READ: Management Association of the Philippines' statement on ABS-CBN shutdown

Editor's note: We are publishing in full statements issued by various groups and institutions in support of ABS-CBN Corp., which went off the air on May 5, 2020 following a cease and desist order from the National Telecommunications Commission. The company's franchise expired on May 4, while bills for its franchise renewal, some filed since 2016, continued to languish in Congress.


FULL STATEMENT OF MAP PRESIDENT FRANCISCO ED. LIM ON THE CLOSURE OF ABS-CBN


It’s a sad day for media freedom and the thousands of people and their families who will be adversely affected by the closure of ABS-CBN.

We in the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) had fervently hoped that this day would never come as we, together with other business organizations, strongly urged Congress to consider in a timely and judicious manner the renewal of ABS-CBN’s broadcasting franchise.

We reiterate in the strongest possible terms our plea for Congress to act swiftly, especially at this time when we all must act as one nation for the sake of our country.

Francisco Ed. Lim

MAP President

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Using pandemic to erode human rights is 'unacceptable': UN chief

Taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to erode human rights would be unacceptable, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday, unveiling a new report on the issue.

As governments around the world implemented extraordinary measures to deal with the outbreak, activists have increasingly warned of strongmen regimes using the crisis to roll back rights.

Rights groups have called states out for everything from violence, threats to press freedom, arrests and smartphone surveillance implemented to fight the wave of infections. 

"Against the background of rising ethno-nationalism, populism, authoritarianism and a pushback against human rights in some countries, the crisis can provide a pretext to adopt repressive measures for purposes unrelated to the pandemic," Guterres said in a statement.

"This is unacceptable."

He called on governments to be transparent, responsive and accountable. 

"Civic space and press freedom are critical. Civil society organizations and the private sector have essential roles to play. And in all we do, let's never forget: The threat is the virus, not people," Guterres said.

The UN report on human rights and COVID-19 suggested that governments think about the consequences of their actions, saying "for better or for worse it is critical to consider the long-term whilst planning our short-term responses."

Agence France-Presse

Justice served for 57 Maguindanao massacre victims

Maguindanao 2nd District Rep. Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu celebrates with families of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre after the release of the guilty verdict against most of the accused Ampatuans, as well as dozens of their accessories, at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig on Thursday. Five members of the Ampatuan clan were sentenced to reclusion perpetua without parole for the massacre of 57 people in Ampatuan town on November 23, 2009.

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Snowden says Assange arrest ‘dark moment for press freedom’

MOSCOW—Fugitive US whistleblower Edward Snowden on Thursday slammed the arrest in London of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, calling it a "dark moment for press freedom."

Snowden fled to Russia in 2013 after leaking thousands of classified documents to the media about the US government's extensive surveillance activities.

"Images of Ecuador's ambassador inviting the UK's secret police into the embassy to drag a publisher of -- like it or not -- award-winning journalism out of the building are going to end up in the history books," the former contractor with the US National Security Agency said on Twitter.

"Assange's critics may cheer, but this is a dark moment for press freedom," said the fugitive former US government contractor.

Snowden denounced Ecuador's decision to withdraw asylum from Assange, who had been living in its London embassy since 2012.

He called the decision an "extraordinary and very likely unprecedented revocation of what at least the United Nations considers a legitimate grant of asylum."

Like Snowden, Assange remains a polarizing figure, with some calling him a heroic campaigner for openness, while others accuse him of being an enemy of the US trying to avoid justice.

"I don't have to agree with every part of a man's journalism to believe he shouldn't be arrested for it," Snowden wrote in response to criticism of Assange's methods.

Snowden has largely maintained a low profile in Russia after being given refugee status by the authorities.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

George and Amal Clooney on justice mission for women and gay people

EDINBURGH - Celebrity couple George and Amal Clooney said on Thursday they wanted to use their star power to push for justice globally for women, children, LGBT+ people, religious minorities, and journalists.

The 57-year-old Hollywood actor said some countries were using courts to do "really rotten things" and it was important to "shine a light" on where this was happening.

