Why Is There No Nobel Peace Prize For Development Journalism?

 In 2021, Filipina journalist Maria Ressa co-won the Nobel Peace Prize with Russian Dmitry Muratov “for their longstanding efforts to safeguard freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia,” Berit Reiss Andersen, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said (08 Oct 2021, Rob Picheta, CNN Business, Champions Change, edition.cnn.com).

Ms Berit said. “… The pair are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions.”
(Nobel image from youtube.com)

I say, yes, call attention to government errors or misjudgments via the free press – assuming that the reporter understands the development project completely first!
(journalism from gamma.app)

And I say it must be “development of communities” or as I put it, “development of villages” (note the title of the blog where this article appears: “Communication For Development Of Vibrant Villages,” blogspot.com).

Watch government: “The nature, objectives and the expected participation of social leaders and the people.”

Aha! Now I realize that neither PH Pres Ferdinand Marcos Jr nor his Secretary of Agriculture Francis Tiu Laurel Jr has a program of development of the agriculture sector of my country!

That lack or presence of a development program, consisting of any number of development projects, should be the first target of any development journalism.

That is why I am calling for a Nobel Peace Prize for Development Journalism – the journalist must first understand the whole of the program before writing about it.

Sad to state, but the Nobel Prize journalisms of Russian winner Mr Muratove and Filipina winner Ms Ressa had centered on the negative,  without first understanding, and stating so, the whole of the development project that they were criticizing.

Says our source on “Development Journalism” (Iresearchnet, communication.iresearchnet.com):

“Development journalism – a term referring to the role of the press in the process of socio-economic development...

“Development journalism was conceived in the 1960s at the Press Foundation of Asia (PFA), where Filipino journalists Alan Chalkley and Juan Mercado were concerned that news organizations were inadequately covering socio-economic development. Journalists were reporting government press releases and quotes but giving little attention to detailed analysis, interpretation, or evaluation of development projects, policies, or problems.” (my emphasis)

You have the right to interpret or evaluate a project, policy or problem – only if you know the nature of development it is meant for.

Not contrarian journalism, I want Development Journalism to be independently included in the consideration of Nobel Peace Prize winners!

“Development journalism, as conceived by the PFA, implied an adversarial relationship between independent news media and the government in which reporters offer critical evaluation and interpretation of development plans and their implementation.”

Adversarial? To that I say No! There is intellectual dishonesty in reporting if the journalist does not first understand the project, where it is coming from (Strategy), what it wants to achieve (Mission), and where everything is leading to (Vision)!

So! We need a Nobel Peace Prize for Development Journalism – to encourage governments to come up with real development projects that people can support!@517