The Nobel Goes to Fearless, Tireless Journalism

The Nobel Peace Prize 2021 goes to two fearless, tireless fighters. They kept fighting so that the mass manipulation and tyranny of the powerful and rich are exposed; and the masses are left with some chances of living in truth and peace.

As a teaching faculty in the department  of Mass Media I have the privilege of attending talks, webinars, and interactions by eminent and not so eminent journalists and media practitioners. Yesterday, for example, we had a webinar on ‘Women in Media’ by Sandhya Menon, who passionately and with great detail spoke about her call as a journalist, and her beginnings as a news reporter. She completed her talk and it was time for interaction and questions. And this time too, with no exception to other times, the same question was asked in apprehension and fear by the journalism students, ‘what are the major challenges we encounter as journalists today? And how do we face them? Answer to the first question is easy because there are depressingly plenty of challenges: from personal risks to fighting fake news to abuse of power and mass manipulation. Most serious and genuine journalists pause before answering the second question, because there are no easy answers. The sentences go shorter. The often-heard answer is fight, do not compromise, you often know that you will not succeed, yet go down fighting.

Journalists today, on the one hand, are in the best of times because of the technological advancements and the ease of conducting business; but on the other hand, these are terrifyingly difficult times for journalists because of the obstacles and hurdles involved in reporting facts and speaking truth to power. Around the world, a new generation of authoritarian and populist leaders is leading a concerted and intentional assault on truth, with serious consequences for journalists.

Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov

It is at these confusing and bewildered times the Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace. Maria Ressa has faced multiple criminal charges for the way her news website Rappler has challenged the rule of President Rodrigo Duterte. Dmitri Muratov, though his newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, has been a persistent critic of President Vladimir V. Putin. Both have worked under governments that use a range of methods — from repressive legislation to arrests, torture and even killing. 2020 saw the highest number of journalists being imprisoned since 1992. Journalists like Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov were committed to exposing corruption, documenting abuse and combatting misinformation. With this not so common Nobel Peace Prize to Journalists the famous lines of Ressa will be echoed again “We are journalists, and we will not be intimidated. We will shine the light. We will hold the line.”

Maria Ressa’s Battle for Truth  in the Digital Age 

One of the early realisations of Maria Ressa about Philippines, her country and about other manipulative regimes is that “If you can make people believe lies are the facts then you can control them.” Most authoritarian rulers and regimes do it comfortably theses days with the help of mass media, especially social media. They go after facts, destroy facts and rip democracies apart. Ressa acknowledges the three typical steps involved in this tragedy:

1. You lie. Not once but repeatedly. When we say a lie a million times, it replaces truth. The manipulative regimes flood the society with lies, false news, and disinformation.

2. Keep accusing. Keep saying that it is your opponents and the journalists who are lying; and create an ‘us against them’ narrative. Ressa talks about ‘Patriotic trolling’: it is a state-sponsored online hate and harassment campaign to silence and intimidate.

3. At some point everyone looks around and says, “what is truth? There is no truth. This is the point where the manipulative regimes begin their victory parade.

With this resistance becomes impossible and the game is over. With this the role  of serious honest journalists become harder and unkind. How do we fight back, when the government and other powerful people succeed in spreading lies? Ressa categorically says, fight back with data; fight back by discovering and knowing what reality is, and tirelessly and fearlessly making them known to others.

Fighting Back with Data

Without facts/data we cannot have truth; without truth we cannot have trust. Without these three valuable components, democracies as we know are dead. What do we do as journalists? Start with your area of influence, says Ressa, first tell your family and friends; begin by taking care of what is in front of us. In whatever capacity possible, demand accountability from power; stand up against bullies; and report lies. Lies travel faster; facts are kind of boring. Have patience. Slowly but surely, we will find others gathering courage around us, because courage is contagious.

In the Philippines, the Internet largely exists on Facebook, because the platform offers free data through its mobile application. Ressa’s re- porters exposed dozens of fake and spam-heavy accounts of the president Rodrigo Duterte’s supporters. They had systematically manipulated the online discourses to fit their narrative; and the sad fact is that the common people slowly had mistakenly taken it for reality. For all the works done by Ressa and her team, she and those worked with her were subjected to an on- line hate campaign and multiple arrests. Maria Ressa, in spite of multiple arrests and retentions says with charisma, “We know it’s a tough time to be a journalist. But I think what strengthens all of us is that there is probably no better time to be a journalist, because this is when we live our values and we live our mission.”

Governments, establishments and people, both left and right, have issues with the growing power of Media, especially the digital social media. The conservative right wing governments fear that these platforms provide systemic support and encourage free speech and freedom of expression. The more liberal, left wing governments fear that these digital social media platforms give room for fragile data privacy and fake news propagation. Journalism in the age of digital social media and growing authoritarian populism is a constant challenge to promote truth; and hold on to it.

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