Risks are higher for rural journalists

Risks are higher for rural journalists

Patricia Evangelista and Marites Sison during Q&A
(Photo: MC Ramos)

Q & A with Patricia Evangelista: Excerpts of the Question and Answer portion of the talk of Patricia Evangelista, 2019 Marshall McLuhan Fellow, at the BoniFest 2019, Toronto City Hall Council Chamber, Nov. 17, 2019.

QUESTION: Can you speak about the risk that you and other journalists face for reporting events or issues that are political, for example the drug war and as a follow up, are journalists targeted for attack by military and state?

PATRICIA EVANGELISTA: I am not in a position to answer the second question. There are people who can answer that better. That is not my field of coverage But the first, if I can speak about the risks that journalists face for reporting events and issues that are political, for example the drug war, You may be aware that my bosses [at Rappler] are out on bail, my CEO [Maria Ressa] has been arrested twice, Rappler is facing 11 cases, I don’t know if it has changed since I left the country two days ago. So, I think there is little explanation required. There are risks I think though that the risks at least for people like me, are not as terrible as for people out in the provinces reporting without the support of news agencies. Rappler has my back. If something happens to me, they will be there. But for all the journalists out in the provinces who are fighting the good fight, they don’t have what we have. So yes, the risks are higher out there, and it’s them we have to look to… and thank for what they do.

Q: Why do you think Duterte was elected by the Filipino people? (Laughter in the audience)

PE: I don’t know. I think that’s a question that people have many answers to. Everyone who has voted for him has a different answer to why he voted him. He presented a different president than what we had in the past. And understand also the massive inequality and extreme poverty in the Philippines. We’ve been been looking for answers for a very long time and he presented a different one. It just depends on who is doing the voting.

Q: Are you not scared of going home to the Philippines because of what you said about Duterte and… The question is: I saw some people from the Philippine Consulate who watched you talk. Are you not scared of going home?

PE: I don’t know, should I be? Well, we should save this [showing the piece of paper where the question was written), so we know. I don’t know but most of what I said is published in Rappler.com. So if you believe in Rappler and you believe in journalism, please join Rappler Plus.

See related story:

2019 McLuhan Fellow Patricia Evangelista: My job is ‘keeping the record straight’ By Althea Manasan