For Journalists, Mission Has Never Been As Important As It Is Now, Says Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Philippine journalist Maria Rasa is one of two journalists Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2021, with Russian editor Dmitry Muratov. in an interview to Hindu, Ms. Rasa, author of the upcoming book how to stand before a dictator The Philippines speaks out about its battle with the government and ‘big tech’ social media companies.
It is not since 1936 that the Nobel Peace Prize went to a journalist (Karl von Ositzky) who wrote about the Nazi regime in Germany’s militarization plan. So what do you think the Nobel Peace Committee is sending in 2021?
That it’s that kind of moment, you know, it’s an existential moment, where, what happened after 1936, you did World War II. And I use that analogy all the time, because I always say that our information ecosystem, it’s like a nuclear bomb explosion. And we need to come together globally and find solutions, as the world did after World War II, they did the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, well, these values, because I have to say, I keep asking for am “technical value”, beyond making money, and [for tech companies] To take seriously the role of being the gatekeeper in the public sector. I will also say this: this award is for all journalists. I feel like I am a placeholder for every journalist around the world who has found their job so difficult. And I hope that this creative destruction will lead us to a place that is better than where we are.
Both the Philippines and India are in the top 10 countries where journalists have been killed or targeted. For journalists, the growing threat is coming from democratically elected, populist and increasingly authoritarian regimes around the world. What do you think is the reason for the rise of populism?
Technology! [These regimes] There were always, if you look at, Hitler and others who were democratically elected, but I go back to the past decade where journalists lost our gatekeeper powers [to social media] Technology. And, globally I would say that for the first time we saw different realities in Ukraine, for example, by Russian military-led information systems or in [Indian election campaign] in 2014. We saw that the use of social media leads to erosion of trust [mainstream media]. When citizens are being manipulated by parties on social media, they start distrusting everything. This year the Oxford University research ‘Project on Computational Propaganda’ (now known as Program on Democracy and Technology) demtech.oii.ox.ac.uk) found that these “cheap armies on social media” are bringing democracy back in 81 countries around the world.
The hard part is that it manipulates our biology. As humans, we are more alike than we feel because those same platforms are using an algorithmic manipulation to change what we think about how we feel. According to one biologist who studied this behavior, our biggest peril comes from “Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology.” Technology is like God as social media has become a behavior modification system. And with a lack of accountability and the potential to make significant amounts of money, this is a business model that takes our data and uses it to manipulate us.
The counter argument is that social media, the big tech companies that have democratized expression, have given everyone a platform. As you describe, why do you think they are agents of authoritarianism and not agents of people’s right to know?
Well, I’ll tell you about 2011, and how the Arab Spring became an Arab Winter. in the beginning, [social media] was empowering. But then, governments realized that they could exploit the vulnerabilities of micro-targeting used for marketing, and governments began to manipulate those tools. Mark Zuckerberg says all the time that it’s an issue of freedom of expression. But I like to quote comedian Sacha Baron Cohen who said it’s really a ‘freedom of access’ issue.
We’re talking about algorithmic amplification, algorithmic distribution, and studies have now shown us that lies filled with anger can be spread faster and further than facts. If social media platforms are biased against facts, they are biased towards journalism that seeks facts. And this struggle leads to a divided society.
In the Philippines, for example, we never argue about facts, no matter where we stand. [on politics]. but after presidential election [Rodrigo] Duterte In 2016, if you were pro-duterte, and you were pro-[former U.S. President Donald] Trump here too, you’re right ahead. If you were Duterte’s opponent, you would go further to the left. like this [algorithmic manipulation] Shared reality is broken. Freedom of expression is also an idea that you should be able to speak the truth without fear of retaliation, speak what you think. Information [surveillance] Operating on social media makes this all the more difficult, and as a result these strong leaders bring out the worst of human nature, allowing the very disastrous [online] Behaviour.
Tell us a little bit about your journey fighting President Duterte, the leader leading up to your arrest in 2019.
In the Philippines, President Duterte was democratically elected, but like many of these digital authoritarians, once he was president, he took the lever of power and turned it from within. We’ve seen at least 19 journalists, 63 lawyers, over 400 human rights activists killed during his administration, and then they had this very bloody drug war. We had our first fight for the truth, just to find out how many people were killed [war on drugs], because the police will give a figure and then they will take it back. In 2012, we founded Rapper (rapper.com) with 20 young employees. One thing that seemed to be in jeopardy was that anyone who questioned the drug war was taunted on social media. So the first thing we uncovered was [the government’s] Information Operations, we showed our people data about how they were being manipulated online. I wrote a series called “Weaponizing the Internet” on how social media algorithms affect an individual. Then we looked at the created reality and how just 26 fake accounts can reach 3 million users through social media.
I have to say, I didn’t expect to be arrested. I didn’t expect 10 arrest warrants in less than two years. But we kept on doing what we were doing. The four of us, the rapper’s co-founders, have an agreement that only one of us is allowed to be scared at a time, and then we turn that around. (laughs)
What are your tips for journalists just starting out? Is there a toolkit to deal with a difficult situation?
The first thing is that journalists, news organizations [must move] From the age when we were competing against each other. We are on the same side. When it comes to a battle of facts, we are on one side, especially on social media. Cooperation in the fight for facts is the way forward. It’s a wonderful time to be a journalist, because mission has never been as important as it is today.
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