Judy: More than a year after
being awarded the Nobel peace
prize, journalist Maria resser
still faces criminal charges in
her native country, the
Philippines.
She is the founder and CEO of
website that has spent time
reporting on president duterte's
regime and the war on drugs.
In a new memoir she shares a
personal account of her
unrelenting work uncovering the
truth and holding power to
account.
I spoke with a short time ago
about her book, how to stand up
to a dictator, the fight for our
future.
Thank you very much for joining
us.
This book is about how to stand
up to a dictator, but also very
much your personal story.
You were born and spent 10 years
in the Philippines and moved to
the United States for another 10
years.
How did that dual country
coming-of-age shape you?
Maria: In a lot of ways.
It created a great set up for
being a journalist.
When we landed in the U.S., I
could barely speak English.
My teachers remembered the year
when I was strangely quiet.
They kept teaching me music,
which was fantastic.
When I was graduating college,
somehow it felt like I was not
completely American.
Until I thought, let me figure
out what being filipino meant.
I have pride for a Fulbright
going the other way.
It was supposed to be a year.
I just never left the
Philippines, never left
southeast Asia.
When I came back to America, I
realized every time I'm with
Americans I feel more filipino.
When I'm with filipinos I feel
more American.
You are part of both but part of
neither, which set up a reporter
-- up being a reporter for me.
Judy: Where did you summon the
courage you had your entire
life, working for CNN where I
first met you, where did that
courage come from?
Maria: One of the things I try
to do early on, when I first was
an immigrant kid, the only brown
kid in my classroom, there are
lessons I learned from that time
that still reverberate today,
through the time I was with CNN.
They were about standing up to a
bully.
You could not stand up to a
dictator without standing up to
a bully.
Same thing.
How to embrace your fear.
It is our own fears that get in
our way.
This one I remember, I did not
know early on what a pajama
party was.
My classmates invited me to it.
I asked my mom, is that a party
where you wear pajamas?
She was like, yes!
We are pulling up in front of
the house and it was 4:00 in the
afternoon and all the kids were
playing kickball and not wearing
pajamas.
Judy: Such a great story.
Maria: I got out of the car and
my classmate came and helped me.
I learned to confront my fear.
I learned to move forward and
trust someone would be there.
I hope when it is my turn, I can
help someone else.
Judy: You worked in journalism
in the Philippines for CNN, then
you created a little over a
decade ago this forward leaning
news website, earning the ire of
the president of the
Philippines, Rodrigo duterte
while he was in power.
He's now out of power.
He considered you a threat.
Maria: Yeah, I don't really know
why.
I think he just considered
accountability journalism a
threat.
He had attacked three different
newsgroups, the largest
newspaper., their largest
broadcaster -- newspaper, the
largest broadcaster, and our
website.
We did not buckle because we had
no other corporate interests.
This is a man who just wanted to
make everyone afraid of him.
I was too old.
By that time I was in my 50's.
Being a breaking news war zone
correspondent is the best
training for that.
Regardless of what is happening
around you, you distill it to
three bullet points and say it
like it is.
That is how I dealt with this
administration.
We kept doing our jobs.
Judy: Along the way you won the
Nobel peace prize.
Now there is a new president of
the Philippines, Fernando Marcos
junior.
There are still warrants out for
you.
Maria: Yes.
In order to be here I have to
ask court approvals.
Sometimes I get approval,
sometimes I don't.
That I think is calculated.
You don't know how much you
value your freedom until you
begin to lose it.
Now, I don't want to read the
tea leaves, I want to just keep
doing my job.
In general, forget what's
happening in the Philippines.
To me, what was more damaging,
because this is what I demanded
an end for in 2016, the impunity
not just of dutere, but of mark
Zuckerberg and Facebook.
-- Duterte, but of mark
Zuckerberg and Facebook.
Judy: Now you are virtually on a
crusade to tell the world about
what social media is doing to
democracy.
Maria: It is what I have lived
through.
It is both a blessing and a
curse to be the target of
attacks, of information
operations.
You are the only one who feels
it.
You are attacked.
These exponential attacks are
meant to pound you to silence.
If you are a reporter, you sit
there and look at the data and
that started something different
for us.
It was investigative journalism.
Just like what following the
terrorists after 9/11, this one
is a different type.
It is insidious manipulation and
the data proves it.
Eileen on the facts.
-- I lean on the facts.
It is bad for us.
Judy: Your message to Americans
watching this is what?
We are having our own debate in
this country about social media,
but you are saying it's a
warning sign what happened in
your country.
Maria: Look at what has happened
to us because it is coming for
you.
This is what I said in 2016.
When January 6 happened, it was
silicon valley's sins coming
home to roost.
The fact that there is no
legislation to prevent this
insidious manipulation, think
about it like this -- if you
have kids, would you tell them
to keep lying?
You reward the lies.
That gets the greatest
distribution online.
Lises Leist -- lies laced with
anger and hate, fear.
If you do this all the time,
what kinds of societies do we
create?
Judy: So many important
warnings, stories and warnings
in this book by Maria ressa,
"How to stand up to a dictator."
So good to see you again.
Maria: Thanks for having me.