The Norwegian Nobel Committee said Maria Ressa, from the Philippines, and Dmitry Muratov, from Russia, are honored for their “efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”
An increasingly adversarial environment for democracy and press freedom in the world, and courage in the face of abuses of power, synthesize the meaning of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to two journalists.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said Maria Ressa, from the Philippines, and Dmitry Muratov, from Russia, are honored for their “efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”
Ressa co-founded Rappler, a digital media company for investigative journalism, in 2012. He has published on the campaign against drugs promoted by the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Durterte, marked by arbitrary acts that have unleashed high levels of violence against the civilian population. It has also shown how social networks are used to spread false information, harass opponents and manipulate public opinion.
Muratov co-founded the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta in 1993, in which official abuses and corruption cases have been published. Since 1995 he is the editor-in-chief, making it the most important independent newspaper in Russia. He has published articles critical of corruption, police violence, electoral fraud, illegal arrests, electoral fraud and “troll factories”, to the use of Russian military forces both inside and outside Russia.
Such work has had very high costs: six reporters from Novaja Gazseta have been assassinated. Maria Ressa’s work has made the Rappler site a target of supporters of the Philippine president, and she herself has been attacked. He faces several judicial processes in his country, and ten arrest warrants
Hostility towards the press is a characteristic sign of these times. Anti-media rhetoric, harassment, violence and attacks against journalists are on the rise. Women journalists face the worst of it. A situation that shows the double edge of technology: a tool that streamlines communication in real time, frequently used to deceive, fuel violence and hatred.
Situations such as those of the award-winning journalists give a face and a name to the figures: The Committee to Protect Journalists records the imprisonment of 274 communicators in 2020. Reporters Without Borders has documented that in 2021 the record number of 37 governments has been reached. they have become “predators of freedom of expression.”
The mechanisms have been varied. From direct or indirect censorship, arbitrary imprisonment, incitement to violence. The United Nations Fund for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) warns that every five days a journalist dies in the world, crimes that are covered by the cloak of impunity.
The Nobel Peace Prize to journalists puts into effect the need to reflect and put a stop to a state of things that many, interestedly, intend to establish as normal. As António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, has said, “falsehoods triumph over facts and this cannot become the new normal. Free and independent journalism is our greatest ally in the fight against false information and misinformation ”.
The award of the Nobel in itself does not solve the problems that freedom of expression faces, but in broad terms it places it as the best defense that a society can have against the advance of wars, conflicts, lies, manipulations and misinformation issued and promoted by the State. It also highlights the importance of journalism for the development of societies, and the dangers involved in exercising it based on an inherent human right of every person.
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Nobel Peace Prize with the face of journalism | News from El Salvador