Nobel Peace Prize winner's work important in fight for press freedom, says colleague

When Max Pensky hosted courageous Philippine journalist Maria Ressa for a talk as part of Binghamton University's Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP), little did he know that he would wake up the next day to find out that Ressa had just been named the latest Nobel Prize winner.  "In recognizing Maria, the Nobel committee now sees that anti-democratic leaders who want to muzzle press freedom don't just use the old tools - arrests, detention, death threats, closing media outlets," said Pensky. "Now they depend on social media, too. Maria's courageous work in the Philippines calls out strongman Rodrigo Duterte and Facebook for using fake news, troll armies, and online harassment, combined with "old school" government intimidation, in a new, toxic mix. Maria's award is for letting the world know how this actually works in her own country, and warning us that we all have to face it if we want press freedom of our own."