“The Jubilee will remind us that faith is important (and) that people are good. What we need to do this year is to prove journalism can survive and by extension that democracy can survive. That is what is at stake. Is that not crazy?”

That was a wish expressed by the Nobel Peace Prize Awardee and journalist Maria Ressa from the Philippines. The UISG asked the journalist to give a reason for hope in this Holy Year, because she was invited to speak at the Jubilee of the World of Communications at the end of January. It was the first major event of the “Jubilee 2025: Pilgrims of Hope”.

Maria Ressa, who was a target of violent messages and was later arrested, was hailed for a voice of freedom of expression who exposed the abuse of power. She has been warning against social media used to spread fake news, harass opponents and manipulate public discourse. In 2021 she shared the Nobel Peace Award with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace”.

At the event the Vatican, she also spoke to around 9,000 journalists and communicators who went on a pilgrimage to the Vatican for an audience and a mass with Pope Francis.

The Philippine journalist praised the Jubilee as an exceptional time of grace, of reflection, and of recommitment to the values that bind people together as a global community. 

Furthermore, she warned that the social media platforms are not neutral as big technological firms (Big Tech) transformed them “from a tool of connection into a weapon of mass behavioral engineering”. They do it via creating echo chambers that exacerbate existing biases, as well as by prioritizing conflict over understanding. Moreover, they monetize human attention at the expense of social cohesion as it systematically erode our capacity for nuanced thinking and empathy.

As a consequence, it is dangerous for freedom and democracy, the journalist from the Philippines stressed.

Collaborate, speak truth with moral clarity, protect the vulnerable, recognize your power

The author of "How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future" suggested four ways forward: collaboration, speaking truth with moral clarity, protecting the vulnerable, and lastly recognition of our power as individuals:

"Even at the worst of times, hope is not passive; it is active, relentless and strategic. Our faith traditions carry centuries of resilience. We need to share those stories of transformation."

According to Maria Ressa, there is too much bad news out there. As she puts it, there is a “fire-hose of hopelessness” which Big Tech, social media and generative artificial intelligence co-create:

“They created a world where it is almost impossible to be good, as it rewards the bad. The world is upside down. If you are good, you get smashed and that should not be the way the world is and I think I got to say it's nice to be here you know because it reminds me you can be good and you can survive that's what I hope journalism will do".

Pilgrimage of repair is a true pilgrimage of hope

Another guest at the first Jubilee audience with the pilgrims was Irish novelist Colum McCann. He pleaded for both story-telling and story-listening, since it would help us as we embark on a pilgrimage of repair which is a true pilgrimage of hope:

“The shortest distance between being an enemy or a neighbour is a story.”

As he underlined, it mostly pertains to teachers and journalists who are uniquely positioned to help tell the stories of others:

“They understand that for a story to be told it must be properly listened to. Those stories, and the understanding of others, can go outside the classroom, outside the newsroom, across the street, across the city, across the country, across the oceans, from continent to continent. This, then, becomes a pilgrimage of repair.”

For the full interview with the Nobel Prize Winner, watch our video.