The excesses against those of us are happening in real-time. The draconian sentence also flies in the face of international law and the warning by the Philippines Supreme Court that ‘the constitutionality of criminalizing libel is doubtful”, her legal team stated Ressa and, as a report on a matter of public interest written in good faith, should be protected free speech in Philippine law. “The article was not even authored by Ms. Her legal team which includes, needs no introduction, Amal Clooney said that her sentence is based on a law that did not exist when the article was published and on charges that were brought six years after the time limit expired. Ravaged by libel suits for her team’s relentless exposes, the specific one which has earned her this prison sentence is about alleged corruption by the Chief Justice of the Philippines Supreme Court. Rappler, which has come to be known as the beacon of fearless journalism against a regime that brooked no opposition, is beyond an editor, but the unanimous ambassador for free speech. was convicted and even added a further eight months and 20 days to their six-year prison sentence prison sentences. This was on July 7 when Ressa, a lighthouse of journalists all over the world, holding truth to power, and former Rappler journalist Reynaldo Santos Jr. This is a step-in course correction, albeit it being just a pebble.Ī week ago, the Nobel Prize wasn’t enough to deter the Courts in the Philippines from increasing the prison sentence of Maria Ressa, upholding her conviction for libel. But the irony is that while many have packed those slippers in trunks flung deep into oceans, some who still click them are not doing enough together to report on ourselves, wave the flag of solidarity, and at the very least assimilate and report on the war that journalists across the world are fighting outside their newsrooms - in courts and prisons. And the Ruby Slippers represent the underdog’s ability to triumph over powerful forces.įor many of us journalists, the Dorothy moments have made us go on and click the Ruby Slippers dipped in ink and flowing from our pens. Her words “There’s no place like home” signifies going back to her fundamentals and to fight for the fundamentals. In the Wizard of Oz, (book and movie) Dorothy says, “Click the heels of the Ruby Slippers together three times” and adds “There’s no place like home and you’ll be there.”ĭorothy a simple teenage farm girl from Kansas – steals from the dictatorial Wicked Witch and ultimately uses it to liberate the oppressed people of Oz, The iconic book was written during the times of the economic depression in the USA around 1900. Many of us journalists are living in cocoons & showing no empathy for those who keep the flame of our profession burning
For artists, consider fine-tip pens.| 06:26am IST They are trying to bend our pens but will never break them Maria Ressa, A Nobel Prize-winning journalist has just been handed an added prison sentence, others are in jail or thrashed by regime forces. If the bulk of your writing consists of signing documents, then you should splurge on a luxury pen that'll last for years.
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