Wharton Club Of DC

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa will address the threats facing press freedom worldwide and the opportunities for civil society to respond at a National Press Club Headliners Luncheon on Tuesday, Sept. 5.

Nobel Prize Laureate Maria Ressa

Ressa, a former CNN bureau chief who co-founded the innovative Philippine news site Rappler, has been lauded by press organizations across the globe for her fearless journalism and efforts to sound the alarm about the use of digital technology to undermine democratic institutions.

The National Press Club honored her in 2020 with its John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award, one year before she and fellow journalist Dmitry Muratov won the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.” 

Rappler's dogged reporting on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's violent anti-drug campaign, government corruption and human rights violations, and Ressa's reporting on the government's use of social media to spread propaganda has placed Ressa in Duterte's crosshairs. Duterte has banned Rappler's reporters from covering his official events and in 2018 revoked Rappler's media license. In 2020, she was convicted of "cyber-libel."

Her recent book, “How to Stand Up to a Dictator,” has been translated into 18 languages.

"The more I was attacked for my journalism, the more resolute I became. I had first-hand evidence of abuse of power. What was meant to intimidate me and Rappler only strengthened us," Ressa said in her Nobel Prize lecture in December 2021.

The event begins with lunch in the Club ballroom at 12:30 p.m. Remarks begin at 1 p.m., followed by a question-and-answer session ending at 2 p.m.

• Wharton Club Members:
  • Lifetime & President's Club Members: You may purchase tickets for yourself and up to 3 guests:
  • Other Wharton Club members: May purchase ticket for yourself and one guest
• All tickets cost $45/person for you and your guests. They include a full luncheon (inclduing tax and tip)and the program. We hope to have a Wharton Club table. Tickets must be paid for at time of purchase.