Rappler CEO Maria Ressa urges journalists to ‘stand together’ against disinformation

MANILA, Philippines – Journalists must “stand together” in a time of disinformation and propaganda, Rappler CEO Maria Ressa said in an interview with CNN on Monday, December 31.

In the interview, Ressa said collaboration is most needed in the field especially as the crisis of truth worsens.

“We have to move away from competition because what we’re fighting – this is an attack on information ecosystem,” she said.

This “computational propaganda” happening across the globe, Ressa said, aims to break the truth.

“We can’t do it alone,” she added.

Ressa, who was also named Person of the Year by TIME magazine, was among 11 journalists to be honored as special guests at the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball Drop program.

The journalists, as well as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) will be pushing the crystal button that will signal the lowering of the Waterford Crystal Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball to highlight the 60-second countdown for the New Year in big apple.

Times Square President Tim Tompkins said that the decision to honor journalists is a way of looking back at the struggles of press freedom in the past year.

“The issue of freedom of the press is huge not just in the United States but throughout the world. In fact, it’s getting more and more serious,” he said.

Tompkins added that representation among different institutions was an important factor in their decision.

“That’s one of the things that was important for us is to have a representation in both CNN and Fox, Wall Street Journal or New York Times – to have the breadth of institutions and say that we all believe that this is critically important not just for freedom of the press but for democracy because those things are so closely intertwined.”– Rappler.com