By receiving the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, the Filipino journalist Maria Ressa launched a virulent attack against the American technology giants, guilty according to her of letting out of greed spill “toxic mud” on social networks.
Co-founder of the Rappler news site, Ms. Ressa received the prestigious award at Oslo City Hall together with Russian Dmitri Muratov, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, a rare still independent newspaper in a largely controlled media landscape in Russia.
In front of a small audience, COVID obliges, the Filipino journalist of 58 years attacked the “American companies of the Internet” like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, without naming them explicitly.
These American companies […] are angry with the facts, angry with the journalists. By nature, they divide us and radicalize us.
“With its almost divine power,” she said, their technology “allowed the virus of lies to infect each of us, pitting us against each other, bringing out our fears, anger and hatred, and paving the way for the rise of authoritarian rulers and dictators ”.
“Our greatest need today is to transform this hate and violence, the toxic sludge that runs through our information ecosystem, favored by American Internet companies that make more money as they spread this information. hatred and trigger what is worst in us, ”she said.
Under the gaze of members of the Norwegian royal family protected by sanitary masks, Ms. Ressa stressed the importance of reliable information in times of pandemic or elections, such as those to be announced next year in the Philippines, but also in France, the United States and Hungary.
“These American companies […] are angry with the facts, angry with the journalists. By nature, they divide us and radicalize us, ”she underlined.
Our greatest need today is to transform this hate and violence, the toxic sludge that runs through our information ecosystem, favored by American Internet companies that make more money as they spread this hate. and trigger what is worst in us
At the helm of Rappler, a very critical site of the Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, Ms. Ressa is the subject of seven legal proceedings in her country which, according to her, could earn her a total of a hundred years in prison.
Convicted of defamation last year but on parole, she was forced to ask four courts for permission to seek her Nobel.
“Let journalists die old”
Its 60-year-old co-laureate, Mr Muratov, observed a moment of silence for reporters killed in the exercise of their profession.
“I want journalists to die old,” he proclaimed.
Known for his investigations into corruption and human rights abuses in Chechnya, Novaya Gazeta has seen six of his collaborators killed since the 1990s, including famous journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered in 2006.
“Journalism in Russia is going through a dark period,” said the editor-in-chief, referring to the hundreds of journalists, media, human rights defenders and NGOs classified as “foreign agents” by the Russian ministry of Justice.
I want journalists to die old.
Supposed to target those who receive “foreign funding” and carry out “political activity”, the status of “foreign agent” is often attributed to critics of the Kremlin, a designation which greatly complicates their activity.
Even if he accepts half of the check for 10 million crowns (1.4 million Canadian dollars) from the Nobel Peace Prize and if Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the prize is not a “shield” , Mouratov said he was hopeful of escaping this infamous status.
“I think that in the 30 years of our newspaper’s existence, we have done so many positive things for the country that to declare ourselves ‘foreign agents’ would be bad for the power of our country” and “would be something stupid thing, ”he said in an interview with AFP.
Record number of jailed journalists
As of December 1, at least 1,636 journalists had been killed on the planet in 20 years, according to a report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), including 46 since the start of 2021.
Meanwhile, with 293 reporters behind bars, the number of journalists imprisoned around the world has never been higher, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
“Reporting information to the public can in itself prevent war,” stressed the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen. “The role of the press is to lift the veil on aggression and abuse of power, and thus to contribute to peace. “
The Oslo ceremony also saw the head of the World Food Program (WFP), David Beasley, deliver the Nobel acceptance speech awarded last year to the UN humanitarian agency. In 2020, the festivities were canceled due to the pandemic.
For the same reasons, the winners of the other 2021 Nobels (medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics), usually awarded to Stockholm, have all already received them this week in their countries of residence.
However, a ceremony in their honor took place at the town hall of the Swedish capital, in the presence of 300 guests, including the royal family.