Statements Archives | Page 3 of 11

Egco and “Irresponsible Journalism”

PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Joel Egco, who is also Executive Director of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, said during a meeting with the Filipino community during its “Press Freedom Caravan” in Brussels, Belgium that “irresponsible journalism” is to blame for the negative reports about the...

An Attack on One is an Attack on All

THE CENTER for Media Freedom and Responsibility condemns the arrest of Rappler CEO and Executive Editor Maria Ressa on cyber libel charges filed several years after the alleged offense was supposedly committed, and before the enactment of the Cyber Crime Prevention Act. The arrest was also made after office...

Against Despotism

Statement of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility on the issuance of a warrant of arrest against Rappler CEO and Executive Editor Maria Ressa THE WARRANT of arrest issued against Rappler CEO and Executive Editor Maria Ressa continues the Duterte regime’s persecution of media organizations critical...

The Danish Ambassador on the Philippine Press

THE CENTER for Media Freedom & Responsibility (CMFR) takes exception to the statements of Denmark’s ambassador to the Philippines Jan Top Christensen regarding the Philippine media’s coverage of the government. Speaking in a multi-stakeholder consultation forum on journalists’ safety organized by the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC)...

[Myanmar] SEAPA statement on the conviction and 7-year sentence of Reuters journalists

THE SOUTHEAST Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) denounces in the strongest possible terms the conviction handed down today by a Myanmar court to Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, sentencing them to a seven-year jail term. (See, Two journalists arrested for reporting the Rakhine State crisis, face 14-year jail term under the Official...

The Sotto TakeDown “Request”: A Press Freedom Issue

THE FUNDAMENTAL mandate of a free press is to provide fair, accurate and relevant information in furtherance of the right of the people to know, so that they can make intelligent decisions about their lives, their government, and the people on whom they have delegated their powers as...

“Fact-check” Report Misinformed, Failed to get Facts, Context of Killing of 9 Journalists in 22 Months of Duterte

A CONSOLIDATED report on the state of press freedom in the country was produced and launched on May 3, 2018, World Press Freedom Day, by four media organizations — Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility (CMFR), National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism...

Speak Truth to Power, Keep Power in Check

RODRIGO R. Duterte’s presidency has altered and controlled the public discourse so radically in its favor in ways rude and bold. One tragic result: it has restricted and narrowed the celebrated freedom of the Philippine press and the people’s cherished right to know. In his first 22 months in...

Once Again, Stand for Media Freedom

THE CENTER for Media Freedom & Responsibility deplores as an infringement on press freedom the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte barring online news site Rappler’s reporter Pia Ranada and its editor and CEO Maria Ressa from covering the Office of the President. The message of that directive, the...

For Freedom’s Sake: Stand with Rappler

Statement of the Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility NEWS MEDIA organization Rappler is challenging in the courts the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) revocation of its Certificate of Incorporation. But the SEC decision should be sounding the alarm not only among journalists but for all Filipinos who...