On Thursday, 14 March, at 6.30pm, ZYX Books is launching the book “ “ by Maria Ressa, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, at the Humanitas Cișmigiu Bookstore.
Journalists Emilia Șercan, Cătălin Tolontan, Mona Dîrțu, Cătălin Striblea and tech entrepreneur Dragoș Stanca will be present. They will discuss the book and point out how its major themes (the fragility of democracies, the threat of dictatorial regimes, manipulation through social networks and the role of technology companies in volatile political contexts) are being played out in Romania – especially now, in an election year.
“Journalist Maria Ressa is one of the first people to publicly take on the role of a global warning about the danger that the lack of regulation of social media, especially Facebook, poses to the Western model of democracy. Beyond its autobiographical dimension, the book “Cum să înfrunți un dictator: Lupta pentru viitorul nostru/ ” is a manifesto on the importance of public interest journalism in the face of misinformation, fake news and propaganda spread and amplified, very profitably, by social media. Maria Ressa’s book is at the same time a tribute to journalists everywhere, who have to make sacrifices to defend, unwaveringly, the values of their profession and their public mission to hold those in power to account,” said Emilia Șercan.
About the book
This is a dramatic, turbulent and courageous memoir that forces us to ask the question: what would we sacrifice for the truth?
Maria Ressa is today one of the world’s best-known journalists. But her fight against corruption began decades ago in the Philippines, when the online news portal she founded, Rappler, became the target of the most powerful man in the state: President Rodrigo Duterte.
Maria Ressa did not back down and denounced the government’s disinformation networks, true mouthpieces of hate and terror directed at citizens. Hunted, threatened and eventually sentenced to many years in prison, Ressa stood her ground. Her investigations uncovered links between authoritarian regimes and tech giants, a global web of interests that stretches from Duterte’s drug wars to Capitol Hill, from Brexit to Russia and China’s cyber wars, from Silicon Valley to our clicks and votes. Everyone’s.
Is a book about the lies that fuel our fear, anger, and hatred of each other, a warning cry to Western readers. Democracies are more fragile than we think, and threats to them must be recognized as such before it is too late.
About the author
Maria Ressa is co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (2021) for her work defending freedom of expression and democracy. She is CEO, co-founder and president of the Philippines’ leading news portal Rappler, and a journalist in Asia for over 36 years. She was named TIME magazine’s Person of the Year in 2018 and won the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize in 2021. Her numerous awards include the prestigious Golden Penof Freedom Award from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers; Knight International Journalism Award from the International Center for Journalists; Shorenstein Journalism Award from Stanford University; Sergei Magnitsky Award for investigative journalism. She grew up in the Philippines and the United States and now lives in Manila.
About ZYX Books Publishing House
ZYX Books publishing house was established in 2023. The publishing house’s areas of interest are practical psychology, mental health, society, picture books for children. Each book undergoes a rigorous selection based on three key criteria: relevance, scientific basis and author specialization.
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