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Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov jointly won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for their fights to defend freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia, the Norwegian Noble Committee in Oslo announced today.
A UN spokesperson mentioning the Nobel Peace Prize award to the investigative journalists said at a briefing at the United Nations in Geneva that “the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee has just announced that it has decided to award the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa and Dimitri Muratov for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace says the Committee. I would like to congratulate the two laureates”.
The two journalists were chosen out of 329 candidates for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
Ms Ressa, who co-founded the news site Rappler in 2012, was commended by the Norwegian Noble Committee for using freedom of expression to “expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines”.
The site now has 4,5 million followers on Facebook and has become known for its intelligent analysis and hard-hitting investigations. It is one of the few Philippine media organizations to be openly critical of President Rodrigo Duterte and his policies.
Rappler has extensively published on the populist president’s deadly war on drugs and has taken a critical look at issues such as misogyny, human rights violations and corruption.
Earlier this year in April, the investigative journalist and media executive Maria Ressa has received the 2021 press freedom award by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). According to UNESCO, Ms. Ressa has been arrested for “alleged crimes related to the exercise of her profession”, and has been subject to a sustained campaign of gendered online abuse, threats and harassment, which at one point, resulted in her receiving an average of over 90 hateful messages an hour on Facebook.
The former lead investigative journalist for Asia at CNN and head of ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs, Ms. Ressa was also among a group of journalists named as Time Magazine’s person of the year in 2018.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa said upon her nomination that “nothing is possible without facts….a world without facts means a world without truth and trust”.
-ends-
- Exterior wide shot, United Nations flag flying.
- Medium-wide shot, inside the press conference room, showing speakers and participants.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Alessandra Vellucci, Director of United Nations Information Service in Geneva: “The Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee has just announced that it has decided to award the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa and Dimitri Muratov for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace says the Committee. I would like to congratulate the two laureates.”
- Wide shot, inside one of the rooms at the Palais, participants attending the conference “Maria Ressa Rappler Free Media Pioneer”.
- Medium shot of speakers at the conference.
- Close shot, a participant taking pictures of the event.
- Medium shot, Maria Ressa speaking in front of the audience.
- Wide shot, inside the conference room, showing speakers and participants.
- Medium shot, M. Ressa delivering her speech.
- Medium shot, from the back, speakers seated in front of their audience.
- Close shot, M. Ressa adjusting her microphone.
- Close shot, from the back, one of the speakers delivering his speech.
- Medium shot, speakers seated listening to the conference.
- Medium-wide shot, high camera angle, the table of speakers with a large-screen TV showing the conference room.
- Medium shot, inside the conference room, people seated.
- Close shot, a participant listening to the conference using headphones.
- Close shot of a smartphone filming the conference.
Following images are ARCHIVE FOOTAGE:
UN Geneva, International Press Institute (IPI) World Congress (4-6 June 2019)
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