THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AWARD CEREMONY

The 2021 edition of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony was held in Oslo, Norway, on Friday, 10th December, 2021 with the Philippines’s Maria Ressa and Russia’s Dmitry Muratov jointly awarded the prestigious award at the architecturally magnificent Oslo City Hall.

Here are four takeaways from the interview session spearheaded by Qatar-based media Group, Al Jazeera.
Both awardees are standouts – As a former CNN reporter covering South – East Asia before Co – Founding the Rappler Newspaper in Philippines which has been fearlessly covering President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial brutal war on drug, Maria Ressa has been a thorn in the flesh of the authorities and she is currently charged with 10 different cases in the country, of which three had been quashed.

Muratov on the other hand has courageously defended free Press in Russia since 1993 when he founded Novaya Gazeta and publishes fiery investigations the government will never want the public to know about among which are Contract Killing of opposition activists in Russia, extra-judicial killings in Chechnya, publication of investigative report detailing the dismemberment of a Syrian detainee by a Russian-based private military contractor, and exposure of 2017 Chechnya anti – gay summary executions by authorities.

Journalism profession remains dangerous. While speaking in an emotional-laden voice during his opening address which made part of the audience to shed tears, Muratov lists six of his Newspaper staff who have been murdered in a cold – blooded manner through sponsored killings including the Novaya’s galactico reporter, Anna Politkovskaya who exposed the Chechnya’s killings. He was gunned down in her Moscow apartment in 2006.

Tribute was also paid to Daphney Caruana, a Malta journalist who died in a highly motivated car bomb killing after publishing nvestigation reports exposing corruption of top government officials.

Authoritarian regimes continue ruthless crackdown on journalists. Speaking during the question and answer session, Dr. Julian Possetti, the global director of research at the International Center for Journalists mentioned China, Egypt, Afghanistan,
Myanmar, and Belarus as the top jailers of journalists globally.

Information warfare and social media weaponization are threats to democracy – Both Maria and Muratov and other discussants agree that information disinformation and social media weaponization are key instruments state actors deploy in manipulating the general public and attacking the reputation of journalists through tech giants who are twisting democracy with their surveillance capitalism.

Moshood Olajide, moshoododunayoolajidemoshood@gmail.com