The couple's Clooney Foundation for Justice, set up in 2016, plans to this year launch, TrialWatch, a project to monitor trials and create an index to track which countries are using courtrooms to oppress minorities and government critics.

Amal Clooney, an international human rights lawyer, said it was important to expose injustices and the countries using courts to target vulnerable people, human rights defenders, and press freedom.

"We now have the highest number of journalists in jail in the world since records began," she told a charity gala organized by the People's Postcode Lottery in Edinburgh.

The Clooneys, who married in 2014, said they were both committed to using their fame to raise awareness about human rights abuses and corruption.

Amal Clooney, 41, said her job was less glamorous than it might seem as it mainly involved piling through vast amounts of paperwork but their fame could be used to their advantage.

"It helps when we want to engage governments to act or business leaders," said the British-Lebanese lawyer.

Her actor husband also played down the glamour of fame, joking about being the father of one-year-old twins, but acknowledged that he had always been determined to use the public spotlight to do good.

"I didn't grow up wealthy," he said. "If you end up getting lucky, you should share that luck."

The Clooneys were in Scotland to collect an award from the People's Postcode Lottery for their humanitarian work.

Britain's People's Postcode Lottery is one of several charity lotteries set up in Europe since 1989 by the Netherlands-based social enterprise Novamedia.

The lottery awards cash prizes and also donates about 32 percent of sales to charity, which has totaled more than 400 million pounds ($530 million) since 2005.

The organization has given money to some of George Clooney's other charities and has also made a grant to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters.

($1 = 0.7602 pounds)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Times Square ball drop in New York pays tribute to press freedom

NEW YORK -- Thousands of hardy merrymakers, many in plastic ponchos, watched on Monday as the shimmering New Year's Eve ball was raised high above a rainy Times Square, hours ahead of its annual midnight descent, a New York City tradition for more than a century.

This year, the Times Square Alliance, the business association that organizes the event, is paying a special tribute to press freedom as part of the festivities, after a year in which journalists have come under attack around the world, including in the United States.

A minute before midnight, journalists, including from ABC News, NBC News, the Washington Post, Reuters and other outlets, will join Mayor Bill de Blasio in pushing the button to initiate the ball drop.

Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, whose news website has drawn the ire of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, will be among the select group of journalists, according to a Time Magazine report which she posted on her Twitter feed. Ressa is among the publication's "Persons of the Year."

Christina Aguilera, New Kids on the Block and Sting were among the musical performers slated to entertain the throngs filling the plaza formed by the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue in midtown Manhattan.

A steady rain, forecast to last for the rest of the evening, failed to dampen the spirits of the assembled multitudes, many of whom donned colorful, oversized top hats handed out by organizers.

"It was a bucket-list thing," said Daniela Ramous, a 34-year-old sales manager from McAllen, Texas. "You grow up watching it on TV, you see all the excitement. There's something magical about New York during this time of year."

Visitors began gathering inside penned-off enclosures in the morning, starting an hours-long marathon of standing in one place, with no access to public restrooms.

Belying the idea that New Yorkers themselves eschew the Times Square festivities, Eskie Garcia, a 59-year-old city worker living in Brooklyn, said she has come every year for about a decade.

"You have to come here in person," she said before applying lipstick and asking a stranger to take her picture on her cellphone. "Especially when you live by yourself. You come, you meet people."

Janette Masson, 29, said she preferred this year's rain to last year's bone-chilling cold. Masson, who works in retail in Boston, had been in her pen since 9:30 a.m., eating granola bars for lunch and dinner.

"I can deal with it," said Masson's 61-year-old mother, Judy Masson, as she stood in the rain with many hours of waiting still to come. "You make the best of a bad thing."

Umbrellas were banned as part of the tight security plan, police said, reflecting concern over the possibility of random attacks. That did not faze the huddled masses in Times Square.

"My boyfriend's coming and he's bringing us garbage bags, so we'll put those over ourselves," said 21-year-old Annika Clary, a dancer from Vancouver, Canada, who was counting down to 2019 with her sister. Plastic ponchos were allowed, with street vendors selling them for $5 on nearby avenues.

