Rappler CEO Maria Ressa gets lifetime achievement award at PMPC Star Awards

MANILA, Philippines – Rappler’s executive editor and CEO Maria Ressa was honored with an Excellence In Broadcasting Lifetime Achievement award by the Philippine Movie Press Club (PMPC) on Thursday night, December 3. (READ: FULL LIST: Winners, 2015 PMPC Star Awards for TV)

“It’s really exciting because I spent the bulk of my career in television broadcasting, but now that’s moving to your cell phone. This brave new world is changing every day, as we speak, so thank you, thank you PMPC,” Ressa said.

She received the award at the 2015 PMPC Star Awards for TV. (See pictures here.) 

Maria’s experience spans decades and all forms of journalism. Before Rappler, she worked as CNN’s bureau chief in Manila, then Jakarta, and as CNN’s lead investigative reporter focusing on terrorism in Southeast Asia. She’s also one of the founders of the independent production company, Probe. In 2005, she became the senior vice-president of ABS-CBN’s news group.  

Maria has two books: Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda’s Newest Center (2003) and From Bin Laden to Facebook: 10 Days, 10 Years (2012).

Today, she leads the Rappler team that’s working on the frontlines of a brave new world that is characterized by the power of social media and the crowd. 

For young people working in journalism and broadcasting today, she has this piece of advice: “The discipline of journalism remains the same, but the form is changing even as we speak. And I think the key thing here is to have the courage to try new ways, different ways, of delivering what you’re trying to say.

“The challenge there, of course, is to do it well, you have to take risks. It’s a brave new world, and the ones who know it best are the ones who grew up in it and take the discipline of the past and evolve it for the future.” – Rappler.com