Maria Ressa’s Nobel Prize-Winning Journalism Given Life-And-Death Rotary 4-Way Test!

Does Maria Ressa deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? Yes! 
Does the Nobel Prize Committee deserve applause? No!

More from Filipino faculty & law luminary Mel Sta Maria’s opinion piece published by Rappler: “[Just Saying] Maria Ressa’s Nobel Peace Prize Was A Stare-Down[1]” (14 October 2021, Rappler.com). All 953 words including title, author & date, it’s pro-Maria Ressa; Mr Sta Maria’s praise is to high heavens:

The imagery I had when I learned that Maria Ressa won the Nobel Peace Prize was the biblical David looking down at a defeated Goliath – a stare-down. After so many cases filed against her, numerous bails posted, a conviction on appeal, so many vituperations coming from high sources including President Duterte’s accusation of “fraud,” and the threat of closure of the platform of her advocacies, what else can be the most compelling rebuttal against all these? The Nobel Peace Prize. One could not ask for a more definitive vindication coming from a highly independent, international, and credible source.

Mr Sta Maria’s adulation of Maria Ressa is ultimate:

Many will bash or sarcastically congratulate Maria Ressa, her award, and  probably even the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, in order to diminish the resounding global significance of this accolade… The award and its meaning will always gawk them in the face. In law, we call it res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself) and no one can alter that. Add to this the fact that she is the first Filipina and only female to be a Nobel Laureate in 2021. 

Goliath is PH President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and David is Maria Ressa – with her Nobel stone, she has struck at the forehead and the giant has stumbled. The stone is Truth.

Now: Is the Truth the saving of the Philippines as the Stone was the saving of Israel? Neither! Israel was saved by the Ten Commandments. The Philippines is not, cannot be saved by Maria Ressa’s – or any Philippine journalist’s Nobel Peace Prize – as long as the journalism is only a pursuit of Truth. If truth be told, Maria Ressa’s journalism certainly cannot pass the “Rotary 4-Way Test” (above image[2] from Rotary Club of Caloundra, Queensland, Australia):

Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"

My Maria Ressa’s Rotary 4-Way answers? Maybe. No. No. No.

Mr Sta Maria mentions Maria Ressa’s “advocacies” – wrong; it’s singular, not plural. She has only Truth. Unfortunately, Maria Ressa’s Truth Journalism is Negative. Contrast to mine:

iTHINK! Journalism:
Investigate if True;
Investigate if Helpful;
Investigate if Inspiring;
Investigate if Necessary;
Investigate if Kind:
Investigate to THiNK!

What Maria Ressa and all journalists should do is throw stones at the foreheads of their Goliaths of Truth Journalism and pursue stories like Positive Community Growth arising from or based on cooperation of any and all kinds, technical and popular.

World, Frank A Hilario is now going to invent
The Rotary 4-Way Journalism:
True.
Fair.
Builds Goodwill & Better Friendships.
Beneficial to All!@517

[1]https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-maria-ressa-nobel-peace-prize-stare-down


[2]https://rotaryclubcaloundra.com.au/