The tradition of watching a giant ball drop from a pole on top of the narrow building at the head of Times Square in midtown Manhattan began in 1907.

The current ball, in use since 2008, is a glittering, LED-studded sphere made by Waterford Crystal and Philips Lighting. Weighing 11,875 pounds (5,386 kg) and measuring 12 feet (3.7 meters) in diameter, it sits year-round on the roof of One Times Square, the one-time headquarters of the New York Times.


SHARPSHOOTERS AND DETECTORS

The New York Police Department screened people entering the corrals, deployed sharpshooters on rooftops and used radiation detectors throughout the event.

It also had planned to use an aerial drone for the first time to monitor the crowds, but canceled the effort on Monday evening given the wind and rain.

The organizers chose to honor press freedom and the contribution of journalists partly because of the deadly hostility that some reporters have faced this year.

Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for the Washington Post and US resident, was killed inside a Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey. In June, a gunman shot dead five employees of The Capital, a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland.

This month also marked the first anniversary of the imprisonment in Myanmar of Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo for investigating how the country's security forces killed members of its Muslim Rohingya minority.

-- with ABS-CBN News

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New Year's Eve party in Times Square to cheer for press freedom

NEW YORK—Reporters will be the guests of honor at the New Year's Eve party in New York's Times Square on Monday, in what organizers said was a celebration of press freedom after an unusually deadly year for journalists at U.S. news outlets.

Two attacks in particular weighed on organizers as they discussed in autumn whom to give the honor of initiating the ceremonial ball drop just before midnight, according to Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance.

One was the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for the Washington Post and U.S. resident, inside a Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey. The other was the mass shooting in June in the newsroom of The Capital, a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, in which five employees were killed.

"Throughout the year it's been a big issue," Tompkins said in an interview. "Times Square itself is the ultimate agora and public space," noting that the area was named after the New York Times, and that it was a Times publisher, Adolf Ochs, who began the tradition of the ball drop in 1907.

Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the Times Square Alliance approached his group because of "the perception that the journalism and journalists in particular are under threat and their role is being questioned."

Simon, who said he usually spends New Year's Eve playing Scrabble with his wife in New Hampshire's White Mountains, will be in the spotlight at the Times Square festivities, joining Mayor Bill de Blasio to launch the ball drop a minute before midnight.

Simon will be joined onstage by an array of journalists from U.S. and international news outlets. The names were still being finalized on Friday, the Times Square Alliance said.

The button-pressing honor has in previous years gone to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, an Iraq War veteran, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the singer Lady Gaga.

The Times Square Alliance contacted Simon in November, Simon said, several weeks before Time magazine would devote their annual "Person of the Year" issue to several prominent journalists who have faced attacks and hostility.

Among those journalists were Khashoggi, and Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two Reuters reporters imprisoned by Myanmar for investigating how the country's security forces killed members of the country's Muslim Rohingya minority.

U.S. President Donald Trump has become a vociferous critic of parts of the press, routinely chiding reporters and outlets he views as publishing "fake news," calling them "the enemy of the people."

Simon said this was in the background of his discussions with the Times Square Alliance.

"Unavoidably, Trump was the subtext, but not front and center," he said. "We wanted to have a unifying message." (Reporting by Jonathan Allen; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US newspapers hit back at Trump, defend free press

WASHINGTON - US newspapers big and small hit back Thursday at President Donald Trump's relentless attacks on the news media, launching a coordinated campaign of editorials stressing the importance of a free press.

Leading the charge was The Boston Globe, which had issued an appeal for this drive -- accompanied by the hashtag #EnemyofNone -- that has been joined by more than 200 newspapers around the country.

"Today in the United States we have a president who has created a mantra that members of the media who do not blatantly support the policies of the current US administration are the 'enemy of the people,'" the Globe editorial said.

"This is one of the many lies that have been thrown out by this president, much like an old-time charlatan threw out 'magic' dust or water on a hopeful crowd," it added in a piece entitled "Journalists are not the Enemy."

