“The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature. Due to its political nature, the Nobel Peace Prize has, for most of its history, been the subject of numerous controversies.”
For what it’s worth, Maria Ressa winning the Nobel Peace Prize isn’t really that big a deal. The political nature of the prize itself is enough to dampen its credibility. Remember how the late former President Noynoy Aquino was supposedly in line for the prize when he was able to close the peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) only to be out of the running after the Mamasapano fiasco.
Several controversial awards through history had already been cast under scrutiny, most notably former US President Barack Obama’s when it was obvious that he had actually done nothing to advance the cause of world peace. The same is true with Rappler CEO Maria Ressa. Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo received the prize in 2010. Liu also received funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a think-tank that is identified with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
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It isn’t fair also to categorize the Philippines under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte as “authoritarian”. The plain and simple truth is there is the tendency of Western think-tanks advocating liberal and neoliberal ideologies to conduct a coordinated disinformation campaign against regimes which they deem to be against their agenda. It is well-known that Rappler has received funding from the Omidyar Network. If objective reportage is really the goal, then why has not one media outfit in the Philippines done an in-depth investigative report as to how Rappler manages to continue operations without turning a profit since its founding in 2012? It has even been on a hiring binge adding staff and senior journalists such as Inday Espina Varona from ABS-CBN and John Nery from the Inquirer.
Rappler hasn’t given the public an objective view of the issues as it has now become an exclusive propaganda mouthpiece for the political Opposition. It has made a mockery of constitutional restrictions on media ownership and has crossed the line several times by making unsubstantiated claims against individuals it deems to be administration allies. As a “fact-checker”, Rappler conveniently keeps to its own version of the “facts”. There is no distinction at all between what is truly fact and what is propaganda in aid of the Opposition’s cause.
Maria Ressa and her local allies are ideological soulmates — leftist-liberal wokes who don’t tolerate differences in opinion, who resort to cancel culture, and look with disdain on those who don’t subscribe to their advocacies which only the educated elite identify with. The timing of the award is suspect as it is election season in the Philippines. This is meant to make Maria Ressa a symbol and a rallying point for the political Opposition in its time of dire need as Filipinos have shown they’re past the point where they would consider voting for the “icons” of “freedom and democracy” which the combined liberals and leftist-liberal-militants stand for. Nothing can change the fact though, that in the grand scheme of things, Maria Ressa is nothing but a pawn. She is just a piece on the geopolitical chessboard.
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What’s next? They’ll have Leni Robredo on the cover of TIME magazine? It instantly paints a good image so the opponent is automatically the evil one.
Will change.org be able to correct this, Sir Ortoll? Or diplomatic complaint against Norway. China got them to at least formally apologize for a 2010 award. We may not have as much clout as them, but at least they left us a precedent.
Maria Ressa, a Filipino-American journalist, has won the Nobel Peace Prize. She worked for many years for CNN. In May 1998, she reported on the riots in Indonesia which led to the fall of President Suharto. She reported that the riots were spontaneous events involving some students and some of the poor. She DID NOT report that these events were the work of the CIA and its friends. Why did #MariaRessa not mention the #CIA and its friends?