Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov

Dmitry Muratov, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, said the Nobel Peace Prize he was awarded is a testament to the newspaper's dedication to free speech and his colleagues who have died fighting for it, Russian state media TASS reports.

Anna Politkovskaya, once a leading voice in Russia reporting on the Chechnya war for Novaya Gazeta, was killed 15 years ago on Thursday. Muratov and other former colleagues commemorated Politkovskaya in a ceremony outside the newspaper's offices in Moscow.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Politkovskaya repeatedly received death threats and was attacked for her investigative reporting, including in a purported poisoning attempt. She was renowned for her critical coverage of the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Politkovskaya was 48 when she was shot dead at her Moscow apartment building on October 7, 2006, on Putin's 54th birthday.

Fifteen years after her death, her assessment of independent journalism and media in Russia remains pertinent.

"If you want to go on working as a journalist, it's total servility to Putin. Otherwise, it can be death, the bullet, poison, or trial -- whatever our special services, Putin's guard dogs, see fit," she wrote in her 2004 book "Putin's Russia."

This year's Nobel Peace Prize for two journalists comes at a time when press freedoms around the world are under threat.

For five straight years, the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists has found that at least 250 journalists were jailed globally for their work.

And in its annual Press Freedom Index in April, Reporters Without Borders sounded the alarm over the dramatic deterioration in access to information, showing that journalism was completely blocked or seriously impeded in 73 countries and constrained in 59 others -- 73% of 180 countries ranked by the organisation.

Maria Ressa's native Philippines ranked 138 on the index for its government's role in silencing critics. Reporters Without Borders cited Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's repeated attacks on Ressa, describing a "grotesque judicial harassment campaign" against Ressa and her news website Rappler.

In Russia, ranked 150 on the index, Dmitry Muratov and other journalists face what Reporters Without Borders describe as a coordinated crackdown on independent media: "draconian laws, website-blocking, Internet cuts and leading news outlets reined in or throttled out of existence."

Citing these challenges on Friday, the Nobel Committee said that free, independent and factual journalism serves the public by protecting against abuses of power, disinformation and propaganda.

"The Norwegian Nobel Committee is convinced that freedom of expression and freedom of information help to ensure an informed public. These rights are crucial prerequisites for democracy and protect against war and conflict. The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov is intended to underscore the importance of protecting and defending these fundamental rights," committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen said.

"Without freedom of expression and freedom of the press, it will be difficult to successfully promote fraternity between nations, disarmament and a better world order to succeed in our time. This year’s award of the Nobel Peace Prize is therefore firmly anchored in the provisions of Alfred Nobel’s will."

The Nobel Committee said on Friday it would not comment about other Nobel laureates, in response to a question about its decision to award the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is now overseeing a civil war in his country's Tigray region.

"The freedom of press in Ethiopia is very from ideal," committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen said, adding that journalists operating in the country were "facing severe restrictions."

"This prize will not solve the problems that journalists or freedom of expression are facing," she said, adding that the committee hoped the award would shed a light on how dangerous it is to exercise freedom of expression.

Much has changed since Abiy accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in November 2019, telling an audience in Oslo, Norway, that "war is the epitome of hell."

In less than two years, Abiy has gone from darling of the international community to pariah, condemned for his role in presiding over a protracted civil war that, by many accounts, bears the hallmarks of genocide and has the potential to destabilize the wider Horn of Africa region.

A day before receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Maria Ressa spoke to CNN from her home in the Philippines about the 2022 Philippines presidential elections, which will be held in May next year.

Rappler's extensive reporting on the Philippines under President Duterte has made the site -- and its journalists -- targets of his supporters. Duterte will be standing down from office after a single six-year term in power.

"I have covered this country since 1986, I’ve never been the news but the only reason I’ve become the news is because I refuse to be stamped down I refuse to stop doing my job the way I should," Ressa said.

"Rule of law is a very important factor for me and the fact ... I think rule of law is critical for any democracy because if you don’t have rule of law then it is a hop, skip and a jump to fascism because then whoever is in power decides who lives and who dies, literally."

Before co-founding Rappler, the Filipino-American journalist and author previously spent nearly two decades as a lead investigative reporter for CNN in southeast Asia. In 2020, Ressa was convicted of "cyber libel," in a case she and press freedom groups have described as a politically motivated prosecution by the Duterte government.

"I’m very lucky because of CNN. You know. I had enough of a network to be able to fight back ... I’m not fighting against the Duterte administration, I’m fighting for my rights. I’m still idealistic."

Philippines journalist Maria Ressa said she was stunned by the news in a live broadcast by Rappler, the news outlet she cofounded.

"I am in shock," Ressa she told the broadcast on Friday.

Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov is one of the founders of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

This is what the Nobel Committee said about their decision to award Muratov:

"Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov has for decades defended freedom of speech in Russia under increasingly challenging conditions. In 1993, he was one of the founders of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Since 1995 he has been the newspaper’s editor-in-chief for a total of 24 years. Novaya Gazeta is the most independent newspaper in Russia today, with a fundamentally critical attitude towards power. The newspaper’s fact-based journalism and professional integrity have made it an important source of information on censurable aspects of Russian society rarely mentioned by other media. Since its start-up in 1993, Novaya Gazeta has published critical articles on subjects ranging from corruption, police violence, unlawful arrests, electoral fraud and ”troll factories” to the use of Russian military forces both within and outside Russia.

"Novaya Gazeta’s opponents have responded with harassment, threats, violence and murder. Since the newspaper’s start, six of its journalists have been killed, including Anna Politkovskaya who wrote revealing articles on the war in Chechnya. Despite the killings and threats, editor-in-chief Muratov has refused to abandon the newspaper’s independent policy. He has consistently defended the right of journalists to write anything they want about whatever they want, as long as they comply with the professional and ethical standards of journalism."

Maria Ressa, journalist and co-founder of investigative news outlet Rappler, has worked tirelessly to expose abuses of power, government corruption and a campaign of violence in the Philippines. She has also taken her fight for freedom of expression to the global stage, exposing the ways in which Facebook and other social platforms have been used to spread fake news.

This is what the Nobel Committee said about their decision to award Ressa:

"Maria Ressa uses freedom of expression to expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines. In 2012, she co-founded Rappler, a digital media company for investigative journalism, which she still heads. As a journalist and the Rappler’s CEO, Ressa has shown herself to be a fearless defender of freedom of expression. Rappler has focused critical attention on the Duterte regime’s controversial, murderous anti-drug campaign. The number of deaths is so high that the campaign resembles a war waged against the country’s own population. Ms. Ressa and Rappler have also documented how social media is being used to spread fake news, harass opponents and manipulate public discourse."

Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov were jointly awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their dogged investigative reporting in the Philippines and Russia, where they have worked to safeguard freedom of expression.

The prize is set to be awarded for the 102nd time, with the winner -- or winners -- joining 135 previous laureates.

Among them are a number of celebrated figures and agencies, and some controversial recipients.

Four US Presidents have won the award; Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, who triumphed in 2009 for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

They have been joined by several revolutionary and political leaders, including Nelson Mandela, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Polish dissident Lech Walesa.

International organizations are occasionally honored too; the United Nations won the award in 2001, the European Union joined them in 2012, and the World Food Programme is the most recent winner.

In 2014, Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai became the youngest winner of the award, aged just 17.

But many winners have proven controversial. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was given the accolade just two years ago, but has since been condemned for his role in presiding over a protracted civil war that, by many accounts, bears the hallmarks of genocide and has the potential to destabilize the wider Horn of Africa region.