Philippine journalists found guilty of cyber libel

Maria Ressa, a onetime CNN journalist who co-founded the Philippines’ Rappler news site, has been convicted of cyber libel, NPR and others reported.

Ressa has rejected the charge, describing it as a drive to stop independent journalism in the Philippines. Former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr. was also found guilty.

The case involved a 2012 piece by Santos involving Philippine Chief Justice Renato Corona. That same year, Corona was impeached and removed from office. He died in 2016.

The Santos story was published before the cyber libel law was in effect. The government claimed that when Rappler republished it two years later for what Ressa indicated was a correction of a typo, the publication made the story subject to the new law.

Santos and Ressa, who are free on bail pending an appeal, face up to six years in prison.

News and Tech