Maria Ressa, a courageous journalist in the Philippines who has fought to hold the regime of President Rodrigo Duterte accountable in the face of questionable legal cases aimed at imprisoning her and shutting down her news organization, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. The Press Freedom Defense Fund, of which I am the director, has been proud to provide Ressa with financial assistance and help pay her legal bills since 2017.
The Press Freedom Defense Fund, a unit of First Look Institute, of which The Intercept is also a part, began providing financial help to Ressa in the early days of her fight with the Duterte regime, at a time when her fate, and that of her news organization, Rappler, were in doubt. The Press Freedom Defense Fund has continued to provide financial assistance to Ressa ever since.
She shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Russian journalist Dmitri A. Muratov. Both were honored for their work on the front lines of the global fight for press freedom and freedom of expression.
Rappler, the Philippines-based news site that Ressa founded, first earned the enmity of the Duterte regime by exposing the government’s brutal drug war, and Ressa went on to combat disinformation spread by the regime. Duterte and his government targeted Ressa and Rappler with a blizzard of criminal and civil cases, including multiple arrest warrants, designed to overwhelm her and stop her from fighting back. In one frivolous case last year, she was arrested, found guilty of criminal cyber libel, and subjected to travel restrictions. She has fought back in the courts, while still keeping Rappler running.
Ressa said early Friday that the prize was a recognition of how “difficult it is to be a journalist today.”
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
This is not hyperbole.
Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.
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IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
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I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
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Trump Called Rodrigo Duterte to Congratulate Him on His Murderous Drug War: “You Are Doing an Amazing Job”
Filipinos Just Elected Rodrigo Duterte, Their Version of Trump, as President
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