CONSTANT EYE ON DUTERTE

Veteran Philippine journalist Maria Ressa has become a symbol of the fight for press freedom in an era of strongmen leaders.

The former CNN bureau chief set up news website Rappler in 2012, bringing together multimedia reporting and social media to offer an edgy take on Philippine current events and a critical eye on the government of President Rodrigo Duterte.

As CNN’s former bureau chief in Manila and Jakarta, Ressa specialised in terrorism where she tracked the links between global networks like Al Qaida and militants in Southeast Asia. The Princeton graduate, who holds both American and Philippine citizenship, later returned to the Philippines to serve as news chief at the nation’s top broadcaster ABS-CBN.

Ressa and Rappler have faced multiple criminal charges and probes after publishing stories critical of the firebrand leader and his bloody drug war. Rappler was among the domestic and foreign outlets that published shocking images of the killings and questioned its legal basis.