Maria Ressa: Leading the Fight for Press Freedom and Democracy

Maria Ressa is a prominent Filipino journalist and CEO of the online news organization Rappler. Born on October 2, 1963, in Manila, Philippines, she has garnered international recognition for her work in journalism and her advocacy for press freedom and human rights.

Ms Ressa moved to the United States with her family in the 1970s after Martial Law was introduced in her home country. She attended Princeton University, New Jersey and graduated in 1986 with an A.B in English(Cum Laude) and a certificate in theatre and dance. Upon her graduation, she returned to the Philippines on a Fulbright fellowship to study political theatre at the University of the Philippines where she also taught courses on journalism.

Ressa began her career in journalism in the Philippines before moving to the United States, where she spent nearly two decades working as a CNN bureau chief in Manila and Jakarta. She covered significant events such as the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War during her time at CNN.

On January 1, 2012, Ms Ressa established Rappler; an online news website based in Manila, alongside three other female founders and a team of 12 journalists. It was known for its investigative journalism and critical coverage of Philippine politics, government policies, and human rights issues. Under her leadership, Rappler gained a reputation for its fearless reporting, often exposing corruption and abuses of power.

Ressa’s work has not been without controversy. She has faced legal challenges and harassment from the Philippine government, particularly under President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. She has been arrested multiple times and has been the subject of various legal cases, including charges of cyber libel and tax evasion, which many observers view as politically motivated attempts to silence independent journalism.

Despite the challenges, Ressa remains a vocal advocate for press freedom and continues to fight for the rights of journalists in the Philippines and around the world. Her efforts have earned her numerous awards and honors, including being named as one of Time magazine’s Persons of the Year in 2018, alongside other journalists recognized as “The Guardians” of truth.

Maria Ressa’s resilience in the face of adversity and her unwavering commitment to journalistic integrity have made her an iconic figure in the global media landscape, inspiring journalists and activists to continue fighting for truth and accountability.

Here’s why we consider her a woman giant;

• The start of her career happened to coincide with the period of a series of demonstrations as her country transitioned from authoritarianism to democracy. She worked for ABS-CBN, a Philippine news and entertainment network and PTV-4, the Philippine government official television Network station.
• She joined CNN working as a foreign correspondent and investigative journalist and soon became CNN’s lead investigative reporter in Southeast Asia. She was the CNN Bureau Chief in Manila from 1987-1995 and bureau chief in Jakarta from 1995-2005. Amongst the major socio-political events she covered during her time with CNN include; six coup attempts, the first Philippine elections, the ratification of the Philippine constitution, the Impeachment trial of Philippine president Joseph Estreda and other major turning point political issues in south-east Asia.
• Ms Ressa was the author-in-residence at the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She also wrote for the Wall street journal and returned to ABS-CBN in 2005 to head their news and current affairs section.
• In 2001, inspired by the September 11 attacks in the United States, Ms Reesa investigated the growth of terrorist groups in Southeast Asia and published her findings in her book Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda’s Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia which was published in 2003. She also wrote about how terrorists weaponised social media platforms to mobilize new followers in her book From Bin Laden to Facebook:10 Days of Abduction, 10 Years of terrorism published in 2013.
• What started as a Facebook page called MovePH, soon became one of the largest news sources in the Philippines. Rappler gained significant attention in 2015 after it exposed the murder of three citizens by the then governor of one of the major cities in the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. In 2016 when he was elected president, Rappler continued to be one of the only media outlets publicly criticising his government and the extrajudicial killings that took place in the country until their licence for the operation was temporarily revoked in 2017 by the Philippine security.
• Despite it all, Rappler has received numerous awards for outstanding journalism. Asides from her Nobel Peace prize, Ressa won an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Investigative Journalism, The Asian Television Awards Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service, the Knight International Journalism Award, Golden Pen Of Freedom Award, Democracy Award for “Disinformation vs. Democracy:Fighting for facts”, Time’s Person of the Year,2018, just to name a few.
• Ms Ressa received the Nobel Peace prize alongside Dmitry Muratov, a Russian journalist; they are both the first journalists to receive the award since 1935.