Joe English · Durham, North Carolina
An open web needs people willing to speak.
I admire Maria Ressa and the work of Rappler. I have joined Zoom discussions with her and others, and I continue to support the newsroom. That is my account of my involvement, not a claim that I speak for them.
When I describe Rappler as one of the most incredible newsrooms in the world, that is admiration, not a ranking produced by a measuring instrument. It is one of the things I want people to know about me.
The public facts
Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for their work defending freedom of expression. The Nobel Committee's account identifies Ressa as a co-founder of Rappler and describes the newsroom's role in confronting abuse of power and manipulation of public discourse.
Read the Nobel Committee's account of the 2021 laureates →
Why it belongs here
My experiment with being more visible is a personal choice. The work of a newsroom defending the freedom to report is a different undertaking, with different stakes. I am not equating them. I am saying that the people who keep information accessible matter to me.
A public profile can list my interests. Here is one with a pulse: I care who gets to speak, who gets heard, and who does the work of finding things out.
For all my impatience with a bland introduction, there are subjects I don't want reduced to a quirky label. Press freedom is one of them.
The account of participation and support above is Joe's own. No endorsement, sponsorship, employment, or formal affiliation with Maria Ressa, Rappler, or the Nobel institutions is claimed.
October 27, 2026. Edited and developed with AI assistance under Joe's direction. Personal statements describe Joe's account and beliefs; humorous passages are creative writing.