Journalists from Philippines, Russia win Nobel Peace Prize
MANILA: Journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their fight for freedom of expression in countries where media outlets have faced persistent attacks and reporters have been murdered.
In making the award, the Norwegian Nobel committee stressed that an independent press is vital in promoting peace.
“Free, independent and factbased journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda,” said Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the committee, explaining why the prize was awarded to two journalists.
“Without freedom of expression and freedom of the press, it will be difficult to successfully promote fraternity between nations, disarmament and a better world order to succeed in our time,” she said.
The Nobel committee noted that Ressa in 2012 co-founded Rappler, a news website that has focused critical attention on President Rodrigo Duterte’s “controversial, murderous antidrug campaign” in the Philippines. Reacting to the news, Ressa told Norway’s TV2 channel that “the government will obviously not be happy”.
“I’m a little shocked. It’s really emotional,” she added. “But I am happy on behalf of my team and would like to thank the Nobel Committee for recognising what we are going through.”
The award-winning journalist was convicted last year of libel and sentenced to jail in a decision seen as a major blow to press global freedom. She was the first woman awarded a Nobel this year.
Muratov was one of the founders in 1993 of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which the Nobel committee described as “the most independent newspaper in Russia today, with a fundamentally critical attitude towards power”.
“The newspaper’s fact-based journalism and professional integrity have made it an important source of information on censurable aspects of Russian society rarely mentioned by other media,” it added.
“We will use it to shore up Russian journalism that has faced repressions,” Muratov said in comments carried by a Russian messaging app channel.