In light of Maria Ressa’s Nobel Peace Prize win, we're looking back at some of her most impactful quotes, on the importance of a free press, the role of journalism and more. 

1. “The mission of journalism has never been needed as much as it is now.”––speaking to CNN about press freedom in November 2018. 

2. “Don't be afraid - if you don't exercise your rights, you will lose them.”––in a public statement after her conviction for libel in June 2020. 

3. “If the social media platforms don't take the gatekeeping seriously they will kill the public sphere. If we don't get this right in 2020 you can open a decade or longer of a descent into fascism. And it will be global because platforms are global.”––speaking to The Guardian in February 2020. 

4. “I don't think we have wrapped our heads around how much technology has allowed the manipulation of individuals and democracies.”––speaking to the Financial Times in August 2019. 

5. “What are the values that give meaning? What is the line that you will never cross, because on this side you're good, and on this side you're evil.”––quoted from Maria Ressa's 2019 TIME 100 gala speech.

6. “I think that social media platforms and technology have been the accelerator for the push for the populist-style administrations in democratically elected presidents.”––from PBS's 2019 documentary, The Facebook Dilemma.

7. “Press freedom is not just about journalists, right? It's not just about us, it's not just about me, it's not just about Rappler. Press freedom is... the foundation of every single right of every single Filipino to the truth, so that we can hold the powerful to account.”––in a Rappler online feature from May 2021. 

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