this is not the kind of freedom that anyone. how did we become a key player to islamist terror until you see the story come under morsi as the result of an exclusive report from a destroyed city. philippines in the us starts people living g.w. . this is d w news asia coming up on the program journalism is not a crime but in the philippines top investigative reporter maria teresa faces a major press freedom challenge will be speaking with her plus. japan unveils the name of a new era these characters will represent the court of japan's next emperor we tell you what they need.

i'm melissa chan welcome to the program it's good to have you with us we start out in the philippines where journalist and editor in chief of the rappler maria teresa has posted bail for an eighth time raissa is a well respected investigative reporter and the rappler is a news website which has recorded without fear or favor including on the current government of president rugby go to terror tape that has led to eleven complaints and cases raissa and her news room face to date everything from tax evasion to libel has been thrown at them the one that's free press coalition a global alliance of newsrooms has identified racist case as one of the top ten most urgent press freedom cases in the world today and i should add that this week daughter of ella joined this coalition with the latest we turn to maria teresa herself maria thank you for joining the program bring us up to speed what's going

on what's the latest. well tonight we're preparing for the first arraignment and the court of tax appeals that's four different charges of tax evasion there's a fifth charge in a regional trial for it that happens tomorrow morning in manila eight thirty in the morning i've had quite a weekend you know i came off of a fourteen hour flight from san francisco as soon as i landed in manila on friday morning i was greeted by police officers who showed me an arrest warrant for the for the violation of the anti-gun the law in the philippines they then took me to the station booked me and then allowed me to go to court so i can post bail i mean that would have been nice to have just posted bail without getting arrested. after we finished that on a friday three days later on a monday i get another arrest warrant the eighth one and i posted bail right after

so i spent most of yesterday it was running in and out of four different courts larry you're all smiles and you are an experienced journalist you're a brave journalist but i wonder are have you been scared are you scared i think right now the emotion is more anger i mean it's gone from ridiculous to the absurd how many times well you and i joked earlier in the year about collecting arrest warrants i didn't expect my government to take me seriously but you know filing eleven charges legal cases and investigations against rappler in just a little over a year that's roughly fourteen months that total that that actually shows you in action political harassment and attempts to intimidate and silence us all this does is make us more resolute to continue doing the stories that need to get done well that actually brings me to the next question rappler has been in the global news

tell us a little bit about her newsroom and what you guys care about what you guys cover for people who don't know much about the rappler. i think part of the interest in rappler and the philippines is just you know this kind of quick. descent out of democracy we we've been a robust democracy for for decades and now we're seeing this which rappler was set up it's a start up that began in two thousand and twelve and if you look at what we are weak say that we build communities of action the use technology to do that we started until szell media on facebook and it allowed us to grow one hundred to three hundred percent year on year in the beginning those are the good days but we were also the first target once social media was weaponized in two thousand and sixteen and these are the things that we've become known for looking at digital

forensics exposing the propaganda machinery on social media ninety seven percent of filipinos on the internet are on facebook facebook is our social media it is the internet. and what we've seen is the data supports the systematic a rouge and. attacks on journalists and new scoops that were erosion of credibility if you cannot believe in the facts then you begin to question truth and that breaks down trust and that's what we're seeing in our democracy today very polarized society we continue to report what is happening and at the same time the other focal point aside from the descent from nation operation the information operations and this information that's on social media is the drug war it's brutal the u.n. slayed this estimate says up to twenty seven thousand people killed that's a lot the philippine police say they've killed more than five thousand people in

this drug war and there are more than thirty thousand homicide cases under investigation. thank you good night and good luck thanks so much because. for years social media giant says facebook and twitter have faced criticism because of the spread of hate speech and distant from asian what some call a fake news on their platforms we were just talking about that yet calls to regulate these tech companies are often at odds with free speech rights in the united states well that's less of a problem in singapore where the government just introduced a law dealing with fake news it will require media outlets to make corrections on any content officials consider fake critics say this gives the state yet another opportunity to control content earlier we spoke to journalist kirsten hahn and asked her whether the law is likely to be abused and misused. it it's

