Well not all heroes wear capes. Some work behind the
scenes fighting tirelessly for freedom, Justice and
peace often times in the face of danger. Yes, that's
right this morning. We have a very special guest with
us. She is a journalist awarded for her cour
fight for press freedom in the Philippines. She's also
this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner. Maria Ressa joins
us now, Maria thanks so much for being with us. Uh
first of all, very big congratulations to you. You hav
to tell us what was going through your mind when yo
got that phone call and you found out that you won the
2021 Nobel Peace Prize uh stunned. You know, I think I
just kept saying I was speechless, but at that moment
actually I was on live uh and I was on with the editors
in chief of two other news groups in Southeast Asia
that were, that were fighting oppression, You know,
is malaysiakini steven Gan had also been to court and
temple, so a refill Keithley. So it was, I'm still
stunned. I would be too if I were you can be stunned
for years and years. You deserve all of that. So Maria,
when we think, you know, as journalists, when we see
what's going on in other countries, we say, what would
we do in that situation I mean you face so much danger
in so much pushback. I mean even from the Philippine
president um which is really scary. So where do you get
that courage and how do you continue to do this day in
and day out looking for justice I think about it as
just putting one ft in front of the other, right
Because it's been in 2016, we demanded an end to
impunity on two fronts, President Duterte and this
brutal drug war and Mark Zuckerberg and facebook. And I
think it was only later that I realized that oh my gosh,
these are very powerful groups and leaders, right Um In
less than two years, I received 10 arrest warrants.
This is my 35th year as a journalist. I've never liv
through anything like it. I'm so happy for you, you
know where you are. I think in terms of what this means
for all of us as journalists. So that's the part
that I'm. that makes me hopeful, The Nobel Committee
chose to shine the light on journalists at a critical
moment. I mean, think about it the last time a
journalist won the Nobel Peace Prize was over 80 years
ago, 85, years ago and he languished in a Nazi
concentration camp. So this is that kind of moment. And
I think that's because there is a battle for facts,
right You guys feel this in the United States as well.
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I is a battle of her
facts, which is how you've really explained your wo
and you are known for your investigative work. So tak
us through some of the challeng that you do face on a
daily basis, I think, you know, it goes hand in hand
and the same thing that happens in the Philippines
happens in the United States, which is bottom up,
exponential attacks that almost act like fertilizer.
All of this happens on social media, you know, keep in
mind that the world's largest distribution platform f
news is facebook and these are determined by algorit
so alive, told a million times on social media comes
bottom up and then that is repeated, top down an
example for me as journalists equals criminal Liv
a million times in 2016 that in 2017 president Duterte
says the same thing in a state of the nation address
about a week later I get my first subpoena rapper ge
its first subpoena a year later. We get our cases are
court cases and then I get I start getting arrested in
2019. Same thing in the United States with january six.
If you look at the violence on Capitol Hill, the m
narrative for stop the steal was seated a year earlier
on R.T. And then, you know, amplified, it was picked
by steve Bannon on Youtube distributed in closed p
and then um uh tucker Carlson and Fox picks it up then
too and on. And then President trump top down. So th
is how democracy dies by 1000 cuts. You know, and that
is such a good visual, 1000 cuts there because it's no
just one person, one event, it is Built up things and
you know, that is such an interesting parallel, y
know, to where you are from and where you were being
sought after in a negative way. You know, just for
doing your job and here in the United States, where
that is something that we praise ourselves on the
freedom of the press, right Um, but we set a stat
before the break that I want you to hear almost 1000
Nobel prizes have been awarded, fewer than 60 have gone
to women in my goodness. I mean, hearing that I get
emotional thinking about you and just how much this
means to you. But what do you think it means to all the
little girls that are watching this morning or their
moms that are watching this morning I think for
Filipinos, it's huge. Um in that sense, right And that,
that also that I'm a journalist and the woman become
other dimensions of it. I I think we've always known
that the glass ceiling will break. It's just taking a
little bit longer. You know, we gotta push harder. Um,
but beyond that, I think, you know, the, what I would
say, little girls, is that right now, especially afte
the coronavirus, I hope soon, you know, the world is
the world as we know it is over, we are standing on the
rubble of the world that was and this is a time when we
can create so go the world you imagine in your head go
out and make it happen and definitely wear shoes for
when those glass ceilings break and shatter right
You're such as you're such an inspiration Maria. Do you
think that this award will change the public's
perception of the media at all And what do you think
this means for journalism today I think for journalists
it signals that we're not alone and that the battle for
facts is difficult. But unfortunately, I I believe that
we have lost our gatekeeping powers. I know you're you
we look polished, we have an audience but these
algorithmic distribution is par of what needs to
change. So I believe I've long said this. If you don't
have facts because right now research has shown that a
lie told a million times on social media becomes a fact.
If you don't have facts, you can't have truth. If you
don't have truth, you can't have trust if you don't
have any of these three democracy as we know it. In
fact any meaningful human endeavor becomes impossib
without trust in the room. Nothing is possible. Mari
ressa, congratulations again, T you for all the
work that you do. Please do come back again and visit
us. There is such an inspiration. The first of many,
the first Filipino to win a nobel Peace Prize. One of
the only woman. In fact the only one woman to win this
year. You know, amazing Thank you Maria hats off to you.