Maria Ressa receives Nobel prize, hits social media giants for ‘toxic sludge’

OSLO, Norway - Champion of press freedom Maria Ressa on Friday said there was "no brighter light" than the Nobel Peace Prize and told AFP that her award was "for all journalists".

"Oh my God, no, never, never," the 58-year-old journalist, co-founder of the news website Rappler, told AFP in an interview when asked if she had expected to win the Prize, which she formally receives on Friday.

"Up until today, from the time I was told... You know that painting 'The Scream'," she said, describing her feelings as she brought her hands to her face, mimicking the figure in the painting by Norway's Edvard Munch.

Ressa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in early October, together with Russia's Dimitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, for "their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression."

The two investigative journalists, facing pressure from authorities in their respective countries, received the prestigious award on Friday at a small ceremony at Oslo's City Hall at 1 pm (1200 GMT).

"This Nobel light is blinding," Ressa said.

"There's no brighter light than this," she added.

"It's for all journalists around the world. We've seen the decline in terms of the quality of journalism, the safety of journalist and then the quality of democracies over the last decade," she said.

Ressa, whose website is highly critical of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, is the subject of seven lawsuits in her country, that she says risk putting her in jail for 100 years.

Currently on parole, pending an appeal after being convicted of defamation last year, she needed to ask four courts for permission to be able to travel and collect her Nobel in person.

"It was never an option," she replied when asked if she considered life in exile.

"If I were to leave at a time when (our work) is most necessary, then I wouldn't be who I am or I would be far weaker than I thought I was," she said.

An election to find a successor to Duterte is scheduled in the Philippines on May 9.

'Toxic sludge'

Accepting her award, Ressa launched a vitriolic attack against American tech giants, accusing them of fuelling a flood of "toxic sludge" on social media.

Ressa attacked the technology industry which "has allowed a virus of lies to infect each of us, pitting us against each other, bringing out our fears, anger and hate, and setting the stage for the rise of authoritarians and dictators around the world."

"Our greatest need today is to transform that hate and violence, the toxic sludge that's coursing through our information ecosystem, prioritized by American internet companies that make more money by spreading that hate and triggering the worst in us," she said.

"What happens on social media doesn’t stay on social media. Online violence is real world violence," Ressa added.

Ressa said facts and truth were at the heart of solving the biggest challenges facing society today.

"Without facts, you can't have truth. Without truth, you can't have trust. Without trust, we have no shared reality, no democracy, and it becomes impossible to deal with our world's existential problems: climate, coronavirus, the battle for truth." — Agence France-Presse