really difficult to. predict that because the power in the law and this bill is not the first one to be so broadly word is that. it gives the author and he's a lot of discretion and a lot of power to selectively choose how they want to use it so they might not use it on everybody but their particular people or particular callers that they might want to be tough on and come back on and. we've seen that with previous. as well as the administration of justice protection act which deals with contempt of court which was also very broad and has been used on opposition politician and activist over the past year for things that they said on facebook and the least two men are waiting for death sentences which could be quite heavy fines or perhaps even you know in the extreme case of imprisonment and so that that's

a concern not necessary that we think it will immediately be used but that the potential is there and it just gives them another level of control over expression and simple so a lot of journalists are concerned about the potential ramifications but is there a sense do you have a sense of what most singapore ins think about this matter but it's hard to tell what most singapore and think about this matter especially because the building just came out so i don't know how many singaporeans actually have read it in the detail mainstream media reporting tends not to flag the more concerning bit that you know activists will bring up so the fear is that there would be a chilling effect in this bill because when it's so broadly worded that people don't really know where the lines. it's likely that they were self sense and stand and you know in my experience self-censorship is already extremely common in singapore even people who might not be able to articulate. what they feel about

human rights and civil liberties and freedom of expression in singapore might unconsciously also question the self sense that there's this sense that their particular lines that you don't cross in singapore. thank you very much for your time. japan's next emperor natters ito now has a name for his imperial era it will be called the rye while the designation is an important part of public life in japan affecting the naming of everything from coins calendars documents even computer software not hito. from his father akihito who steps down at the end of the month it will be japan's first application in two hundred years. scrambling to grab a moment in history crowds in tokyo rush to secure a special edition newspaper's celebrating the mark of a new monarch. of the. game of the new era

israel. it was the announcement that ended weeks of top secret meetings and intense media speculation iran names are traditionally taken from chinese classics but for the first time the government drew on ancient japanese poetry which describes the blossoming of plum flower was about. thirty thousand all under the new era each and every japanese person can hope for the future and make their own flowers blossom. we have decided on ray with these wishes for japan. it will come in the mouth of a pony is the guy. here and aims consist of two chinese characters the government insists ray watch translates to beautiful harmony but ray can also mean order or command which some say gives the ear a forceful overtimes. while others debate the semantics the schoolchildren adjust

to the new experience. you know. i was born and lived in the hasty air at the whole time it feels a bit strange that it will become railway just like that. the city. you know. if i was guessing with my mum that the new year would start with an r. so the name is right well i'm happy that we got it right. and. the suspense also finally ended for japan's businesses. here at the toto and company a calendar and dari mica stuff spring into action now a frenzied month begins to pump out the new products. the re what year is set to define a new cultural period in japan or at least a period as long as the new improves rule.

in japan re what down under in australia means something totally different it's the acronym for the real estate institute of western australia. and they posted this on twitter seventy percent of traffic to re what dot com today were from people in japan mistaking their real estate portal for their country's new imperial era. that story and more on our website that com forward slash a change you can check out on facebook as well on that post script that's our show will leave you with not klum but cherry blossoms along the roads of the imperial palace in tokyo they've been lit up for the enjoyment of night visitors next time. to.

cut. through to. make. up to date don't miss our highlights. program. w dot com hard. to know that seventy seven percent. are younger than taking pot. shots at me and me and. you know what it's time all voices. to seventy seven percent talk about the issue.

from politics to flash from housing boom top this is where they are. welcome to the seventy seven percent of. the fifty six g.w. . world trade organization is sounding the global growth forecast nearly. as the u.s. china trade conflict drags it slowing chinese economy weigh heavily on the world trade. make do in men's to entrepreneurs in india make a business proposition out of an old virtue called fashion made out of textile way start making an impact environmental awareness is on the rise on the.

business. the world trade organization says that world's trade growth is slowing rates political instability and persisting trade conflict between the world the world's two biggest economies are taking their toll britain's increasingly chaotic divorce proceedings from the make things worse than previously expected global growth could slow even more dramatic increase but no deal breaker said which looks increasingly likely for the world trade organization says global trade is expected to grow at a much slower pace this year than previously thought w t o analysts have lowered their growth forecasts for twenty nineteen to only two point six percent from three point seven percent the world trade organizations general secretary who passed away as if they had all said this should come as no surprise to anyone. in twenty seventeen go.