Maria Ressa

Maria Angelita Ressa (Tagalog pronunciation: [ˈɾesa]; née Delfin Aycardo; born October 2, 1963) is a Filipino and American journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She is the co-founder and CEO of Rappler. She previously spent nearly two decades working as a lead investigative reporter in Southeast Asia for CNN. She has been a distinguished fellow at Columbia University's new Institute of Global Politics since 2023 and a professor of professional practice in Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs since July 2024.

Ressa was born in Manila and raised in Toms River, New Jersey. She was included in Time's Person of the Year 2018 issue featuring a collection of journalists from around the world actively combatting fake news. On February 13, 2019, she was arrested by Philippine authorities for cyberlibel due to accusations that Rappler published a false news story concerning businessman Wilfredo Keng. On June 15, 2020, a court in Manila found her guilty of cyberlibel under the controversial Anti-Cybercrime law, a move condemned by human rights groups and journalists as an attack on press freedom. As a prominent critic of the then Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, her arrest and conviction were seen by many in the opposition and the international community as a politically motivated act. Ressa is one of the 25 leading figures on the Information and Democracy Commission launched by Reporters Without Borders. She was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Dmitry Muratov for "their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace."

Maria Angelita Ressa (originally named Maria Angelita Delfin Aycardo) was born in Manila, Philippines, on October 2, 1963. Ressa's father, Manuel Phil Aycardo III, died when she was one year old. She studied at St. Scholastica's College in Manila. Her mother, Hermelina, then moved to the United States, leaving Ressa and her sister with the paternal grandmother, with occasional visits. Subsequently, her mother married an Italian-American man named Peter Ames Ressa and returned to the Philippines. She brought both of her children to New Jersey when Ressa was 10 years old. Ressa was adopted by her stepfather and she took his last name.

Her parents then relocated to Toms River, New Jersey, where she went to Toms River High School North, a public school. Though she barely spoke English when she moved to New Jersey, she went on to be a three-time president of her high school class and a performer in school plays. The school named its newly renovated auditorium after her in 2021.

Ressa's yearbook profile included her dream to conquer the world. Ressa studied at Princeton University, where she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English and certificates in theater and dance in 1986. Her 77-page-long senior thesis titled "Sagittarius" was an allegorical play about Philippine politics.

She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study political theater at the University of the Philippines Diliman where she also taught several journalism courses as a faculty member.

Ressa's first job was at government station PTV 4. She then co-founded independent production company Probe in 1987, and simultaneously served as CNN's bureau chief in Manila until 1995. She then ran CNN's Jakarta bureau from 1995 to 2005. As CNN's lead investigative reporter in Asia for nearly 20 years, she specialized in investigating terrorist networks.

She became an author-in-residence at the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) of Nanyang Technological University's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

From 2004, Ressa headed the news division of ABS-CBN, while also writing for CNN and The Wall Street Journal. In September 2010, she wrote a piece for The Wall Street Journal criticising the then president Benigno Aquino III handling of the bus hostage crisis. This piece was published two weeks before Aquino's official visit to the United States. Speculations were rife that this, among other reasons, finally led to Ressa leaving the company in 2010, after deciding not to renew her contract.

Ressa has taught courses in politics and the press in Southeast Asia for Princeton University, and broadcast journalism for the University of the Philippines Diliman.

She is a fellow at the Initiative on the Digital Economy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a 2021 Joan Shorenstein Fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and Hauser Leader at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School. She has been a distinguished fellow at Columbia University's new Institute of Global Politics since fall of 2023, where she leads projects related to artificial intelligence (AI) and democracy. In July 2024, she became a professor of professional practice at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs.

Ressa has won an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Investigative Journalism, the Asian Television Awards, TOWNS – Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service (Philippines) and TOYM Philippines.

In 2010, Esquire proclaimed Ressa the Philippines' "sexiest woman alive," explaining: "Despite her size, fearless enough to write an eyewitness account of Al-Qaeda."

In 2015, the Philippine Movie Press Club awarded Ressa with an Excellence in Broadcasting Lifetime Achievement award at the 29th PMPC Star Awards for Television.

In 2016, she was listed as one of the eight most influential and powerful leaders in the Philippines by Kalibrr.

In November 2017, Ressa, as the CEO of news organization Rappler, accepted the 2017 Democracy Award awarded by the National Democratic Institute to three organizations at its annual Democracy Award Dinner in Washington, D.C., entitled "Disinformation vs. Democracy: Fighting for Facts".

In May 2024, US Congresswoman Elise Stefanik accused her of antisemitism for a Rappler editorial that likened Israel to Hitler. Ressa cofounded Rappler in 2012 and leads it as CEO. An earlier comment Ressa made about "money and power" was also criticized by a Harvard Rabbi. Ressa has forcefully denied the antisemitism allegations.

Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda's Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia. The Free Press. 2003. ISBN 978-0743251334.

From Bin Laden to Facebook: 10 Days of Abduction, 10 Years of Terrorism. Imperial College Press. 2013. ISBN 978-1908979537.

How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future. Harper. 2022. ISBN 978-0063257511.