Trump's treatment of the press is also encouraging strongmen such as Vladimir Putin of Russia and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey to treat journalists like enemies, the Globe argued.

The coordinated effort comes amid Trump's persistent claims that mainstream media outlets that publish articles critical of him are churning out "fake news." 

Free press advocates argue that Trump's efforts threaten the role of the news media as a check against abuse of power in government and imperil the constitutional First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press.

The New York Times, one of the most frequent targets of Trump's criticism, ran a short, 7-paragraph editorial under a giant headline with all capital letters that read "A FREE PRESS NEEDS YOU" and with the statement that it is only right for people to criticize the press, say, for getting something wrong.

"But insisting that truths you don’t like are 'fake news' is dangerous to the lifeblood of democracy. And calling journalists the 'enemy of the people' is dangerous, period," the Times wrote.

Across the country, other papers joined in, defending their place in society -- from upholding the truth to simply saving people time.

"At a practical level, we journalists sit through boring government meetings and learn about public school financing formulas, so you don't have to," said The Arizona Daily Star. "It's not as lofty a statement as the First Amendment, but it serves."

CANNOT SIT BACK 

Free press advocates say Trump is a real threat to the role of the press.

"I don't think the press can just sit back and take it, they need to make their case when the most powerful man in the world tries to undercut the First Amendment," said Ken Paulson, a former editor-in-chief of USA Today who heads the Newseum's First Amendment Center and is dean of communications at Middle Tennessee State University.

But Paulson questioned whether editorials would be effective.

"The people who read editorials don’t need to be convinced," he said. "They are not the ones trying to shout you down at presidential rallies."

In the face of a White House onslaught, Paulson said the media needs a broader marketing campaign to highlight the importance of a free press as a core value.

The campaign also faces the potential for galvanizing supporters of the president around the notion that the media is out to get him.

"The media are organizing an ever more deliberate and public attack on @realDonaldTrump and on the 'deplorable' half of the country who support him. And the media wonders why we think they are 'fake news?'" tweeted Mike Huckabee, a former Republican governor who is a Fox News commentator.

But media rights advocates say the stakes are too high to allow the president's claims to go unchecked.

Some say Trump's comments have incited threats against journalists covering his events, and may have created a climate of hostility that opened the door to violent attacks like a deadly one in June against the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Rappler challenges SEC decision to revoke license

MANILA - An online news platform critical of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday asked the Court of Appeals to set aside the corporate regulator's decision to revoke its license, invoking freedom of the press.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ruled that news website Rappler (www.rappler.com) violated foreign equity restrictions on domestic media because it "sold control to foreigners", a decision Rappler contested.

The SEC said its decision had not become final, allowing Rappler to continue business, pending a court challenge within 15 days.

"The SEC's real purpose in going after Rappler and Rappler Holdings Corporation is to silence them and muzzle freedom of speech," the firm told the court, asking for the ruling to be set aside as the "state has acted with tyranny by putting them out of business".

It added, "Rappler is being made to pay the ultimate price for exercising the freedom of the press."

   
Rappler's lawyer, Francis Lim, said it hoped the case "will ultimately be decided for the interest of the country".

"Our petition raises legal issues that have far-reaching implications on business and press freedom," Lim said, adding the SEC decision "has a chilling effect on business" and could be disastrous to government efforts to attract foreign capital.

The online news platform said no foreigner had exercised control, whether direct or indirect, over it, adding that the SEC had violated its own rules by denying Rappler due process.

Rappler said it was not informed about the decision by a special investigation panel of the regulator and was surprised by the January 11 decision revoking its licence.

SEC head Teresita Herbosa welcomed Rappler's court challenge. "It's their right," she said in a text to Reuters.

A U.N. rapporteur and journalists' groups in the Philippines and abroad have expressed concern over the SEC's decision, calling it an assault on the freedom of the press.

Duterte's spokesman Harry Roque said the issue was distant from questions about press freedom, as Rappler used "deceptive schemes" to raise funds. He also denied any political pressure on the SEC to target the president's critics.

