Golden Pen of Freedom laureates win Nobel Peace Prize

Golden Pen of Freedom laureates Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov awarded Nobel Peace Prize Berit Reiss-Andersenm Nobel Committee Chair, said, “Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda. 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.”

Maria Ressa has been a journalist in Asia for over 30 years, with a career spanning various media. Her interest and talents in technology and new media were an impetus for her becoming one of the founders and eventually the CEO of Rappler, a social news network that aims to inspire community engagement and fuel social change. It became one of the first websites in the Philippines to use online multimedia such as video, text, audio and photos, incorporating social media sites for distribution.

Since the 2016 election of President Rodrigo Duterte, Rappler has fallen victim to a deliberate and highly targeted online campaign by supporters of the controversial head of state that seeks to discredit the media organisation and drown out criticism.

Responding to the news, Dmitry Muratov, Editor-in-Chief of Novaya Gazeta, said, “We will continue to represent Russian journalism, which is now being suppressed. That’s all. We will try to help people who are now labelled as ‘foreign agents’, who are being attacked and expelled from the country.”

Novaya Gazeta has been described as the only truly critical voice with national influence in today’s Russia, known for its in-depth investigations on sensitive issues such as high-level corruption, human rights violations and abuse of power.