U2, Maria Ressa. Image: Facebook/U2, Twitter/@mariaressa
Irish rock band U2 has commended Rappler CEO Maria Ressa for winning the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize for 2021 alongside Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced last Friday, Oct. 8, that the two media workers are being awarded the Nobel for their work to protect press freedom and freedom of expression. This makes Ressa the first Filipina recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
The iconic band extended their praises to Ressa and Muratov by showing a moment from their concert in the Philippines back in 2019, where they featured photos of notable female personalities, as seen on their Twitter page yesterday, Oct. 10.
“In the middle of a war on truth, thankful to see the Nobel Committee lift up the truth tellers… journalists who are guarding our democracies, not with weapons, but with their witness and their words,” U2 said.
“Congratulations Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov on winning the Nobel Peace Prize and respect to journalists everywhere who in hostile times are standing firm to, as Maria Ressa said yesterday, ‘win the battle for truth, the battle for facts: we hold the line,'” it added. U2 was quoting Ressa during a live panel discussion for “Social Films for Social Change” when she received a call from the Nobel Committee, as seen on The Guardian, also last Friday
Congratulations @mariaressa and Dmitry Muratov on winning the Nobel Peace Prize and respect to journalists everywhere who in hostile times are standing firm to, as @mariaressa said yesterday, "win the battle for truth, the battle for facts: we hold the line."
— U2 (@U2) October 9, 2021
U2’s 2019 concert was the first one they held in the Philippines, just before the pandemic hit the world. Aside from Ressa, the band also paid tribute to other Filipino women, including revolutionary heroine Melchora Aquino, Broadway icon Lea Salonga and former President Corazon Aquino.
During the show, the band dedicated songs to “truth tellers,” the press.
Ressa and Rappler have faced several charges after publishing stories that are critical of the Duterte administration. She and former researcher-writer Reynaldo Santos Jr. were also the first journalists to be convicted of cyber libel. Ressa claims these cases against her and the news site are politically motivated. JB
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