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Maria Ressa

Maria Angelita Ressa (Tagalog pronunciation: [ˈɾesa]; born Maria Angelita Delfin Aycardo on October 2, 1963) is a Filipino and American journalist. She is the co-founder and CEO of Rappler.[1] She previously spent nearly two decades working as a lead investigative reporter in Southeast Asia for CNN.[2] She will become Professor of Professional Practice in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University on July 1, 2024, and has been a Distinguished Fellow at Columbia's new Institute of Global Politics since fall of 2023.[3]

Maria Ressa

Maria Angelita Delfin Aycardo

(1963-10-02) October 2, 1963
Manila, Philippines
  • Filipino
  • American

  • Journalist
  • author

Co-founding Rappler

Ressa was born in Manila and raised in Toms River, New Jersey. She was included in Time's Person of the Year 2018 issue featuring a collection of journalists from around the world actively combating fake news. On February 13, 2019, she was arrested by Philippine authorities for cyberlibel due to accusations that Rappler published a false news story concerning businessman Wilfredo Keng. On June 15, 2020, a court in Manila found her guilty of cyberlibel[4][5] under the controversial Anti-Cybercrime law,[6][7] a move condemned by human rights groups and journalists as an attack on press freedom.[8][9][10] As she is a prominent critic of the then Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, her arrest and conviction was seen by many in the opposition and the international community as a politically motivated act by Duterte's government.[11][12][13] Ressa is one of the 25 leading figures on the Information and Democracy Commission launched by Reporters Without Borders.[14] She was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Dmitry Muratov for "their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace."[15][16][17]

Early life[edit]

Ressa was born in Manila in October 1963.[18] Ressa's father Phil Sunico Aycardo, a Chinese-Filipino, died when she was one year old. She grew up speaking only Tagalog and studied at St. Scholastica's College in Manila. Her mother Hermelina then moved to the United States, leaving Ressa and her sister with their father's family, but would visit her two children frequently.[19] Subsequently, her mother married an Italian-American man named Peter Ames Ressa and returned to the Philippines. She brought both of her children to New Jersey, United States when Ressa was ten years old. Ressa was adopted by her stepfather and she took his last name.[20] Her parents then relocated to Toms River, New Jersey, where she went to Toms River High School North, a public school nearby. Ressa had to learn the English language, and by high school stood out as a member of the Theater Guild and student council.


Her yearbook profile included her dreams to set out and conquer the world.[21][22][23][24] Ressa was an undergraduate student at Princeton University, where she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English and certificates in theater and dance in 1986.[25][26][27][28] She completed a 77-page-long senior thesis titled "Sagittarius" that was an allegorical play about Philippine politics.[29][30] She then was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study political theater at the University of the Philippines Diliman where she also taught several journalism courses as a faculty member in the university.[31][32]

In 2010, proclaimed Ressa the Philippines' "sexiest woman alive", explaining: "Despite her size, fearless enough to write an eyewitness account of Al-Qaeda".[99]

Esquire

In 2015, the awarded Ressa with an Excellence in Broadcasting Lifetime Achievement award at the 29th PMPC Star Awards for Television.[100]

Philippine Movie Press Club

In 2016, she was listed as one of the eight most influential and powerful leaders in the Philippines by .[101]

Kalibrr

In November 2017, Ressa, as the CEO of news organization Rappler, accepted the 2017 Democracy Award awarded by the to three organizations at its annual Democracy Award Dinner in Washington, D.C., entitled "Disinformation vs. Democracy: Fighting for Facts".[102]

National Democratic Institute

In May 2018, Ressa received the Knight International Journalism Awards, where she was described as "an intrepid editor and media innovator who holds a spotlight to the Philippine government’s bloody war on drugs."

[103]

In June 2018, Ressa received the 's Golden Pen of Freedom Award for her work with Rappler.[104]

World Association of Newspapers

In November 2018, the awarded Ressa with the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award in "recognition of her journalistic courage in the face of persistent official harassment."[105]

Committee to Protect Journalists

In December 2018, she was included in 's Person of the Year 2018, as one of "The Guardians", a number of journalists from around the world combating the "War on Truth".[106][107] Ressa is the second Filipino to receive the title after former President Corazon Aquino in 1986.

Time

In February 2019, Ressa received the together with Bishop Pablo Virgilio Ambo David from the Tañada-Diokno College of Law at De La Salle University and the Jose W. Diokno Foundation, as presented by Dean Chel Diokno.[108]

Ka Pepe Diokno Human Rights Award

In April 2019, she was included in Time's .[109]

100 Most Influential People in the World

In May 2019, Ressa won the Columbia Journalism Award from the , the school's highest honor, "for the depth and quality of her work, as well as her courage and persistence in the field."[110]

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

In June 2019, Ressa received the 's Tribute honour, which recognizes a journalist who has made an impact on the international stage.[111]

Canadian Journalism Foundation

In October 2019, Ressa was named on the BBC's list of .[112]

100 Women

In April 2021, Ressa won the .[113]

UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize

In November 2022, Ressa received an honorary degree from MacEwan University in Edmonton, AB, Canada.

[114]

In June 2023, Ressa received an honorary degree in sociology from the after giving the commencement speech[115]

Ateneo de Manila University

In 2024, Ressa was named 2024 commencement speaker [116]

Harvard

Personal life[edit]

Ressa is openly lesbian.[120]

Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda's Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia. The Free Press. 2003.  978-0743251334.

ISBN

From Bin Laden to Facebook: 10 Days of Abduction, 10 Years of Terrorism. Imperial College Press. 2013. ISBN 978-1908979537.

How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future. Harper. 2022.  978-0063257511.

ISBN

– the rule applied in the aforementioned case

Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

List of Nobel laureates affiliated with Princeton University

List of Filipino Nobel laureates and nominees

List of Nobel laureates

, a 2020 documentary film about the Philippine drug war and corruption, repression and violence under the regime of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, featuring Ressa and her journalistic work and struggles in the Philippines.

We Hold the Line

, a 2020 documentary film about Ressa and her journalistic work and struggles in the Philippines.

A Thousand Cuts

Official website

Profile at Rappler

on Nobelprize.org

Maria Ressa

on C-SPAN

Appearances