Veteran journalists Marites Danguilan Vitug (left), and Chay Hofilena of Rappler news.
Rather than be cowed, the assaults seemed to wake Ressa and galvanize her colleagues and Rappler journalists. Rappler stepped up its coverage on extrajudicial killings and corruption. Ressa wrote strong pieces on the weaponization of the internet, decrying the president’s army of social media trolls, the pervasiveness of fake news and its purveyors, and the erosion of press freedom in the Philippines. With fellow journalist Chay Hofileña, a professor of media ethics at the Ateneo de Manila University and a Columbia University graduate, she faced the press and announced she would fight the government’s suits and was ready to be jailed.