In the months after Rodrigo Duterte was elected president of the Philippines in 2016, Maria Ressaās staff at the independent news site Rappler investigated a slew of killings believed to be connected to Duterteās brutal war on drug suspects and users. Ressa, a prominent journalist and Rapplerās CEO, also published a series of stories examining Facebookās impact on democracy and the rapid-fire spread of online disinformation in support of Duterte, who has said journalists āare not exempted from assassination.ā
Almost immediately, Ressa became a target of online disinformation and threats herself. At one point, she was receiving an average of 90 āhate messagesā per hour, she says in the new FRONTLINE documentary AĀ ThousandĀ Cuts, directed by Ramona Diaz, which debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and has its U.S. broadcast premiere Friday, Jan. 8 (check local PBS listings). The film tells the story of the war on the press in the Philippines, the impact on democracy and how Ressa became a prime target.
As the documentary explores, the social media assault on Ressa only deepened the veteran journalistās resolve to continue her teamās accountability reporting ā and to identify and map the ways disinformation and hate spread across digital ecosystems.
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Source: Maria Ressa Maps Disinformation in Documentary āA Thousand Cutsā