Maria Ressa, a prominent journalist in the Philippines, set out to map the spread of disinformation and hate on social media — and became a target. A clip from “A Thousand Cuts.”
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In this excerpt from the new documentary “A Thousand Cuts,” Ressa, a 2018 TIME Person of the Year, describes her approach and her findings — and gives insight into what can happen to democracy when press freedom is threatened and disinformation flourishes on social media. Content warning: The examples of online abuse in the above clip include a screengrab of a graphic sexual comment.
In “A Thousand Cuts,” award-winning filmmaker Ramona Diaz tells the story of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s crackdown on the press, his pursuit of Maria Ressa and her colleagues, the role of online disinformation, and the implications for democracy.
“A Thousand Cuts” has its U.S. broadcast premiere on FRONTLINE (PBS) Friday, Jan. 8, 2021: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/a-thousand-cuts/
“A Thousand Cuts” is a Concordia Studio, Motto Pictures, and CineDiaz production, developed in association with Topic for GBH/FRONTLINE. The executive producers are Laurene Powell Jobs, Davis Guggenheim, Jonathan Silberberg, Nicole Stott, Raney Aronson-Rath, David J. Cornfield and Linda A. Cornfield. Edited by Leah Marino. The producers are Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements and Carolyn Hepburn. Produced by Ramona S. Diaz and Leah Marino. Written and directed by Ramona S. Diaz.
#AThousandCuts #DisinformationAndDemocracy #PressFreedom
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Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; Park Foundation; the Heising-Simons Foundation; the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation; and Koo and Patricia Yuen. “A Thousand Cuts” original production funding provided by Cinereach, Catapult Film Fund, Sundance Institute, and International Documentary Association (IDA).
