Climate and Truth - The Two Biggest Battles

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Amar: I think that the public sphere is now theirs to protect, to grow, to pollute. If they jump in now, it is still salvageable. There are many things that can be done if a little journalist, if a little group in the philippines like us, can try to do this with no resources. And so i still have optimism. We've get depressed every now and then around our work. But you hear in invisible ways that those seeds are being sown, and it does make a difference. So i hope people take seriously your call to action. It has to be through a massive responsibilitymove ai think that's the only thing to really ask

[This episode originally aired on November 5, 2019] Maria Ressa is arguably one of the bravest journalists working in the Philippines today. As co-founder and CEO of the media site Rappler, she has withstood death threats, multiple arrests and a rising tide of populist fury that she first saw on Facebook, in the form of a strange and jarring personal attack. Through her story, she reveals, play by play, how an aspiring strongman can use social media to spread falsehoods, sow confusion, intimidate critics and subvert democratic institutions. Nonetheless, she argues Silicon Valley can reverse these trends, and fast. First, tech companies must "wake up," she says, to the threats they've unleashed throughout the Global South. Second, they must recognize that social media is intrinsically designed to favor the strongman over the lone dissident and the propagandist over the truth-teller, which is why it has become the central tool in every aspiring dictator's playbook.