On May 18, UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) hosted a reception with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa at the UCSB Mosher Alumni House. Ressa has been a journalist in Asia for more than 35 years and is a cofounder of Rappler, a digital news site in the Philippines leading the fight for press freedom there.
Guests included Chancellor Henry Yang and Dilling Yang, UCSB trustees, donors, and media professionals. Guests enjoyed a talk and Q&A session with Ressa, followed by a book-signing. Then guests adjourned to Campbell Hall for Ressa’s public lecture on her latest book, How to Stand Up to a Dictator.
For her reporting on the authoritarian administration of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Ressa has endured many arrest warrants, including one that led to the rescheduling of her A&L talk from January to May. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 and has been celebrated worldwide for fighting disinformation and attempts to silence the press.