Ahead of a high-stakes election in the Philippines, members of Princeton Class of ’86 encouraged the Princeton community to support the important work of their former classmate Ressa

To celebrate World Press Freedom Day, Princeton graduates called on their fellow alumni to support Rappler CEO and Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa and Rappler by joining Rappler+.

Rappler+ is Rappler’s membership program that offers exclusive content and events to paying subscribers while helping Rappler maintain its journalism as an independent media company.

With a high-stakes election approaching in the Philippines, members of the Princeton Class of 1986 encouraged the Princeton community to support the important work of their former classmate Ressa.

In their open letter, they said they were inspired by Ressa’s speech at the Princeton Woodrow Wilson awards ceremony. They said they “returned convinced that the attention to his work should be sustained – especially now, as his country heads into a highly contentious presidential election on May 9.”

Of global significance

Former classmates Dr. Eric Fethke and Kiku Loomis, two of the four who started the campaign, had known Ressa from their college days where they shared a passion for journalism and the arts. Loomis added that they felt the need to support “the fight for freedom of expression and journalism and the critical role of a free and independent press” in democracies around the world.

For Fethke, he learned about the global significance of events in the Philippines through the work of Ressa and Rappler. He echoed Ressa’s concerns about journalistic freedom in the Philippines and how it affects other parts of the world like Russia, Ukraine and the United States, especially given recent events. He said “the targeted and intentional use of disinformation by those who value power over democracy in the Philippines is just the beginning.”

“If press freedom can be undermined in the Philippines, others elsewhere might see it as a justification – a launching pad – to do the same on an even greater scale in their own countries,” added.

Join Rappler+

Many citizens around the world, including Filipinos living abroad, have joined and supported Rappler’s fearless journalism brand through the membership program. Rappler+ is a global community of people who believe in the power of independent journalism and the importance of standing up for the facts and safeguarding the truth in an age of massive misinformation.

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