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Friday, March 29, 2024

Ressa wins UN cultural agency press prize

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The UN’s cultural agency on Tuesday awarded its annual press freedom prize to Filipino journalist Maria Ressa.

Ressa, a former Asia lead investigative reporter for US network CNN and head of domestic network ABS-CBN News, now manages the news website Rappler whose reporting has attracted the ire of President Rodrigo Duterte.

She has been involved in many international initiatives to promote press freedom, and arrested several times “for alleged crimes related to the exercise of her profession,” UNESCO said.

She has also been subject to a sustained campaign of gendered online abuse, threats, and harassment, the agency said in a statement.

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At one point she received an average of over 90 hateful messages an hour on Facebook, it said.

“Maria Ressa’s unerring fight for freedom of expression is an example for many journalists around the world,” jury chair Marilu Mastrogiovanni said in the statement.

“Her case is emblematic of global trends that represent a real threat to press freedom, and therefore to democracy,” Mastrogiovanni said.

Ressa, who is 57, was in court last month to deny charges of dodging taxes.

Rappler was three years ago branded a “fake news outlet” by Duterte and Ressa has since been the subject of at least 11 investigations into her business. 

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