This year’s Nobel Peace Prize goes to journalists Dmitri Muratow from Russia and Maria Ressa from the Philippines. Both would fight “courageously” for freedom of expression in their countries, said the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen. Freedom of expression is “a prerequisite for democracy and lasting peace”.
Muratow is long-time editor-in-chief of the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which in 1993 split off from the tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. The Novaya Gazeta was supported, among others, by Mikhail Gorbachev – the only previous Nobel Peace Prize winner from Russia. Gorbachev used part of his prize money to bring the new newspaper onto the market. Muratow has received numerous international awards in the course of his career. Among other things, he is a member of the French Legion of Honor.
According to the Russian state news agency Tass, Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov also congratulated Muratov on the honor. He said that Muratov “consistently works according to his ideals”: “He is talented, he is brave. The Nobel Prize is a great honor. We congratulate him. “
The organization Reporters Without Borders welcomed the award of the Nobel Prize to two journalists and at the same time warned of dangers for the profession. The award pays homage to two people “who stand for all journalists worldwide who take risks for the right to information,” Christophe Deloire, Secretary General of the organization, told journalists in Paris on Friday.
“Journalism is ailing because the democracies are too,” said Deloire. “Fake news and rumors are just as bad for journalism as they are for democracies,” he added. (with AFP)