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2019 Shorenstein Journalism Award Recipient Maria Ressa to Headline Award Panel Discussion
Maria Ressa, winner of the 2019 Shorenstein Award, is an internationally-esteemed journalist and CEO and executive editor of Rappler, a Philippine independent news platform known for its critical investigative reporting on the Duterte administration’s policies and actions. President Duterte has made no secret of his dislike for Rappler, publicly accusing the platform for carrying “fake news.” Ressa has been arrested twice this year, accused of corporate tax evasion and of violating security laws, and slapped with charges of cyber libel for a report that was published before the libel law came into effect. The international community sees the allegations as politically motivated attempts by the government to silence Ressa and Rappler.
In her keynote address at this 2019 Shorenstein Journalism Award panel discussion, Ressa will talk about her crusade to combat fake news, the devastating effect disinformation has had on democracy and societal cohesion in the Philippines, and the battle for truth in the digital age.
Chaired by Shorenstein APARC Southeast Asia Program Director Donald K. Emmerson, the discussion will include remarks by Larry Diamond, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, and Raju Narisetti, Director, Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism, Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia Journalism School.
The event will conclude with a short Q&A session. Follow us on Twitter and use the hashtag #SJA19 to join the conversation.
Panelists:
Maria Ressa is the CEO and executive editor of
Rappler, one of the leading online news organizations in the Philippines. Ressa has been a journalist in Asia for more than 30 years and has been honored around the world for her courageous and bold work in fighting disinformation, “fake news” and attempts to silence the free press. In 2018, she was named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" and won the prestigious Golden Pen of Freedom Award from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, the Knight International Journalism Award of the International Center for Journalists, the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Journalist of Courage and Impact Award of East-West Center, and the IX International Press Freedom Award of University of Málaga and UNESCO, among others.
She was CNN’s bureau chief in Manila then Jakarta, and became CNN’s lead investigative reporter focusing on terrorism in Southeast Asia. In 2005, she managed ABS-CBN News and Current affairs, the largest multi-platform news operation in the Philippines. Her work aimed to redefine journalism by combining traditional broadcast, new media and mobile phone technology for social change.
Ressa is the author of two books — From Bin Laden to Facebook (2012), which traces the spread of terrorism from the training camps of Afghanistan to Southeast Asia and the Philippines, and Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda’s Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia (2003).
Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University, professor, by courtesy, of political science and sociology, and principal investigator at the Global Digital Policy Incubator within FSI’s Cyber Policy Center. He also codirects the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy at FSI’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law.
Diamond is the founding coeditor of the Journal of Democracy and serves as senior consultant at the International Forum for Democratic Studies of the National Endowment for Democracy. His research focuses on democratic trends and conditions around the world and on policies and reforms to defend and advance democracy. His most recent book, Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency, analyzes the challenges confronting liberal democracy in the US and around the world at this potential “hinge in history,” and offers an agenda for strengthening and defending democracy at home and abroad. His other books include In Search of Democracy (2016), The Spirit of Democracy (2008), and Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation (1999). He has also edited or coedited more than forty books on democratic development around the world.
Raju Narisetti is Director of the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism and Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia Journalism School.
Raju Narisetti most recently served as chief executive of Gizmodo Media Group, which publishes well-known digital journalism sites such as Gizmodo, Jezebel, Deadspin, Lifehacker and The Root. As the chief executive, he oversaw a significant expansion in the audience and journalistic ambitions of the group, to a monthly readership of about 116 million.
Prior to Gizmodo, Narisetti was News Corp.’s senior vice president of strategy, helping the media giant diversify and establish itself as the world’s largest digital real-estate listings company, in addition to its news and information portfolio that includes The Wall Street Journal, The Times of London and Harper-Collins. He was actively involved in the company’s mergers and acquisition strategy, spearheading new revenue opportunities, particularly in Asia.
As a business journalist and editor, Narisetti spent 14 years at The Wall Street Journal, after first starting as a summer intern there in 1991. Among the roles he held at WSJ were Editor, The Wall Street Journal Europe; Deputy Managing Editor in charge of Europe, Middle East and Africa for the global WSJ; and Managing Editor, Digital.
Narisetti also served as the managing editor for digital and new products at The Washington Post, and was primarily responsible for integrating the Post’s then separate print and online newsroom and businesses. His responsibilities at The Post also included managing web, mobile, engagement, social media, interactive, design, editing desk, video and photojournalists teams.
He is also the Founder, in 2007, of Mint, now India’s second-largest business newspaper and website, which is today known for its pioneering journalistic code of conduct and ethics in India. Narisetti began his business journalism career at The Economic Times in New Delhi, and his U.S. journalism career at The Dayton Daily News.
Narisetti is a Board Trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, one of the Top 10 websites in the world, and is on the National Advisory Council of the Democracy Fund, a bipartisan foundation resource to strengthen the democratic process in the United States. He holds an M.A. from Indiana University and a B.A. (Economics) from Osmania University and an MBA from IRMA in India.
Panel Chair:
Donald K. Emmerson is senior fellow emeritus at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. An expert on Southeast Asian affairs, his research interests include issues such as sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea, China-Southeast Asia relations, U.S. Asia policy, and the future of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). At Stanford, Emmerson is also affiliated with the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and with Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies. He has taught courses on Southeast Asia in the International Relations and International Policy Studies Programs, in the Department of Political Science, and for the Bing Overseas Studies Program.
He has authored and edited numerous articles and books, and is also active as an analyst of current policy issues involving Southeast Asia. In his forthcoming edited volume, The Deer and the Dragon, leading experts explore key issues and aspects of Southeast Asia’s interactions with China, including regional security, maritime expansion, trade dependence, infrastructure diplomacy, and related foreign-policy options and actions. Emmerson has participated in many policy-related working groups focused on topics such as U.S. policy toward Southeast Asia, regionalism in East Asia, democratization in Asia, Indonesian political economy, and the future of Myanmar. In 2010 the National Bureau of Asian Research and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars awarded him a two-year research associateship given to “top scholars from across the United States” who “have successfully bridged the gap between the academy and policy.” He holds a PhD in political science from Yale and a BA in international affairs from Princeton.
About the Shorenstein Journalism Award:
The Shorenstein Journalism Award, which carries a cash prize of US $10,000, recognizes outstanding journalists who have spent their careers helping audiences around the world understand the complexities of the Asia-Pacific region, defined broadly to include Northeast, Southeast, South, and Central Asia and Australasia. Award recipients are veteran journalists with a distinguished body of work. News organizations are also eligible for the award.
The award is sponsored and presented by the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) at Stanford University. It honors the legacy of the Center’s benefactor, Mr. Walter H. Shorenstein, and his twin passions for promoting excellence in journalism and understanding of Asia. It also symbolizes the Center’s commitment to journalism that persistently and courageously seeks accuracy, deep reporting, and nuanced coverage in an age when attacks are regularly launched on the independent news media, on fact-based truth, and on those who tell it.
An annual tradition, the Shorenstein Journalism Award alternates between recipients whose work has mostly been conveyed through American news media and recipients whose work has mostly been conveyed through news media in one or more parts of the Asia-Pacific region. Included among the latter candidates are journalists who are from the region and work there, and who, in addition to their recognized excellence, may have helped defend and encourage free media in one or more countries in the region.
The award day is held at Stanford in the fall quarter. In addition to an acceptance speech at the award ceremony, the winner is expected to deliver a keynote address featured as part of a Shorenstein APARC-hosted public panel discussion on a topic relevant to his/her work. Learn more at
https://aparc.fsi.stanford.edu/events/shorenstein-journalism-award.
Open to the public
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