Who was Nikki Finke? Deadline founder passed away at 68 after prolonged illness

Maria Ressa in 2012 co-founded Rappler, a news website that has focused critical attention on President Rodrigo Duterte's regime. Ressa and Rappler have faced multiple criminal charges and investigations after publishing stories critical of Duterte's policies, including his bloody drug war. The former CNN correspondent is on bail pending an appeal against a conviction last year in a cyber libel case. She has also been very critical of tech platforms like Facebook.

Dmitry Muratov was one of the founders of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta in 1993. It has a fundamentally critical attitude towards power and an important source of information on censurable aspects of Russian society. Six of its journalists have been killed, among them Anna Politkovskaya who covered Russia's bloody conflict in Chechnya.

But why a peace prize for journalists? The Nobel Committee said an independent press is vital in promoting peace. ``Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda,'' said Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the committee.

The Nobel Peace Prize has gone to journalists a few times earlier, notably Ernesto Teodoro Moneta of Italy in 1907 and Carl von Ossietzky of Germany in 1935. It was Ossietsky who told the world that the Nazi regime was secretly re-arming in breach of the World War I peace accord.