More than the hacking of its website, the NUJP condemned the attack to the media, which attempts to “silence critical speech and thought”
The website of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) was offline since the eve of January 9, Monday.
In the official statement of the NUJP posted on its Facebook page, the groups said that they have yet no idea as to who is behind the hacking of the website but said that “whoever is responsible for this attack are enemies of the press freedom and of free expression”.
A denial of service attack has kept the NUJP website down since Monday evening.
The NUJP described the hackers of its website as “vermin, narrow-minded, misbegotten souls” who mistakenly believe that they can put to silence the critical speech and thought of the mainstream media in their desire to force people into accepting only one worldview and that is their views.
The NUJP has constantly condemned media killings and the online harassment to the journalists in the recent years, which is probably the rationale behind the taking down of its website.
Some supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte has accused the mainstream media of being biased against the Chief Executive and the members of his administration. This is also not the first time that the members of the press and their organizations have been subject to bashing and criticisms online.
In December 2013, the Facebook profile of Reuters correspondent Manny Mogato was also taken down and used to send messages in support of President Duterte. Mogato’s profile picture and cover photo was also changed by the hacker into image proclaiming, “Duterte is my president”.
Mogato and Karmen Lerma, a colleague in Reuters, had earlier in the year been targeted by netizens because of her online comments over a story dwelling on the remarks of President Duterte on comparisons between him and the late dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler, that some critics of his administration have made.
In July 2016, the website of the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism was also hacked after it released reports on the drug war of the Duterte administration and a series of citizens’ rights.
In June 2016, also hacked was the Facebook page of the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines over some complaints of the users after the group posted a statement criticizing the stand of the President on journalist killings in the country.
The government has since formed a task group to investigate the killings of the members of the media.
The NUJP believes that the attempt to silence the critical speech and thought will not attain success by hacking its website.
