meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
From Our Own Correspondent

Press Freedom in the Philippines

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2020

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the Philippines two journalists, Maria Ressa, the head of an investigative news website called Rappler, and one of their former writers, Reynaldo Santos Jr, have been sentenced to prison for libel, in a case that many see as an attack on freedom of the press, and on critics of the government, as Howard Johnson reports. In Spain, healthcare workers, from doctors and nurses to hospital porters, were badly affected by the coronavirus, making up twenty percent of confirmed cases. Ed Habershon was there during the peak of the crisis. Ten years ago ethnic clashes broke out in the city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan, when Kyrgyz residents turned on ethnic Uzbeks. Hundreds were killed, many more injured, around two thousand homes burnt down. The violence took place at a time of deep political instability in the country. For Rayhan Demytrie, an Uzbek herself, these were among the most horrific events of her journalistic career. The island of Bougainville is in Papua New Guinea, but residents have voted overwhelmingly to secede and become independent. Key to its future economy is a former copper and gold mine. Its closure had contributed to civil war, so how do local people see its possible re-opening now, asks Mark Stratton. The murder of the popular prime minister Olof Palme in 1986 shocked Sweden deeply, and left an open wound as the killer was never found despite decades of investigations. Conspiracy theories abounded. And then last week the Swedish authorities announced that they had identified the perpetrator, that he was dead, and that they were therefore closing the case. But how convinced is the Swedish public that the true culprit has been found, asks Maddy Savage. Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Arlene Gregorius

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.

0:05.0

Good morning.

0:06.2

Today, Spain is tiptoeing back to a kind of normality

0:10.3

as questions are raised about the number of coronavirus victims who are health care workers.

0:16.0

Ethnic tensions in Kyrgyzstan, a correspondent whose Uzbek reflects on the violence 10 years ago between the Kyrgyz and the Uzbek minority.

0:25.8

The island of Boganville in Papua New Guinea contemplates independence

0:31.6

with a former gold and copper mine vital to the economic future.

0:36.5

And a murder case which changed a country, Ullov Palma's death in Stockholm nearly 40 years ago. This week case officially closed, but does

0:46.8

everyone accept the verdict? First, the freedom of the press is at stake, say many in the Philippines.

0:55.0

Two journalists have been sentenced to prison for what's called cyber libel,

1:00.0

defamation on the electronic media such as the internet.

1:03.9

Maria Ressa heads an investigative news website called Rappler

1:08.1

and Rinaldo Santos Jr. is one of their former writers.

1:11.9

It's a high-profile case and Howard Johnson was one of only three

1:16.0

journalists allowed to attend court to hear the verdict.

1:20.2

As I walked with Maria Ressa towards the courtroom, we skirted past missing floor tiles,

1:25.2

rusty filing cabinets and a pile of broken printers. The courthouses decrepit corridors and low ceilings

1:32.3

must be unnerving for those about to face justice.

1:35.8

How do you feel? I asked Miss Ressa as we maintained a brisk pace.

1:40.4

Good, she said resolutely. It's been a very fast trial and this verdict has an impact on

1:46.1

press freedom, not just in the Philippines, but everywhere in the world.

1:50.8

Press freedom and the speed of the trial get to the heart of why this case has such a high profile.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.