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An arms race is underway in the information ecosystem, with greedy Internet companies putting toxic turbidity into circulation. This is Maria Ressa, winner of the Peace Prize.
- What we need most today is to reverse this hatred and this violence. This toxic cloudiness that flows through our information ecosystem. The world-famous Filipino journalist emphasized in her Nobel lecture at the Oslo City Hall on Friday.
A killer game
I believe this ecosystem is critical to everything else in the world, and it targets tech giants like Facebook in particular.
- Social media is a deadly game of power and money. These American companies that control our global information ecosystem are giving a distorted picture of the facts, a distorted picture of journalists. They are to divide us and radicalize us. They earn even more by spreading hatred and provoking the worst in us, he says.
Ressa was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize together with a Russian journalist and editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov. This is the first time since 1936 journalists have received the Peace Award.
Nobel laureate Maria Ressa. A decisive turning point
"By awarding this prize to journalists today, the Nobel Committee is signaling that it is a historic moment, a decisive turning point for democracy," says Ressa.
- No facts, no truth. Without truth, there is no trust. Without trust, without common reality, without democracy and then it is impossible to deal with the existential problems that the world is struggling with today: climate, coronavirus and the fight for the truth - says the journalist, who herself received ten arrest warrants issued against her in her home country and faces a sentence of approximately 100 years in prison for journalism.
But she didn't get gagged, she said in a packed hall at Oslo City Hall.
"The harder I was attacked for my journalism, the more determined I became," she said.
Ressa also drew attention to several journalists and colleagues from the Philippines who were harassed, including 23-year-old journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who spent almost two years in prison on alleged false gun allegations.
"Journalists are most at risk," he says.
Better protection and stricter regulations
According to Ressa, the solution is to ensure the survival of independent journalism. Including by helping and protecting journalists more, as well as introducing much stricter regulations on information networks.
At the same time, it makes an appeal to all:
- You must know, what values you are fighting for and draw the line early. If you haven't done it before, do it now, he says.
Source: NTB
Photo: Cornelius Poppe / NTB
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