Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, whose work does not cheer the Philippine and Russian governments, received the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize this Friday, which the committee said is an endorsement of freedom of speech rights under threat worldwide.

Ressa, who has faced lawsuits for years in the Philippines over the work of her website Rappler, said the award will help her organization's mission.

"We're going through a tough time, but I think we hold the line," he said, noting that "what we do today will determine our tomorrow."

Next, Dmitry Muratov dedicated the award to six of his colleagues from the Novaya Gazeta newspaper who were murdered for denouncing human rights violations and corruption. He therefore mentioned the respective names of the former colleagues who have their photographs hanging in the newspaper's Moscow headquarters.

According to the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, the laureates have shown "courage in the fight for freedom of expression" in their respective countries.

From their perspective, they represent the group of journalists who stand for a common ideal, in a world where "democracy and freedom of the press are facing increasingly adverse conditions."

Berit Reiss-Andersen explained that true journalism serves to protect against abuses of power, lies, and war campaigns.

The first Nobel Prize for Journalists in almost a century

The prize is the first Nobel Peace Prize for journalists since Germany's Carl von Ossietzky won it in 1935. He publicized Germany's secret post-war rearmament program.

Ressa, 58, is the first winner of a Nobel Prize in any field from the Philippines. The Rappler website, which she co-founded in 2012, has become prominent through investigative reporting, including on large-scale killings during a police anti-drug campaign.

Muratov, 59, is the first Russian to win the Nobel Peace Prize since Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990. What's more, Gorbachev has long been associated with Novaya Gazeta. He contributed some of his Nobel Prize money to help establish the newspaper in the early post-Soviet days when Russians anticipated new freedoms.