Rappler has repeatedly drawn the ire of Duterte, who called it a "fake news outlet" after it said his closest aide, Bong Go, had intervened in a naval frigate project. (Reporting by Manuel Mogato and Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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Rappler cries harassment over SEC closure order

Online news site Rappler is crying harassment after it was ordered closed by the corporate regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In a decision released by the SEC en banc, it found Rappler Inc., a mass media entity, liable for violating the constitutional and foreign equity restrictions in mass media.


Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, in a press conference, said the SEC ruling did not go through due process.

"They didn't go through due process. The en banc, essentially, issued an order to shut us down without giving us the opportunity to respond to what the special panel found. It wasn't a normal process," she said.

She also believes that the recent decision is the final step in the harassment that journalists are facing under the Duterte administration.

"I guess this is the last part of the kind of harassment that journalists have had in the last year or so. In Rappler, it began a year and a half ago," Ressa said.

"We stand tall. We stand firm. It's good. This is a moment we say we stand for press freedom," she said.

Ressa added that they will fight the decision and bring it to court.

"What we will do is prepare to fight. Our lawyers are preparing our next step."

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque denied that the administration is harassing the press, and urged Rappler to comply with the law.

"The Constitution sets restrictions on the ownership and management of mass media entities to which all must abide," Roque said.

"The issue at hand is the compliance of 100% Filipino ownership and management of mass media. It is not about infringement on the freedom of the press.

"No one is above the law. Rappler has to comply."

Meanwhile, the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) and the Movement Against Tyranny (MAT) expressed their support for Rappler.

FOCAP said the SEC decision against Rappler "sends a chilling effect to media organizations in the country."

"Journalists must be able to work independently in an environment free from intimidation and harassment. An assault against journalists is an assault against democracy," the group said in a statement.

MAT, likewise, warned the public that the decision versus Rappler is "a preview of what's in store for media under an openly-fascist Duterte dictatorship."

"Media outlets would be slapped with questionable cases, their registration revoked and accreditation taken back — simply because Duterte and his DDS media network perceive them as critical of the regime," the group said in a Facebook post.

The National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) also expressed its support for Rappler.


Meanwhile, both supporters and critics of Rappler took to social media to express their views on the controversy.

While there are some who warned against a possible crackdown on news organizations, some supported the move against Rappler, accusing the news site of espousing "fake news."


Rappler is one of several news organizations that has earned the ire of President Rodrigo Duterte for critical reporting on issues hounding his administration, including the bloody war on drugs.

Late last year, Rappler launched a fund drive asking supporters to help them "stay free and independent of political pressure and commercial interests."

The campaign has collected P1.175 million in nearly 4 months.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Journalists are not enemies, US says

Journalists should not be treated as enemies of the state but rather as allies in fighting terrorism, the US ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday, in remarks seen as a swipe at Egypt.

Ambassador Samantha Power told the Security Council that counter-terrorism measures "should never be used as an excuse to suppress political dissent" and that jailing journalists was "counter-productive."

The 15-member council was holding a special debate on confronting terrorism ideologies chaired by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, whose country holds the council presidency this month.

Egypt's journalists' union this month accused the regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of being "at war" with the media after two reporters were accused of incitement.

A total of 29 journalists are behind bars in Egypt, some of whom have been held in custody for nearly three years, according to the journalists' union.

Without referring specifically to Egypt, Power told the council that "arresting journalists, sentencing reporters to death; treating media as an enemy of the state - such actions are thoroughly counterproductive."

"The media is an ally when it comes to showing the truth about terrorist groups," she added.

Asked about the statement, Shoukry told reporters that Power's remarks were not directed at Egypt but he added that the US ambassador was off-topic.

"I think it is important that we keep a focus and that we send a clear message and not confuse issues related to the battle against terrorism with other issues," said the foreign minister.

Human rights activists accuse Sisi of running an ultra-authoritarian regime that has violently suppressed all opposition since toppling Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Shoukry denied there had been arbitrary arrest of journalists in Egypt.

"We believe that journalism is an important contributor to the development of Egypt," he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com