So 2 days ago, Ian bae sent me this video link of Ezra Levant of The Rebel asking the questions we all wanted to ask Maria Ressa. Ian couldn’t help but guffaw hearing Maria Ressa admitting Rappler is actually funded by Omidyar! The woman probably thought the whole thing wasn’t recorded as Ezra was just holding the microphone – not knowing the video was being taken by someone seated rows higher than where he was.
Here’s the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHmo9TC4DIQ
Here’s the transcript. May mga pa-comment2x ako kasi hindi ko mapigilan, lol. NAKA ALL CAPS PARA INTENSE! :D Petty na kung petty, I don't care, haha!
Ezra Levant (to Nishant Lalwani, Director of Luminate Group): Really, you’re just a mirror image of Rupert Murdoch. You seem like a nice guy but I wouldn’t trust a conference that Rupert Murdoch architected. Why should we trust anything run by your billionaire, tycoon, paymaster who I’m sure is a nice guy?
Ezra Levant of Rebel Media: Ezra Levant from Canada. Mr. Lalwani, I enjoyed your anecdote about Rupert Murdoch and his octopus-like influence. But how do you square that with the fact that you work for Pierre Omidyar, a billionaire media tycoon who’s very partisan. He has stakes in The Intercept and The Bulwark and they’re great reads but, holy cow, is he ever biased.
And you’re interviewing companies that basically he owns. The reason she (HE MEANS MARIA RESSA HERE) got in trouble is because she was foreign owned, and the SEC in the Philippines said you can’t do that. So I want to know how you square being the front man for a left-wing Rupert Murdoch?
And frankly, how did you manage to direct a nonpartisan government with the UK and Canada. I mean, really, you’re just a mirror image of Rupert Murdoch. You seem like a nice guy but I wouldn’t trust a conference that Rupert Murdoch architected. Why should we trust anything run by your billionaire, tycoon, paymaster who I’m sure is a nice guy? But no one here is not on your payroll and I think you’ve shaped a lot of this commentary to support your boss’s desires. It’s weird to me.
Nishant Lalwani: Why don’t we deal with the facts? First of all, no one here is on his payroll.
Ezra Levant: We just heard that you were. We just heard that you were.
Nishant Lalwani: No, right, no. We just gave money to Rappler that she…
(SI MARIA RESSA, UMAAKSYON NA, NA TIPONG, WAIT LANG NISHANT, SHADDUP KA MUNA. BAKA MAY MASABI KANG MALI, AKO MUNA!)
Maria Ressa: Nish, let me respond to this. I’ll take that one up because I’m gonna use you as a proxy for President Duterte. So number 1…
(HALA SIYA! SHE GLOSSED THAT PROXY PART OVER AS THOUGH IT WOULD SOUND TRUE WITHOUT PAUSING PARA BAKA HINDI MACATCH NI KUYA EZRA. BUT HE DID!)
Ezra Levant: No, don’t do that. Don’t do that. I’m not a proxy for Duterte. (GO EZRA!)
Maria Ressa: No, I’m just telling you because I think this kind of simplification is dangerous (ATE MARIA! IKAW NGA UNANG NAGSIMPLIFY KAY KUYA EZRA NA PROXY SIYA NI DUTERTE. DUH! MAY PA MAKE A POINT KA PA EH, SES.) It makes all of us vulnerable. Number one, the SEC, we’re not foreign owned. I started a startup. I took investors in it. They can all have ten million views and they come from rainbow colors. I don’t much care. I have parameters for these investors. Those parameters, if a shareholders agreement that makes us, actually me, the one in control. They invest, knowing that.
Ezra Levant: The SEC disagreed with you.
Maria Ressa: Actually, it does cause we’re still, we’re actually winning the court of appeals, is moving forward…
Ezra Levant: Omidyar gave up his stock.
Maria Ressa: Now, we… let me, let me finish! Because I certainly let you have the time, right? So let me…
Ezra Levant: I actually… My question was actually for Mr. Lalwani though. (OO NGA! DI BALE, SHE’S SEEMS TO BE INCRIMINATING HERSELF, GO LANG!)
