Ressa Shot downed!:BBC veteran Stephen Sackur cornered Ressa about her lies against Pres. Duterte

Maria Ressa wants to keep the momentum running against President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in the international stage, but sadly this time she was able to meet what a true journalist should be.

In his show in BBC, the 24 minute interview on “Hardtalk,”, the respected journalist Stephen Sackur asked Ressa for her basis in saying press freedom is dead under Duterte just because she was convicted of cyber libel. Sackur points out that several media outfits continue to operate freely under what was supposed to be a hostile environment.

“There is no doubt that it’s just not you that suffered from repressive tactics coming from government agencies. But nonetheless, the notion that all sorts of freedom of expression are now curtailed and eliminated in the Philippines surely isn’t right,” Sackur said.

Maria Ressa during BBC's Hardtalk interview with  Sackur(inset)
(photo credit to owner)

“If you look at your country today, there is still multitude of diverse opinion across the spectrum of politics in different platforms of media… afterall, your website hasn’t been shut down, it continued to this day. The Philippines is not North Korea, nothing alike,” he added.

Sackur asked Ressa if Filipinos are sympathetic to her plight considering that Duterte’s approval rating is at a record high 80 percent. He said it was a figure other world leaders can only dream of.

“Everything you say about what Duterte is doing is not deterring a really big majority of Filipinos from giving him their backing,” he said.

Sackur also asked for pieces of evidence that could back up Rappler’s allegations regarding the thousands of extrajudicial killings allegedly happening under the Duterte administration, while taking note of the Social Weather Station (SWS) survey showing majority of Filipinos approve of President Duterte’s drug war.

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Report from Politiko

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