Dr John Mohan Razu
Unusual, and yet surprising that the Nobel peace prize for the year 2021 awarded to two journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, who braved the wrath of the leaders of the Philippines and Russia exposing authoritarianism, corruption, misrule and abuse of power. It is a powerful reminder and candid endorsement of free speech against those totalitarians and abusers of power and authority who throttle and heckle those journalists who dared and braved exposing the ruthless autocrats who believed in silencing those who come out openly writing about their regimes.
Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2021 “for their courageous fight for freedom of expression” in their countries, chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said. She also added that “At the same time, they are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions”.
Norwegian Nobel Committee has clearly endorsed in its citation that the world in which we live democracy and freedom of press are at stake. Therefore, it went beyond its conventional position from awarding to those representing other domains to those engaged in journalism. Increasingly in recent times free, independent and fact-based journalism is under attack by those leaders who tend to abuse their power and authority across the world. The totalitarians across the world do not want free press and freedom of expression as they hurt them. They do not want the truth to be uttered as it exposes their false narratives and blatant lies.
Ressa in 2012 co-founded Rappler, a news website that the committee observed and noted that it had focused critical attention on President Rodrigo Duterte’s “controversial, murderous anti-drug campaign” in the Philippines. President Rodrigo Duterte gave full powers to the anti-drug police unit to shoot and kill anyone suspected of drug smuggling, peddling or drug possession. The vigilance and enforcement wing abused their powers indiscriminately in the name of “encounters” killing hundreds of innocent people. Rule of law has reached the lowest ebb in the Philippines.
In such an atmosphere and political climate, Ressa, a Fulbright scholar and also named by Time Magazine “Person of the Year” in 2018, for her crusade against disinformation. She has exposed government’s financial holdings, corrupt dealing and potential conflict of interests of political figures. She has also criticized with facts about government’s handling of drug-campaign in violent ways.
Similarly, Dmitri A Muratov has defended freedom of speech in Russia for decades. He was one of the founders of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta in 1993. Since then, six of the newspaper’s journalists have been killed, including Anna Politkovskaya, who wrote revealing articles about the war in Chechnya, Igor Domnlkov, Anna Politkovskaya, StasMarkelov, AnastasiaBaburova and Natasha Estemirova. These are the people who have today won the Nobel Prize, Muratov said, dedicating the prize to the six.
Novaya Gazeta’s factual data and analytical news with professional integrity has made it as the most accepted source of information that the Russian society thought as against the censured and hyped information disseminated by others. It also covered the totalitarian Putin of Russia, known for silencing and eliminating his political opponents and the journalists. Dmitri A Muratov managed to provide authentic news about Russia despite Putin’s ruthless reign and yet surviving though six of his colleagues were annihilated by the State.
Likewise, Resa, the first Filipino to win the peace prize and the first woman to be honored this year with an award by the Nobel Committee was convicted last ear of libel and sentenced to jail in a decision seen as major blow to press global freedom. Currently out on bail but facing seven active legal cases. Resa, 58 years old hopes that the award will bolster investigative journalism “that will hold power to account”.Continuing She said that that Rappler “have also documented how social media is being used to spread fake news, harass opponents and manipulate public discourse”.
Muratov, 59, dedicated the award to Novaya Gazeta journalists who covered Russia’s bloody conflict in Chechnya as “a recognition to the memory of our fallen colleagues”.He also said that he would have given the prize to Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic and political opponent, who is now behind the bars. Along these, in an interview with Reuters in Manila, Ressa called the prize “a global recognition of the journalist’s role in repairing, fixing our broken world”. Nonetheless, “It’s never been as hard to be journalist as it is today”.
The world in which we live by and large is under the grip of totalitarians and autocrats. With false narratives and fake news and by providing fictious data, the totalitarians and autocrats keep building their image. In order to consolidate their power base and to be in power the autocrats/ totalitarians would go to any extent and one of the important actions they tend to go all out is to mute the media that are against them. Media being the fourth pillar of democracy play the most crucial part in the life of a given society/country.
Democracy is still alive in the world of blatant lies and false narratives because of those committed journalists who provide authentic facts and news, despite dangers and insecurity. There are some who have defied those in power and thus paid the price. The Nobel Peace Award given to the two journalists is indeed a recognition and an extension of solidarity to those who dared the state power with countervailing truth to power.
Democracy and rule of law are still alive because of those journalists who sacrificed their lives for truth and better world, while others despite all sorts of onslaughts and yet committed to investigative journalism pursuing truth. Most of the print and visual media have succumbed to the pressures of the government, whereas they are just a few who continue to provide authentic data with deeper analysis by identifying and pointing those be it state actors and others involved. We live in a volatile world.
To set the wrongs right in the society, journalism and journalist play the most important part that calls for huge risks. Nonetheless, there are journalists who take their vocation seriously and thus called for by pursuing a world of justice, peace, equality, freedom and fraternity.
