A Win for Press Freedom in the Philippines as Court Rebuffs Government Attempt To Shut Down News Site Rappler

Score a victory for freedom of the press in the Philippines.

In a society whose leaders have often used the courts to repress free speech, the gutsy website known as Rappler has triumphed against a longstanding campaign to drive it out of business.

An appeals court, affirming Rappler’s right to keep publishing, has scolded the government in respect of “willful defiance of the law” for trying to shut it down at the behest of the country’s former president, Rodrigo Duterte.

The order by the appeals court stands as both a victory for Rappler, founded in 2012 by the crusading correspondent, Maria Ressa, after more than 20 years with CNN and others, and a stern rebuke of Mr. Duterte, widely criticized for his campaign against drugs in which thousands died.

Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, Ms. Ressa after hearing the verdict asked the government, “Please stop appealing” adverse verdicts in numerous cases against her and Rappler. “We have continued fighting the battle,” she said. “Even though we’ve won five tax evasion charges, they’ve again appealed it.”

The appeals court in scorching language voided an order issued six years ago nullifying Rappler’s license to do business. The government’s Securities and Exchange Commission, using the pretext that Rappler was partly owned by Omidyar Network, the philanthropic organization created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, behaved “like a bull seeing network,” said the decision. “These actions have no place in a democratic state.”

Rappler, whose name is an acronym for “rap” and “ripple,” saw the decision as “vindication” of his journalism, which mixes straight reporting with often scathing criticism of policies and deeds such as extra-judicial killing. The Rappler lawyer, Francis Lim, predicted the case would have “tremendous impact on the ability of our corporations to raise capital and more importantly, on the freedom of the press and our democracy.”

Just what real impact to expect, however, was far from certain. Reports of attacks on journalists who got on the wrong side of powerful local leaders, or simply gangsters, are standard fare in Philippine news. In by far the worst case, 34 journalists were among 58 people killed in a massacre in 2009 in the southern Philippines in which a provincial leader ordered the slaughter of his rivals.

On a national level, the late Philiopine president, Ferdinand Marcos, after declaring martial law in 1972, banned all but a few newspapers, all controlled by cronies and relatives of Mr. Marcos and his wife, Imelda. Mr. Marcos’ son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., elected president in 2022, has so far adopted a gentler attitude, softening the anti-drug campaign and refraining from a crackdown on obstreperous newspapers.

Ms. Ressa, as quoted by Rappler, exuded pride in the website’s survival despite not only cases against it but also the resulting loss of advertising. “You have to look at crisis as opportunity,” she said. “We were able to pivot and look at creating a separate sustainable business model.”