{"id":162402,"date":"2018-05-02T04:03:46","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T08:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=162402"},"modified":"2018-05-02T04:03:46","modified_gmt":"2018-05-02T08:03:46","slug":"ph-media-to-spend-world-press-freedom-day-under-govt-attack-hrw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/05\/02\/ph-media-to-spend-world-press-freedom-day-under-govt-attack-hrw\/","title":{"rendered":"PH media to spend World Press Freedom Day under gov\u2019t attack \u2014 HRW"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A rights group said Filipino journalists will be spending the 25th celebration of World Press Freedom Day tomorrow, May 3, under government attack. (U.S. Navy photo<\/a> by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Stephen Hickok\/Released via Naval Surface Warriors\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A rights group said that Filipino journalists will be spending the 25th<\/sup> celebration of World Press Freedom Day tomorrow, May 3, under government attack.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Carlos Conde, Human Rights Watch (HRW) Researcher-Asia Division, said new draft regulations issued by the House of Representatives would allow Congress to ban reporters \u201cwho besmirch the reputation of lawmakers\u201d from covering the national legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cJournalists and some members of Congress have denounced the proposed rule as dangerously ambiguous and stifling. And to many Filipinos, this restriction on freedom of expression is an affront to their pride in their country\u2019s free if freewheeling press,\u201d Conde said.<\/p>\n

These restrictions, he noted, are the latest in a series of attacks on the Philippine media by President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s administration and its supporters, which aimed at silencing critical voices.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the government has been especially ferocious against people and organizations demanding accountability for the government\u2019s drug war, which has killed more than 12,000 people since July 2016, any criticism of the administration seems subject to reprisal,\u201d the rights defender stressed.<\/p>\n

Conde said Duterte has made \u201cincendiary public statements\u201d against journalists, even justifying death threats against them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main target has been the news website Rappler, which has been highly critical of the administration. Since February, the government has blacklisted Rappler reporters from covering Malacanang Palace, the president\u2019s residence,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

It was in March when the government also initiated tax evasion and libel cases against Rappler. An ongoing investigation by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Rappler\u2019s ownership could lead in the media outlet\u2019s closure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government has likewise targeted the owners of the Philippines\u2019 largest and most influential newspaper, the Philippine Daily Inquirer,\u201d Conde said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost recently, the government restricted media access to a popular island resort and, last week, sought to bar accredited foreign correspondents from covering the Philippines at an (Association of Southeast Asian\u00a0 Nations) ASEAN event in Singapore,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The rights group said that in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders reduced the Philippines\u2019 press freedom global ranking from 127 to 133 out of 180 countries.<\/p>\n

In addition to the government\u2019s move against media, four journalists were murdered last year, \u201cmaking the Philippines the deadliest country for journalists in Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group added that the assault on media freedom “resonates loudly” in the world’s celebration of Press Freedom Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cFilipino journalists, true to the tradition of political muckraking, corruption expos\u00e9s, and wartime reporting, have often put their lives on the line, serving the Philippine people and democratic values in the process,\u201d the rights defender said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that their efforts are supported \u2013 including by the Philippine Congress,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A rights group said that Filipino journalists will be spending the 25th celebration of World Press Freedom Day tomorrow, May …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":162403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[3650,50522,50523],"class_list":["post-162402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-government","tag-philippine-media","tag-world-press-freedom-day","mauthors-joanna-belle-deala","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}