Club leaders raise glass to Nobel journalists at Taco Night
National Press Club leaders toasted journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for winning the Nobel Peace Prize at the Club’s Taco Night on Friday, Oct. 8.
Ressa, chief executive of the investigative news site Rappler, and Muratov, editor-in-chief of the independent Russian newspaper Novaja Gazeta, were honored for their “courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia,” the Nobel Committee said in a statement. “At the same time, they are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions.”
Ressa won the Club’s John Aubuchon Freedom of the Press Award in 2020. Ressa and Rappler have been the target of repeated efforts by the Philippine government to silence her.
Club President Lisa Nicole Matthews and National Journalism Institute President Angela Greiling Keane both congratulated the journalists in a brief Taco Night ceremony.
“In recent years journalists have been called every name in the book – Fake News, enemies of the people and worse,” Matthews said. “Look, we all know we are not that. But when the Nobel Committee comes out and says what it thinks we are…essential to a free society, that is significant,” Matthews said. “It’s something special and unique and a moment to celebrate.”
After the Club wait staff passed out champagne flutes to Taco Night attendees, Matthews asked them to raise their glasses.
“To Maria and Demitry, two brave journalists who today helped the Noble Prize Committee show to the world what journalism means and why it is vital to all people everywhere,” Matthews said.
Matthews also read a statement from her predecessor, former Club President Michael Freedman, who was in office when the Club selected Ressa for the Aubuchon Award.
“We are often asked whether there are any Edward R. Murrows or Walter Cronkites currently in our midst,” Freedman said in the statement. “The Nobel Committee helped answer that question today with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to editors Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia -- two crusading journalists who continue to fight for a free and fair press under the oppressive eyes of authoritarian governments.”
In reference to the Ressa’s winning the Club’s press freedom award, Freedman added, “We knew then what more people around the world will know now … that Maria represents all that is right and good about our profession … and the vital role of the press in a free society.”
Earlier this year during a Club virtual event on World Press Freedom Day, Ressa spoke about her fight for press freedom in the Philippines and around the world.