Monday, April 09, 2007

Philippine Ranking in Press Freedom Index

Conrado de Quiros writes about journalist Alex Adonis going to jail for exposing Prospero Nograles' alleged sexcapades.

Rapporteurs Sans Frontières ranks the Philippines 142 out of 168 countries surveyed on press freedom. We're tied with the Democratic Republic of Congo. We have slipped from rank number 89 five years ago. It doesn't help that there's an escalation of our journalists either being harassed or worse. So, for those of you who complain about certain journalists being "too hard" on GMA, think again. Obviously this administration isn't going to target big fish like de Quiros or any of the more well-known broadsheet writers. They go for small fry, those who don't have resources or mass following.

I've always thought GMA and her team of doubtlessly brilliant machinators were great at maneuvering her administration from one crisis to the next, starting with Hello Garci.

Our neighbour Malaysia has recently started cracking down on bloggers, accusing them of trying to overthrow the government. The information minister demands that everyone register themselves, no more anonymous blogging. I'm sure GMA's camp has noted this. They may start getting ideas.

Really people, how long do we have to wait 'til we react? There's a reason they call it "creeping" authoritarianism. You ignore it til it bites you in the ass.

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