“The Battle for Truth”

By: Mary Eber 

Maria Ressa may not be a household name among American journalists, but she will be after Monday’s opening session of the inaugural News Leaders Association opening luncheon, where she is the keynote speaker. 

Ressa is the CEO and executive editor of Rappler.com, the largest journalist-controlled media corporation in the Philippines and also a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles, according to Poynter.com.

She was named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” in 2018 for her courageous and bold work in fighting disinformation, “fake news” and attempt to silence the free press. 

“In the span of 14 months at least 11 complaints, investigations and court cases have been lodged by President Rodrigo Duterte’s government against Filipino media site Rappler and its CEO Maria Ressa,” according to Poynter.com.

An outspoken critic of President Duterte, she’s a veteran journalist from the Philippines. Ressa has been arrested twice this year and accused of ‘cyber libel,’ violating security laws and corporate tax evasion, according to BBC.com.

“For their staff, it shows the Philippines’ “dark reality: how law and bureaucracy can be mobilized to silence an independent institution.” For Ressa, it could also be considered a case study about how public spheres and democracies around the world are being destroyed,” according to Poynter.com.

Ressa is being represented by human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who says the arrests and threats online, are attempts by the government to silence her, according to BBC.com.

The Philippines government says the rule of law has been followed "every step of the way" in her case, according to BBC.com.

“For the generation growing up now, your battle is going to be the battle for truth,” Ressa told BBC.com.

Mary Eber is a senior at Ball State, majoring in Journalism and Telecommunications. She graduates in December 2019 and can be reached at maryebernews@gmail.com