Duterte slammed for barring Rappler from his events

President Rodrigo Duterte’s move to ban Rappler, a critical news website from covering the presidential palace is a threat to press freedom, rights and media groups said on Wednesday.

US-based watchdog Human Rights Watch said the move “threatens media freedoms”.

“It sends a clear and chilling signal that everyone else better report only what he wants you to or else,” said the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.

Duterte’s spokesman said the president had decided to bar Rappler journalists from covering his events due to a “lack of trust” after the government’s corporate regulator last month alleged that Rappler violated a constitutional ban on foreign ownership of local media.