
MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Rappler has renamed itself to The Cyber Libel Chronicles! This after CEO Maria Ressa faced her third cyber libel case, this time, over an article written by reporter Rambo Talabong on a college professor’s alleged involvement in a thesis-for-sale scheme.
The second case was in connection with Ressa’s Twitter post where she shared a news website’s article on businessman Wilfredo Keng.
Keng is the same complainant in the cyber libel suit that resulted in the conviction of Ressa and former Rappler staffer Reynaldo Santos, Jr. In June.
In speaking with The Adobo Chronicles, Ressa said that the move to rename her company is part of the Rappler’s strategy to keep reinventing itself to keep up with the changing times.
“We can no longer hold the line with the old Rappler,” she said, “especially with the mounting cases filed against me and my company. We might as well go with the flow and focus on defending ourselves against the government’s efforts to weaponize the law to kill my profitable business.”
Rappler also unveiled its new logo in a hastily-called press conference.