[blackbagboys]

The Philippine press is not free. Duterte has made his "fake news" nonsense a key part of his project to crush opposition media. It's no surprise that the Manila Times has gone out of its way to avoid stepping on his toes, although the overheated stuff about 'communist propaganda' is maybe a little too obvious.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/15/world/asia/philippines-du...

[jister]

Or maybe you can read these instead?

"Responsible journalism also means complying with the law," said NPC President Paul Gutierrez in a statement released Tuesday. "To say that the fate of one media entity found to have run afoul with the law translates to media repression in the country is stretching the argument a bit too much."

"The SEC finding is quite clear: that Rappler Inc., has indeed violated the law when it allowed the entry of foreign investors and also allowed, specifically, Omidyar Network Fund LLC, to have control on 'corporate matters' of Rappler based on its own submissions to the SEC"

http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/01/18/NPC-on-SEC-ruling-...

http://opinion.inquirer.net/110628/rappler-stop-misleading-e...

http://www.manilatimes.net/rappler-stop-misleading-everyone/...

[blackbagboys]

Yes, it's unsurprising that the pro-government press supports the government's campaign against their rivals.

[jister]

Or maybe there's really no need to politicize everything?

If you are a local you should know that CNN is a liberal press and but they are also trying to be neutral (which we appreciate). Inquirer is notoriously anti-government and manilatimes is neutral.

The point is that journalists should report facts and not be partisan. The quality of Pulitzer Prize winners were put into question when the story that they wrote were not backed up by evidence as to what the manilatimes article pointed out. A couple of police sources doesn't make up the entire police force.

And about Rappler, our consitution says that media should be 100% Filipino owned. Rappler received funding from a foreign company, Omidyar Network, and allowed them to have control of corporate matters. This is a red flag that is why SEC did an investigation. It is really that simple. No need to politicize it.