Today, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded. We followed the award ceremony here at the Peace Institute and were delighted when the winners were announced.
The winners are the journalists Maria Ressa from the Philippines and Dmitrij Muratov from Russia. They are receiving the prize for ‘’their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.” Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chair of the Nobel Committee says also they want to highlight the importance of journalists’ work and how dangerous it can be to exercise freedom of expression.
Maria Ressa is the CEO of the web magazine Rappler and Dmitry Muratov is the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta. The newspaper Novaya Gazeta is known for critically investigating Russian politics.
The Peace Institute’s director Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark commented on the choice of the winners: ”The Nobel Committee combines the importance of the actions of individual journalists with the crucial role of strong independent media”. The director also said that ”All people have the right to express themselves freely. Only through genuine conversations can we solve large and small societal problems”.