Maria Ressa: After… Let’s take a look at how much… let’s take a full range of investments. There’s maybe about 4 ½ million dollars that went into Rappler. Only 4 ½… (HULI KA BALBON!!! ONLY 4 ½ MILLION DOLLARS DAW GUYS HA! ONLY!!! THAT’S MORE THAN 225 MILLION PEZOSESSSSS!!!)
Ezra Levant: Only eh? Only. (HAHAHA, MARIA, HINDI MO NAHULI YUNG SARCASM NI KUYA EZRA DITO. NAG-AGREE KA PA, LOL.)
Maria Ressa: Only. And we’ve been able… That’s 7 years of, of actually being able to do hard-hitting investigative reporting. (DIVIDED BY 7, THAT’S STILL 32 MILLION PEZOSSS A YEAR!) Of that, probably less than 5% goes to the (HINDI KO NA NAINTIDIHAN)...
Ezra Levant: You’re defending your boss but can I hear from him instead?
Maria Ressa: He’s not my boss. I’ll give you to him.
Ezra Levant: You know he can give me 4 ½ million bucks and I’ll let him call me his boss. (TAMA!!!)
Maria Ressa: You challenge something that is important to us… (CAN’T HE??? I MEAN YOU GUYS ARE IN THIS FORUM TO PURPORTEDLY “CHALLENGE” YOUR GOVERNMENT OR OTHER INSTITUTIONS THAT DON’T GET ALONG WITH YOU. SO WHY CAN’T EZRA CHALLENGE YOUR LOT? LUH SIYA! DOUBLE STANDARD LANG TE?)
Ezra Levant: I didn’t ask you a question, with all due respect…
Nishant Lalwani: Could you let please Maria respond? (HAHA, QQIL NA SI KUYA NISHANT.)
Ezra Levant: Will you respond too?
Nishant Lalwani: I will respond.
Ezra Levant: Okay, I look forward to that.
(BLAH BLAH BLAH, HINDI KO NA NAGETS)
Maria Ressa: So I’ll just lay it in the… (ANO DAW? SORRY.)
Ezra Levant: Sure we are.
Maria Ressa: (ANO DAW ULIT? SORRY ULIT)… less than 5% of the shares of Rappler which was fully Filipino owned (TAMA BA SENTENCE NA NAPICK UP KO? KASI PARANG HMM…). Every investment that was made through the big (FOUR? NOT SURE) our auditors KPMG. We had that, the law firm that actually created the Philippine Depository Receipts.
You have to give me that because you can’t let a statement like that lie because that could be picked up and send you to jail (AAAAAH… TOO LATE MADAPAKA! HULI KA NA BALBON! ALL ON CAMERA FOO!)
That’s the difference between your world and mine. I’m very careful about my words and factoids (RIGHT, HA!)
(HAHAHA, NAG-APPLAUSE PA YUNG MGA PEOPLE EH NO? SIGE GO!)
Tapos si Kuya Nishant na nagsalita. Something along the lines na may ininvest nga daw sila sa Rappler but they didn’t dictate anything daw on how narratives go when Rappler writes. LIKE HOW IN THE WORLD CAN YOU PROVE THAT BOO?! YOU CANNOT USE THAT EXCUSE JUST TO SAY WALA KAYONG CONTROL SA MGA SINUSULAT NG RAPPLER. YUNG MISMONG SEC GUIDELINES NA LANG MISMO STATES BAWAL MAG-INVEST ANG ANY FOREIGN ENTITY PAG MEDIA ANG PINAG-UUSAPAN KASI NGA DIBA, MAY LIKELY INFLUENCE?
Hahaha, eto rin yung tweet ni Ezra to prove his point!
SOBRANG THANK YOU TO THE MAX, EZRA LEVANT!
Additional note: Even if 5% lang binigay ni Omidyar (which is doubtful, kaya naisali rin sa kaso against Rappler ang anti-dummy violation), that's still around PhP11.25M or PhP1.6M per year. Still, a violation is a violation.
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See MORE reports by The Rebel, from the "Defend Media Freedom Conference" in London at http://MediaFreedomConference.com Ezra Levant of The Rebel challenged ...
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