As Filipino news site Rappler battles with authorities, media feel the chill. Plus, climate sceptics and the news media.

On The Listening Post this week: As Rappler, a popular Filipino news site, battles with authorities, media there feel the chill. Plus, climate sceptics and the media platforms they get.

Media on notice in the Philippines

Rappler, a popular online news site in the Philippines has long been a thorn in the side of President Rodrigo Duterte because of its critical reporting.

Duterte has repeatedly accused Rappler of being run by Americans, which is illegal under Filipino law. Now the site is facing a possible shut down over that allegation.

Duterte has made many thinly veiled threats against journalists since 2016, but does this official move against Rappler amount to the Duterte government issuing a formal declaration of war against the Filipino media?

Contributors:

Maria Ressa, CEO, Rappler

Marichu Lambino, lawyer and assistant professor, University of the Philippines

Harry Roque, Filipino president's spokesperson

Nonoy Espina, journalist and NUJ board member

On our radar

With an election coming up in March, Italy's government has a new formula for taking on the fake news problem.

In Yemen, photojournalist Mohammed al-Qudsi was killed in the crossfire between Houthi rebels and Saudi coalition. According to new data, he is far from the only causality since the Houthis took over the country in 2014.

The curious persistence of climate scepticism

Climate scepticism is fringe and unscientific. So why is it that sceptics still manage, in certain countries, to get airtime denying the effects of global warming?

Sceptics theories in the news media, such as carbon dioxide doesn't cause a greenhouse effect, are largely confined to what is known as the Anglosphere: the likes of the US, the UK, Australia.

Elsewhere, including the most populous, polluting countries like China and India, such scepticism is hard to find.

The Listening Post investigates the curious existence and persistence of climate scepticism in the news media.

Contributors:

Leo Hickman, director, Carbon Brief

Maxwell Boykoff, associate professor, University of Colorado-Boulder

Anu Jogesh, India policy and governance lead, Acclimatise

James Painter, research associate, The Reuters Institute

Hepeng Jia, director, China Science Media Centre

Source: Al Jazeera