As expected, trust Rappler’s chi chi amigas halfway around the world to weigh in on its “plight” with a “report” on the matter. Alexandra Stevenson reports in the recent New York Times piece “Philippines Says It Will Charge Veteran Journalist Critical of Duterte” that the Philippine government intends to pursue a tax evasion case against the “social news network” that is centred “on a 2015 investment in Rappler by the Omidyar Network, an American organization owned by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay”.
But rather than reporting on the merits of the case from the perspective of both sides, the Times provides only this factoid…
Rappler denied the charges, calling the case a “clear form of continuing intimidation and harassment,” and accused the government of trying to silence critical coverage. The penalties for tax evasion include a fine as well as up to 10 years of imprisonment.
Aside from the above, a quote from the defendant, there is no attempt to corroborate this defense from the perspective of a disinterested third party or from documentation obtained from alternative sources.
Lazy journalism seems to be infectious, indeed.
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