Rappler CEO Wins Golden Pen of Freedom Award

Maria Ressa during the Black Friday Protest for Press Freedom at the Gen We concert in UP Diliman on January 26. | CMFR File Photo

VETERAN JOURNALIST and Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa was honored on June 6 with the Golden Pen of Freedom, an annual press freedom award by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). Ressa was presented the award during the 70^th World News Media Congress and 25^th World Editors Forum in Cascais, Portugal (“Rappler’s Maria Ressa wins global press freedom award”).

In her acceptance speech, Ressa said the award honors not only Rappler but also “all Filipino journalists”  who are doing their jobs in difficult circumstances,  and those Filipinos “who are holding the line,”  the courageous men and women who are “fighting back” in the face of threats and intimidation. She also called the attention of those in the Philippine government whose choices and compromises “will determine our nation’s  future (“FULL TEXT: Maria Ressa accepts WAN-IFRA Golden Pen of Freedom”).”

David Callaway, World Editors Forum president, described Ressa as “a genuinely courageous journalist, a dedicated media pioneer, and a true believer in the power that the craft of journalism can have” (“Ressa Awarded Golden Pen of Freedom”).

WAN-IFRA is a “global organization of the world’s press” whose mission is to “protect the rights of journalists around the world to operate free media.” WAN-IFRA’s Golden Pen of Freedom is an annual award that recognizes “the outstanding action, in writing or deed, of an individual, a group or an institution in the cause of press freedom.”