{"id":620,"date":"2021-11-26T21:24:37","date_gmt":"2021-11-27T02:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/extraocadsmhr\/?post_type=chapter&p=620"},"modified":"2022-02-14T19:49:35","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T00:49:35","slug":"maria-ressa-nobel-prize-winner-risks-life-and-liberty-to-hold-philippines-government-to-account-short-supplementary-article","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/extraocadsmhr\/chapter\/maria-ressa-nobel-prize-winner-risks-life-and-liberty-to-hold-philippines-government-to-account-short-supplementary-article\/","title":{"raw":"5a. \"Maria Ressa: Nobel prize-winner risks life and liberty to hold Philippines government to account\" (Short news article)","rendered":"5a. “Maria Ressa: Nobel prize-winner risks life and liberty to hold Philippines government to account” (Short news article)"},"content":{"raw":"

Introduction to the article \"Maria Ressa: Nobel prize-winner risks life and liberty to hold Philippines government to account<\/a><\/span>\"<\/h1>\r\nJournalism is a difficult job. Holding the powerful to account requires courage, intelligence, and perseverance. Also, protecting sources during difficult times can imperil journalists. They can be threatened with imprisonment.\r\n\r\nThese difficulties become even harder in authoritarian regimes.\r\n\r\nIn his article, \"Maria Ressa: Nobel prize-winner risks life and liberty to hold Philippines government to account,\" author Tom Smith chronicles the difficulties Ressa faces as she reports on President Rodrigo Duterte.\r\n\r\nJournalism has been justifiably criticized for its errors, omissions, and biases. However, courageous journalists like Ressa should be celebrated.\r\n\r\n
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Maria Ressa: Nobel prize-winner risks life and liberty to hold Philippines government to account<\/a><\/span><\/h2>\r\n
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Tom Smith, The Conversation<\/em>, October 8, 2021, 10:51am EDT<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/section>\r\n

The importance of journalists who take considerable risks to bring people the truth in countries where this involves going up against authoritarian governments has been recognised by the Nobel committee\u2019s decision to<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>award the 2021 peace prize<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>to Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In announcing the award, the Nobel committee called the pair \u201crepresentatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal\u201d. They said Ressa had used her online news organisation, Rappler, to \u201cexpose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rappler, which grew out of a Facebook page launched in 2012 and has become one of the Philippines\u2019 most credible independent news services, has been targeted by President Rodrigo Duterte since his election in 2016. His 2017 state of the union speech alleged that Rappler was in foreign ownership, which would be contrary to the constitution. He also said it peddled \u201cfake news\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Government investigations followed and, by 2018, Ressa and Rappler were inundated with charges of cybercrime, tax evasion and as much intimidation as the Duterte government could muster.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This harassment took place against a backdrop of presidentially sanctioned murder in the form of Duterte\u2019s \u201cwar on drugs\u201d (which the<\/span>\u00a0International Criminal Court is now investigating<\/a><\/span>) which led to the deaths of over 20,000 people, including journalists around the country. Ressa was not cowed by intimidation and threats. Time magazine named her one of its Person of the Year winners in 2018 alongside other journalists facing oppression around the world.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When she was arrested for the first time, in 2019 at the age of 56, the country\u2019s most prominent journalist was made to spend a night behind bars, a low point for civil society in the Philippines. Ressa and her Rappler colleagues continue to work under the threat of imprisonment.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It remains to be seen if the award of the Nobel peace prize will shield Ressa and Rappler from further targeting, and whether the election, scheduled for May 2022, will bring any relief from government harassment and threats.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

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Thorn in Duterte\u2019s side<\/h2>\r\nLong before Duterte was elected, Ressa was an established figure in Filipino public life. She had been the face of CNN in the Philippines as its bureau chief from 1987-1995 and then as an investigative reporter for CNN, where she focused on terrorism in the aftermath of 9\/11 across southeast Asia.\r\n\r\nIn 2004, she joined major Philippines-based media company ABS-CBN and for six years helped grow it into the major news network in the country (its broadcast operations were\u00a0<\/span>shut down by Duterte in 2020<\/a><\/span>). It is with great credit to Ressa that her influence is so strong across the news media landscape in the Philippines where younger journalists continue to follow her advice and example.\r\n\r\nThis is not the first time Maria Ressa has won a major international award. She received the\u00a0<\/span>2017 Democracy Award<\/a><\/span>, the 2018\u00a0<\/span>Knight International Journalism Award<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and, also in 2018, the\u00a0<\/span>World Association of Newspapers\u2019s Golden Pen of Freedom Award<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and the\u00a0<\/span>Committee to Protect Journalists\u2019 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award<\/a><\/span>. Her trials over recent years have regularly garnered public attention and condemnation from across the world from\u00a0<\/span>leading figures<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0organisations<\/a><\/span>.\r\n

Peace Prize premium?<\/h2>\r\nDespite this, the Duterte government has continued to stifle dissent and attack less prominent journalists in the more remote provinces of the Philippines who continue to investigate corruption and violence under the direct threat of violence and intimidation. Hopefully the Nobel prize will put pressure on presidential candidates in the 2022 election to speak on the issue of press freedom and make it a campaign issue. The award also means that foreign governments calibrating new relations with the next administration have a symbol to rally around.\r\n\r\nIn 2019, I was a delegate at the UK and Canadian governments\u2019\u00a0<\/span>Global Conference for Media Freedom<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>in London. I had the opportunity to briefly meet Maria and her lawyer Amal Clooney. There were a lot of strong sentiments and good words expressed that day from government officials as they listened to stories like those from the Philippines.\r\n\r\nThe whole event rung hollow when, toward the end of the day, news broke of the murder of radio news anchor\u00a0<\/span>Eduardo Dizon<\/a><\/span>, a journalist with Brigada News FM in Kidapawan City in the southern Philippines. But by handing this award to brave journalists like Ressa and Muratov, the Nobel committee is proclaiming the value, not only of their work, but of all journalists who take risks to hold power to account.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n
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Quiz<\/h2>\r\nQuiz on \"Maria Ressa: Nobel prize-winner risks life and liberty to hold Philippines government to account<\/a><\/span>\"<\/strong>:\r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"49\"]<\/span>\r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"50\"]<\/span>\r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"51\"]<\/span>\r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"52\"]<\/span>\r\n\r\n
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