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The journalist Maria Ressa, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, gave an exclusive interview to France 24. Co-founder of the news site ‘Rappler’ and critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, this 58-year-old Filipino-American reporter believes that the work of the journalist is becoming more and more dangerous and insists on the importance of being able to counteract misinformation.
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize crowned the “valiant fight for freedom of expression” by two journalists. The Norwegian committee presented the prestigious award on Friday, October 8, to the Filipino Maria Ressa and the Russian Dimitri Muratov.
Maria Ressa and Dimitri Muratov “are the representatives of all journalists who defend this ideal in a world where democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly unfavorable conditions”, declared the president of the Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, in Oslo.
After the award was presented to the two journalists, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, called for the defense of press freedom throughout the world. In a statement, Guterres recalled that “no society can be free and fair without journalists capable of investigating transgressions, providing information to citizens, holding rulers accountable and speaking the truth to power,” and that is why the free press is “essential for sustainable development and human rights”.
Ressa is currently out on bail pending appeal of a conviction from last year in a cyber defamation case for which he could face up to six years in prison.
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