Maria Angelita Ressa is a Filipino American journalist and author, the co-founder and CEO of Rappler, and the first independent Filipino Nobel laureate. She previously spent nearly two decades working as a lead investigative reporter in Southeast Asia for CNN.

In 2020, she was convicted of cyberlibel by the Philippine government under the controversial Philippine Anti-Cybercrime law, a move condemned by human rights groups and journalists as an attack on press freedom.

Ressa was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Dmitry Muratov for “their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace."