By Himasutha Reddy
Oslo, Oct 8: Today, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Noble Peace Prize 2021 to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov. The Noble Peace Prize is a prize that the Norwegian Nobel Committee, on behalf of Alfred Nobel, grants to individuals who made tremendous contributions towards world peace. According to the Noble Peace Prize 2021 press release, the laureates were recognized for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia.
Maria Ressa is the CEO of Rappler (a Philippine news portal), and is a Filipino-American journalist and an author. In the Philippines, through Rappler, she could reach out to society and explain how social media could spread fake news, harass opponents, and manipulate public discourse. She also focused on the Duterte regime’s controversial and murderous, anti-drug campaign.
Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov is one of the founders of the newspaper Novaja Gazeta established in 1993, and is currently the editor-in-chief. The newspaper published articles on various topics from corruption, police violence, unlawful arrests, electoral fraud, and “troll factories” to Russian military forces, both within and outside Russia.
