Maria Ressa co-founder of the investigative digital media company Rappler and Dmitry Muratov, co-founder and the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta
Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov have won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for their fight to defend free expression in the Philippines and Russia.
Journalists Maria Ressa 58, and Dmitry Muratov 59, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday October 8 2021.
Ressa is the co-founder of the investigative digital media company Rappler, which has focused on the brutal war on drugs waged by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
Whereas Muratov is a co-founder and the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, an independent newspaper holding power to account in President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly authoritarian Russia.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee commended Ressa and Muratov for being “representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions.”
The committee said it wanted to highlight the plight of journalists across the globe who are operating in what watchdogs say is an increasingly repressive environment.
Maria Ressa uses freedom of expression to expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines,” the committee said in a statement Friday.
The committee lauded Dmitry Muratov for been firm in defending freedom of speech in Russia under increasingly challenging conditions for decades.
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”, the committee added.
Reacting to the news, Ressa told a live broadcast by Rappler, “I am in shock.”
She is known to be at the forefront of documenting Duterte’s war on drugs, which Human Rights Watch says has led to the deaths of more than 12,000 Filipinos, some 2,500 killed by police.
As editor of Novaya Gazeta, Muratov leads a rare independent news source in Russia.
His journalists have faced harassment and threats, and six of them have been murdered, including Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in her Moscow apartment building in 2006.
Editor-in-chief Muratov has refused to abandon the newspaper’s independent policy despite the killings and threats.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has called Novaya Gazeta the “only truly critical newspaper with national influence in Russia today,” amidst President Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on dissent.
Source: BBC