Bits & Pretzels #7 Journalist vs. The President: "90 Hate Messages an Hour"

Maria Ressa, co-founder and CEO of news website Rappler, has been to jail several times, she and her team have been threatened with rape and death. For a month Ressa received 90 hate messages per hour – but she won’t stop.

In this episode of the Bits & Pretzels podcast Maria tells us about her hard work as a journalist in the Philippines, how she became a true role model in courage and integrity and why she thinks that "democracy as we know it, is dead".

Hosts:
Britta Weddeling (@bweddeling), Editor-in-Chief of Bits & Pretzels (@bitsandpretzels)

Featuring:
Maria Ressa (@mariaressa), co-founder & CEO Rappler (@rapplerdotcom)

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Maria Ressa, the co-founder of news website Rappler, has been to jail several times and threatened with rape – but she won’t stop

Investigative reporter Maria Ressa, the co-founder and CEO of popular news website Rappler, disclosed the spread of fake-news by supporters of Rodrigo Duterte, the President of the Philippines, and Facebook's role in the massive manipulation. That made her a very powerful enemy.

Ressa spent two decades working as an investigative reporter, foreign correspondent and was bureau chief for CNN in Manila and Jakarta before starting Rappler. In 2018, Time Magazine named her "Person of the Year".

Rappler spot-lighted the dealings of the troll army of President Duterte in 2016 and minutely chronicled the spread of fake news on Facebook to manipulate public opinion about Duterte’s presidency and state-supported extrajudicial killings in the so-called "war on drugs".

As a result, Maria became the target of Duterte's supporters. And she also turned into one of Facebook's harsh critics. Her core statements: "Social media now allows lies". And: "Democracy as we know it, is dead".

Hosts:
Britta Weddeling, Editor-in-Chief of Bits & Pretzels

Featuring:
Maria Ressa, co-founder & CEO Rappler

More to explore:
Visit our website: https://www.bitsandpretzels.com/podcast

Follow us:
Twitter - Linkedin - Instagram - Facebook

If you like the show, please let us know by leaving a review. You can also send us feedback directly at [email protected].