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On July 9, 2020, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced the launch of the #HoldTheLine campaign in support of journalist Maria Ressa and independent media under attack in the Philippines.
The campaign takes its name from Ressa’s commitment to ‘hold the line’ in response to sustained state harassment and prolific online violence. The Pulitzer Center is among the 60 organizations joining the coalition in support of Ressa.
An internationally celebrated Filipino-American journalist, Ressa is known for her two decades of covering South East Asia for CNN and founding the award-winning Philippines news website Rappler. On June 15, 2020, she was convicted of “cyber-libel, ” a criminal charge for which she faces up to six years in prison alongside former Rappler colleague Reynaldo Santos Jr. The conviction relates to a story about corruption from 2012 and hung on the correction of a typo.
The Pulitzer Center is firm in its support of Maria Ressa and independent media in the Philippines as she faces this conviction.
Those interested in showing support and helping to #HoldTheLine can take two immediate steps before Ressa’s next hearing scheduled on July 22:
- Join the #HoldTheLine coalition by getting in touch via the contacts found here.
- Sign and share this petition calling for the Philippine government to drop all charges and cases against Ressa, Santos, and Rappler, and end pressure on independent media in the Philippines.
The 60 founding members of the #HoldTheLine Coalition are:
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which form the steering committee; African Media Initiative; Association for International Broadcasting (AIB); Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom; Amnesty International; ARTICLE 19; Association of Caribbean Media Workers; Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma; Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM); Centre for Law and Democracy; CineDiaz; The Coalition For Women In Journalism; Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE); Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation; DART Asia Pacific; Dart Center; Doc Society; English PEN; European Journalism Centre; First Look Media; Free Press Unlimited; Global Alliance on Media and Gender (GAMAG); Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD); Global Voices; Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University; Index on Censorship; Institute for Regional Media and Information (IRMI); International Media Support (IMS); International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT); International News Safety Institute (INSI); International Press Institute (IPI); International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF); James W. Foley Legacy Foundation; Judith Neilson Institute; Justice for Journalists Foundation; Media Association for Peace (MAP); Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF); Namibia Media Trust (NMT); National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP); Pakistan Press Foundation; Panos Institute Southern Africa; PEN America; Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ); Press Freedom Defence Fund; Project Syndicate; Public Media Alliance; Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting; Rappler; Rory Peck Trust; Rural Media Network Pakistan; South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF); Storyhunter; The Signals Network; Tanzania Media Practitioners Association; Union of Journalists in Finland; World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA); and World Editors Forum.