Since the mob feels it is yellow season with the EDSA Revolt anniversary approaching, the stretch of the imagination is being pulled as far as possible, which is too obvious in several issues being cut and spun.
For instance, the chief yellow media outlet is now crying “selective justice,” which is an irony since the phrase referred to the main weapon of the former regime against its opponents, perceived or real.
An objective view of the situation will show that the cyber libel issue is far from being selective nor is it an overreach as a result of some imagined hands pulling strings.
While libel cases are the ultimate scourge of journalism, since such are rarely won but the trouble of going through the process throws many off their task of reportage and publication, the reality is that nearly all such suits do include those who “did not edit or write” the story involved.
With such claim, Maria Ressa, Rappler chief executive officer, told a morning cable TV news program that she is “getting extremely special treatment and, frankly, this should stop.”
The only special treatment evident on Ressa is the international media attention on her case, since those in the local industry like some who practically eat libel cases for breakfast do not cry “weaponization of the law.”
The rhetoric is meaningless even as what had transpired was no different — from the National Bureau of Investigation visit to the filing of bail, all of which are legal routine.
Ressa complained she had to post bail six times since December for a total of P364,000 to remain free.
And for all the trouble she went through, the blame, no wonder, was on President Rodrigo Duterte.
Those more unfortunate than her had to travel from Manila to Ilocos Norte or even far south to Mindanao just to attend a similar case with no CNN or New York Times coverage.
Those afflicted journalists were more reasonable as they rail against legislators for their timidity in decriminalizing libel.
Unlike Rappler editors who have money to burn from foreign donors and owners, which is the subject of another legal battle, most journalists hit by libel cases do not have the resources to hire good lawyers or even post bail.
Thus, the Presidential Communications Operations Office should be commended for reaching out to the hard-up members of media since they are marginalized in their functions due to economics.
While the law remains in its present form, criminal libel or its new age version of cyber libel is a remedy available to those who feel aggrieved by a news story.
Ressa said she is standing by the story that appeared in her online news outfit, so the statement she wanted understood was that she is prepared to go through the legal process to prove her point.
What does not fit rationality is making the issue elastic enough to make it a case of the President suppressing press freedom.
Thus far, Rappler is getting the sympathy of only the same circle who keeps on harping on state-sponsored vigilante killings amid the war on drugs and pinning these on “ruthless” Rody.
The vicious attacks centering on Malacañang through Rappler and by other means are expected to step up in the effort to solicit public support, which the yellow mob is deprived of.
The recent launch of the Otso Diretso campaigns of the yellow candidates was a reflection of the warmth of public support for them as depicted by the stadium fronting an audience crowded by empty seats.
The yellow antics have been so worn out in the previous regime that the actions of Ressa and the other cohorts of the Liberal Party have become too predictable.
The difference between then and now is the warm bodies that have become an expensive commodity for the yellow movement in the sparse anti-government rallies, which it can’t even keep up.
Most local journalists may even support Ressa if she spends her energy in fighting for the revision of the libel law to free the profession of a scourge, instead of her doing the yellow mob a huge favor in drumming up the EDSA event.
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