Time.news – The Nobel Peace Prize went to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, both committed to protecting freedom of expression.
The first, co-founder of Rappler, an investigative journalism site, “uses freedom of expression to expose the abuse of power, the use of violence and growing authoritarianism” in the Philippines. Muratov, director of Novaya Gazeta, refused to abandon the policy followed by the Russian periodical, defending the independence and rights of journalists.
The Swedish Academy awarded “their courageous battle for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia“This was announced by the president of the Norwegian Nobel Commission, Berit Reiss-Andersen, stressing that freedom of expression is a” pre-requisite for democracy “.
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Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov
The two winners represent “all the journalists who fight for this ideal in a world where democracy and press freedom face increasingly adverse conditions, “he added.
Muratov is the third Russian to receive the Nobel Peace Prize after Andrey Sakharov and Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1993 he was one of the founders of Novaya Gazeta, “whose fact-based journalism and professional integrity they have made it an important source of information on reprehensible aspects of Russian society, rarely mentioned in other media. Since it opened, six of its reporters have been killed, “the commission recalled.
Also Ressa proved to be a “fearless champion of freedom of expression” at the helm of Rappler, the investigative journalism site that has focused “attention on the controversial and deadly drug campaign of the Duterte regime”.
“Nothing is possible without facts,” said Ressa commenting on the news. Muratov dedicated the Prize to Novaya Gazeta and its journalists killed in recent years. The director stressed that he had obtained the recognition not thanks to him but to his colleagues who died for the freedom of the press.
The Nobel Peace Prize to Ressa and Muratov is a “prize for freedom of the press in environments hostile to independent journalism”, commented Riccardo Noury, spokesperson for Amnesty International Italia.
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