nordic race on your behalf. OK? Mabuhay!
“Inggit lang sila” is the exact idea you will think of after reading the first three comments posted by our three distinguish members here. But (there goes that but again, lol!) when you think about it and really read between the lines, those negative comments is not about ‘inggit’ per se but more about expressing fear, anger, resentment and surrender. We all know people communicate with their emotion on something they can and cannot control. Sometimes the communication is laden with sweet nothings, sometimes with poison. If it’s sweet, it’s good; but if it’s poison, oh man, it’s evil. Evil thoughts are the fruits of uncontrolled emotion, hence, they often fall in the negative. Laging talo.
I said it was an expression of fear because it scares the hell out of you when someone you do not agree with, despise even, turns out right, straight and positive. “The founder of Nobel Prize actually builds explosives…” – that’s a frightened cat if you ask me.
It is anger when someone always get the upper hand when you thought you already got her/him. “Does she even deserve to be called as a noble prize winner? Even her media outlet, the rappler has been one of the most biased news reports! She also spreads false information to the world that our government has to pay for! She’s not a real journalist in the first place!!!” – To me, that’s rage with a capital H!
What seems to be the formidable nature of someone you hate and fear eventually builds up resentment and renders you helpless and weak every time they scored on you. “She got the Times award because of Time’s connection to Omidyar.” Yes, bitter it is.
Lastly, when all is said and done, when everything is stacked up against you with finality, an admission of defeat follows. “This Nobel Peace Prize is truly disappointing and pathetic.” That’s surrender but leaving a bad taste in the mouth.
And then tomorrow we post again. : )
Hahaha! The two of your are buttfuckbuddies alright.
I am entertained by the one-two punch combination tactic you morons are trying to apply here. But think again. The real losers are the ugly images staring back at you when you look in the mirror.
You think you’re the winners because Mister Roughskin Ressa took home a shitty Nobel no one thinks HE deserves? You might want to look at the true state of your people. De Lima is in jail, ABS-CBN is off air, Duterte continues to top surveys, Ocho Derecho got their asses kicked in the 2019 elections, Robredo had to rebrand herself just to escape the Yellow stigmatization and Bongbong is poised to bag the presidency next year.
So, you two backdoor raiders, together with Mister Roughskin Ressa, can take that Nobel prize and shove it up each other’s ass and have Das Kaviar Dinner.
The true winners are the ones you are calling losers.
Tomorrow, you post again. Me? I post any fuckin’ time I want.
Maria Ressa is your typical crime/thriller/suspense novel antagonistic character whose villainy is shrouded by the numerous awards, achievements and connections she have to flash to deceive her gullible supporters, often playing the victim card to get away with anything. Luckily, such kinds of characters do not get to live that long.
As expected, you brain dead fans of Ressa call anything pro-admin as tards yet you are here masturbating in public. Kung makatawag na “you Filipinos” wagas. Claim your hero then as one of your “superior Nordic race”. Kung kamukha nyu si Ressa, pano kayo naging superior? LOL. Sa pananalita nyung dalawa ni Juan Luna, halatang mga myembro ng ahon-putik gang.
“but Juan Luna and I can escape and trip abroad anytime we want. Much better if you just accept it, if you Filipinos are poor and miserable, then that’s just your DESTINY! Just be proud that at least a 100% born Filipino citizen has been Endowed with the favors of a superior Nordic race on your behalf.—“. Is this English? Am I having a stroke? LOL.
Stay proud for Ressa though. IT is now one of the winners of Nobel Peace determined by a “very commendable” committee that handed out 800+ prizes to men while only giving 58 to women as of 2020. Majority of the 58 only awarded after 2000. And oh, not one Black scientist as of 2020 too.
But Ressa can still be proud to be in the same league as Yasser Arafat, Aung San Suu Kyi and Barrack Obama who was still 9 months in office, ordered to bomb the heck out of Somalia and Yemen. Fuck civilians, he already won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Disgusting disgrace. The Philippines gets its first Nobel prize via a peddler of fake news. 2021 has been an interesting year indeed: from Olympic glory to Nobel shame.
The Nobel brand “stock price” just took a nosedive after this obvious move to smack Duterte hard on the face.
No amount of meddling by the West will translate to votes for Leni though. Filipinos will choose who they like, and likely it will be another leader with that familiar iron-fisted image.
The world is indeed becoming “topsy turvy” to put it mildly. Ressa was already proven a fake journalist and political advocate managed to take advantage of the situation. Our society globally are witnessing evil regarded as good and good and noble are now regarded as evil. The defeat of the recall Neusom in California to the installation of an illegitimate crook in the WH are best examples of this argument. Will wait for the time we all can get back to normal in values and with this pandemic, it certainly made it unachievable.
Big companies like facebook doesn’t care if these are fake news or malicious contents. These kind of stories create internet traffic and engagements equal to profit.